10 Lessons For
Design-Driven Success
ROBERT SAFIAN
Imagine that the iPhone does not yet exist. Mark Zuckerberg
is still enrolled at Harvard. Barack Obama is a hopeful state
senator in Illinois. The final episode of Friends has just aired,
with 52 million people tuning in. Not a single viewer tweets
about it.
Amid this quaint-sounding environment, Fast Company’s
editors decide to devote an issue to the intersection of business
and design. Readers are introduced to little-known characters
such as Jonathan Ive at Apple. The magazine chronicles “20
visionary men and women who are using design to create
not just new products but new ways of working, leading, and
seeing.” It is 2004.
When I arrived at Fast Company three years later, I still had an
archaic understanding of design. Like many businesspeople,
I equated design with tangential aesthetics and fleeting
style trends. I was taught by the Fast Company staff--and in
particular, by senior editor Linda Tischler--that good design is
really about problem solving, that it offers a more sophisticated
perspective on modern business challenges than traditional
spreadsheet-based approaches. You could go to consulting
firms like McKinsey and get an answer based on established
business models. Or you could go to one of the rising design
firms such as Ideo, and maybe you’d come up with something
never before seen.
This is our 10th annual issue dedicated to what we call
Innovation by Design. Today, there is a broad recognition that
a well-designed business--one that delivers customer delight-has a significant competitive advantage. Apple’s triumphant
rise has shown the financial value that good design can
bestow. We’ve seen the emergence of the chief design officer
and a proliferation of design labs across industries. Fast
Company’s own Co.Design digital platform attracts millions
of readers monthly. There is much to celebrate about the
progress that’s been made.
Yet much opportunity remains. The businesses profiled within
this issue are at the forefront of the economy, with a collective
market value worth more than $1 trillion. They are examples
of what good design can enable and offer lessons for all of
us. For businesses to thrive in an age of flux, a new kind of
creativity is required. Among the lessons: