 |
Investing
in innovation
'Unfortunately,
buyer utility and technical advance are not the same. Indeed,
most failures score highly on technical wizardry.'
W. Chan
Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Financial Times 23 January 2001
Product
design
"The
priorities of product design are always in conflict. All
design is a trade-off, most commonly between aesthetics
and function, or between a combination of aesthetics and
function and cost."
Simon
Lunn, Managing Director, Design Acumen, Financial Times
23 January 2001
Intellectual
property
"These
days, your intellectual property is the most valuable thing
you have. These days, the biggest heist you could pull wouldn't
be robbing a bank - it would be something like stealing
the formula for Viagra, or its successor."
Trevor
Baylis, The Independent 13 January 2001
Where
you work, rest and play
'With
new technology, for the first time in 100 years, people
have been asking the question "why do we need offices?"
But I don't think the office is going to disappear. They'll
just become more like social drop-in centres.'
Jeremy
Myerson, Evening Standard, 4 December 2000
Teaching
should focus on innovation
'If
teachers are not involved in innovative activity, they are
not likely to understand how to create the conditions in
which students learn how to be innovative…'
David
Hargreaves, Chief Executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority, defining 'innovation' at a CreativeNet conference,
22 November 2000
Project
work back in vogue
'…design
and technology is moving from the periphery of the school
curriculum to its heart…'
David
Hargreaves, Chief Executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority, speaking at a CreativeNet conference, 22 November
2000
Better
Public Buildings
'In
contrast, good design can bring more than financial benefits.
In a well designed hospital patients recover more quickly.
In a well designed school patterns of behaviour are better.
Well-designed housing estates suffer less from crime and
vandalism.'
The
Minister also outlined Government plans to ensure architectural
merit is central to the procurement process. In each Government
Department with leading responsibility for public buildings
a Minister has been appointed as design champion. The remit
of the Ministerial design champion is to ensure genuine,
thoroughly thought through and sustained commitment to good
design in the buildings which are funded by their Departments.
Public procurement systems must encourage good design.
Alan
Howarth, Arts Minister, giving a keynote speech on design
quality (quotes taken from a DCMS press release, 14 November
2000)
Design
Criterion
'Companies
get [web design] wrong because their main design criterion
is not to design for the customer but for themselves.'
Jakob
Nielsen, website design consultant, The Times, 13 November
2000.
Brand
loyalty on-line
'Brand
loyalty on the internet is not about your logo or your image,
it is purely about what you deliver to your customers every
time they visit your site.'
Jakob
Nielsen, web design consultant, The Times, 13 November 2000
Innovation
'If you
only do what you've always done, you'll only get what you've
always got.'
Peter Mileham, Liquid Plastics Ltd, Transforming Businesses:
North West, 1 November 2000
The
missing link
'I thought
the idea was the hard bit and I hadn't realised how much design
mattered. We invited design into our business and got more
than we bargained for. It was the missing link.'
Alex Hicks, CV1 Products, Transforming Businesses: West
Midlands, 31 October 2000
Competing
with Europe
'Design
and innovation are very much part of our competitive edge
because we're no longer competing with companies down the
road but with ones all over the EU.'
Simon Murphy MEP, Transforming Businesses: West Midlands,
31 October 2000
Anywayup
Cup
'Design
should be part of the product development process from the
concept stage onwards. It's not just an add-on. The team has
to be in place from the beginning...We brought good design
into a dull sector. People appreciate good design and they
won't settle for second best.'
Mandy Haberman, inventor of the Anywayup Cup, at Transforming
Businesses: South West, 30 October 2000
Lifetime
Design
The
population is growing older; it's been estimated that by
2010 about 50% of the population will be over 50. When the
over 50s want to find things in the shops which suit them
and the average age of car purchasers in this country is
45 and rising; when the post-mortgage, post-children generation
will be the ones with the disposable income; it isn't just
a sense of good citizenship or social awareness which encourages
'inclusive design' or 'design for an ageing population'
or 'lifetime design', it makes excellent economic sense
as well.
Christopher
Frayling, Chairman, Design Council, and Rector, Royal College
of Art, speaking at the opening of Design in Business Week
2000, 27 October 2000
The
knowledge revolution
'The future
of design in business will be a good one but only if we can
invest in design research and creative education that deepens
our understanding, our knowledge, and our ability to control
and exploit the opportunities presented by the knowledge revolution.'
Janice Kirkpatrick, Design in Business Week 2000 opening
event, 27 October 2000
Creativity
'For too
long, creativity has been viewed from a purely aesthetic perspective.
Aesthetics are the packaging of an idea. The real equity lies
in the idea itself and big creative ideas come from one source
- identifying the specific commercial issues a business is
trying to solve.'
Aziz Cami, founding and managing partner, The Partners,
Financial Times, 10 October 2000
Patents
'There
is no such thing as a perfect patent, and no perfect way to
get one fast. What matters is that once you've got it, it
has to be good...the right set of patents, worded the right
way, can be worth more than the invention's weight in gold.'
Jackie Freeman, patent attorney, Independent on Sunday,
8 October 2000
Public
Buildings
'Good
design is not an unaffordable luxury, not is it an optional
extra. Typically, the cost of design is only 1 per cent of
the lifetime costs of a building. The million pound mistake
is too often made on day one, in poor briefing and design
thinking.'
Alan Howarth MP, arts minister, at the launch of the Government's
Better Public Buildings policy document, Financial Times,
4 October, 2000
Research
and Development unlocks economic growth
'This
report highlights the importance of more investment in R&D...
It is key to improving company performance. Too many UK companies
still fail to recognise that R&D and innovation are key
drivers for business growth. The new knowledge based economy
is a challenge to all businesses - those who fail to innovate
will be left behind and will find it hard to even survive.'
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Stephen Byers
on the publication of the 10th annual R&D Scoreboard.
Department of Trade and Industry press release, 15 September
2000.
e-commerce
and R&D
'The internet
and e-commerce now call for all companies to adopt an R&D
perspective and to sustain an R&D capability. There can be
little doubt that commercial success in the new economy will
increasingly require the development of new ways of delivering
conventional services and products, as well as the creation
of new offerings altogether. This will demand a combination
of sustained imaginative thinking and a clear commitment to
piloting, prototyping and testing new ideas in the spirit
of traditional R&D.'
Richard Susskind, Financial Times, 15 September 2000
No
new economy
'There
is no new economy. There is one economy, all of it being transformed
by information technology. What is happening is no dot.com
fad that will come and go - it is a profound economic revolution.'
Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister, speaking at British
Gas Technology, quoted in the Glasgow Herald, 12 September
2000
British
Design
'Britain
is the home of design... I have great admiration for British
design and it's history. It's the richest in the world'.
'The
purpose of desigh is to bring a little happiness to everybody.
A bit of playfulness in the design of the most boring or
utilitarian objects can bring a certain happiness to the
life of the user'.
Alberto
Alessi, The Times, 26 August 2000
Brand
new direction
'Re-branding
isn't trivial and it isn't easy. It's not just a case of swapping
one logo for another, it is about a fundamental change in
direction and attitude.'
'To re-brand successfully you have to get certain things
right. Re-branding has to be driven by real chance and have
clarity of vision. But the brand also has to be true and
compelling: it has to resonate with the company's stakeholders.
Everyone...must believe in what it stands for and be ready
to deliver it.'
Brian Boylan, Chairman, Wolff Olins, Financial Times,
9 August 2000
Better
by Design
'The general
public are still fairly unaware of what the designer does,
and programmes like this, where the design process is demystified,
can only be good for the industry as a whole,'
Letter from Richard Hayter to Design Week, 4 August 2000
Role
of government to be active but not interventionist
'To be
successful companies must innovate and take risks. They must
learn how to compete on world markets against global competition.'
'To support enterprise, to encourage innovation and responsible
risk taking, the DTI itself needs to be more enterprising
and innovative and less risk averse. To be forward looking,
creative, and ambitious. These are the characteristics which
any organisation needs to succeed in a rapidly changing
world.'
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers
outlines the role of Government in relation to business
and industry, Press Release, 2 August 2000
Better
by Design
'[the
series] makes you wonder what happened to capitalism's insatiable
drive to create better, cheaper, faster products in order
to win over the consumer in the creation of a virtuous cycle
of wealth? Why does it take a TV series to provoke a rethink
of cramped airline seats, or the razor?'
Joe Joseph writing in The Times, 2 August 2000
Better
by Design
'Seymour
and Powell embody the notion of design as problem solving,
and this fascinating series should send design course applications
soaring.'
Christopher Dunkley writing in the Financial Times, 2
August 2000
Soul
Proprietor
'Strategy
is all about commitment. If what you're doing isn't irrevocable,
then you don't have a strategy -- because anyone can do it
... I've always wanted to treat life like I was an invading
army and there was no turning back.'
Troy Tyler, founder of smartRay Networks, quoted within
Fast Company magazine, August 2000
Better
by Design: Airline Seat
'Dick
and Richard...were teeming with ideas, but soon found that
there was a problem for every solution...but some of their
modifications...did seem to minimise discomfort and by the
end of the programme, they'd done just about as much as possible
to maximise the available space, short of trading in the 747
for a Tardis.'
Victor Lewis-Smith writing in the Evening Standard, 19
July 2000
Better
by Design: Review
'The series
is more concerned with the process of solving design problems
than the solutions themselves, making it a rare educational
resource...Better by Design seeks to normalise, rather than
glamourise, the design process. If the term 'designer' brings
to mind an arrogant architect or someone more concerned with
appearance than ergonomics, then Seymour Powell will change
that perception....there are obviously creative thinkers on
both sides of the camera in this series.'
Times Educational Supplement, 14 July 2000
Better
by Design: Get with the programme
'...design
is generally handed to the fluffheads of the homes and gardens
sections. The same is true of TV. But at least we have another
Better by Design series....it's worth reiterating why these
programmes are better than home makeover shows: it's because
they deal with fundamentals, not cosmetics. Seymour Powell
weren't interested in lacy bits. If they were, they didn't
show it...'
Hugh Pearman writing in Design Week, 14 July 2000
Government
Annual Report
'Everyone
should have the chance to experience and develop their creativity
when they are young.'
July 2000
Italian
object lesson
'There
is an interpretation of design, peculiar to mass production
factories, which views design as one of the available technological
and marketing tools. This interpretation tends to diminish
the role of design by considering it simply as a means for
boosting industrial production while cutting costs.'
Alberto Alessi, Italian product manufacturer, quoted within
the Financial Times, Saturday 8 July
Duo
with an eye to the future
'If you
look at all other things being equal - quality's the same,
price point's the same, we've all gone out and learned how
to do platform-sharing - what's going to differentiate car
companies in the market place? It has to be design.'
J Mays, Head of design at Ford, quoted within the Daily
Telegraph, Saturday 8 July
‘Design
Champion’ to raise standards
‘Every
government department should appoint a 'design champion' as
part of a five-point plan by a new cabinet group committed
to raising design standards in public buildings...'
As reported in Building Design, Tuesday 26 May 2000.
|
