[Sigia-l] Dedicated to those...

[Ziya Oz]

Jonathan Baker-Bates:

> Granted, there could be other factors that influenced the jump in sales
> figures, but I'm finding it hard to understand how such a statement might be
> automatically bogus if the only thing that had changed was the design.

How and why sales go up or down are really very complex. As you allude to,
there are almost always many, many other factors that contribute to success
or failure.

No doubt some design decisions are supremely important when it comes to
measuring success. For example, I recently posted about Steve Jobs
explaining how the design decision to move the management of the music
library from the digital player to the PC made the iPod simpler and
different from all its competitors and an eventual success. If the iPod
wasn't so much easier to use, especially when it first established its
market leadership, we wouldn't be talking about a quadruple jump in the
price of AAPL over the last 5 years. Yes, this is exactly what we should
point out when talking about design.

As to the "we made sales jump 51.87%" kind of "metrics," yes, most of the
time I find them totally bogus.

The crux of the matter is that (innovative) design is an investment. And, by
definition, a risk. There are ways to manage that risk, but it's
nevertheless a risk. Intangible factors of design faith, belief, conviction,
sensibility, aesthetics, taste, etc., play a large part as to whether you
take that risk or not. My point is that numbers and metrics alone cannot
eradicate that risk to make it "safer" or a sure bet for the risk-averse
MBAs or the men in white coats.

Remember, when consumers were asked about MP3 players six years ago, they
were at best indifferent, but loved the iPod when shown. Institutional
buyers hated the Aeron chair when first shown, but it became the
best-selling chair in the history of chairs. Apple and Herman Miller could
have easily canned those products if they didn't believe their own design
convictions and blindly followed the early "metrics."

Now, having said all that, I also think that "design as business strategy"
is so lacking in most corporate environments that I have zero qualms about
using *any* "metrics" (from The Design Council to some design shop fudging
numbers) to make a point, open doors and get people to pay attention to
design. We already had a similar game with "market value" predictions for
products and services by and to VCs during the dotcom era. Most insiders
didn't believe a word of it, but it often opened doors. So be it, if it's
going to open doors for design. After all, MBAs do it all the time . :-)

----
Ziya

Usability >  Simplify the Solution
Design >  Simplify the Problem