Creative Myths - The Design Formula

There is no neat methodology for designing. 

A lot of companies say that they are design led, but what they are really doing is following ‘design thinking’.

Design thinking is a five step process - if you can just find the right question to solve, you can design the right answer.

I have seen first hand companies asking consumers what they want, and synthesising this data into a question that can be solved.

In fact, Bret Waters who teaches Design Thinking at Stanford says:

‘Design thinking is an engineering methodology for developing successful products. It has nothing to do with making something pretty, and everything to do with making something useful.’

What it doesn’t take into account is culture - how a society FEELS about design - prettiness is often a deciding success factor.

A focus group would never have predicted that people would become obsessed with Labubu dolls. There are no handbag ‘needs’ that will tell you why an Hermès Birkin bag more coveted than a Médor, they are just as useful as one another. 

What drives these are WANTS + WHIMS, not NEEDS. 

Take a shirt. 

By the principles of design thinking the collar would be eliminated, it serves no practical purpose, nor has it for hundreds of years.

But the grandad shirt has never out sold a shirt with a collar.

If you remove culture and human sentimentality from the design process then you’ll leave your consumers cold. 

In my next series I will look at culture in design, how to harness it and how to embed it in your strategy and critical thinking.

If you want to explore how culture can build creative strategy in your business or in your design work, then book a call or send me a message.