conveyor belt design

The project team met, and the representatives from the various departments gathered in the so-called war room. This room showcased the progress of the ongoing project through posters stuck on a wall. My contributions to the war-room – the design proposal – were covered with neon-coloured post-its, which made me wonder if this meant any good…

A couple of weeks before, I had newly joined the consumer electronics design team. With that, the way of working took a fundamentally different twist. Up to then, I was able to develop design proposals based on my own interpretation of the brief I received, and as long as the result made a perfect fit with the existing product portfolio (and would not exceed cost restrictions), all was fine. Now another approach was required: I had to deliver designs on a conveyor belt.

Here, the intention was not to develop one design solution that would logically build on its predecessors and make the product and brand stand out in the marketplace. No, a whole armada of design proposals had to be generated in order for somebody to choose one. And if none of the proposals pleased the selector’s eye, the designers went off to generate another round of proposals. “That’s where the designers are there for, or?”

This was not what I was used to. To me, the work of a designer is that of a specialist, just like that of an electronic engineer: would he also generate 10 different PCB configurations for someone to select one? Do marketers also generate 10 different business plans for one proposition so the boss can select? No way, that’s way too expensive! So, why do designers have to generate various proposals? Why is a choice needed to pick the design, whereas elsewhere not?

The intention of the neon post-its soon became obvious when the meeting hit the ‘design’ agenda point: the senior product manager immediately became passionate and very outspoken, arguing what the heck was wrong with the design team. “How can we select from these proposals? They are just iterations on one theme! You guys are jeopardizing the project’s success. We need more choice!” And then he added some remarks on the quality of the prints, the color choice, the typography and graphics used, and on the distribution of the controls… Repeatedly, he stressed that design is the most important purchase decision criterion for consumers in this product category, and therefore, it was key to the project’s success!

That’s why I could not understand that a choice out of a variety of proposals by a committee (or whatever panel) should lead to the final design – to me, there could only be one proposal, the one that was developed by the specialist himself or herself, the designer in charge. Why would you hire a designer in the first place? Because you can’t draw yourself?
Designers are very well able to test their proposals based on a set of criteria in order to choose the right direction – it’s part of their job.

Despite my being able to explain the criteria I used to arrive at the proposals I put on the wall, nobody wanted to listen. They only wanted to listen to consumers’ preferences in a face-value test, or to the trade’s feedback. Even a dinner party at the product manager’s house was considered a valid source for making a decision: “The ladies like the blue version the best, and in the end, they rule. That’s the one we should pick!” In this conveyor-belt design approach, the winning designs are selected by amateurs before they are further processed – here the tail wags the dog!

Gritting my teeth, I succumbed to the situation and the design approach. But insisted on making my point clear and introduced separate stickers marking the design department’s choice, bearing the words “design certified”.

Well, in the end, the certified designs did prevail in face-value tests and trade meetings and turned out to generate large profits, which made the job easier for me the next season and subsequently helped grow the standing of the design team – the certification made an impact.

Nevertheless, they still stuck with the choice, loosely based on the motto: rather scratch something with a shotgun than miss it completely with a deliberate shot!

But, in order to hit the bull’s eye, you have to aim well and rely on a steady hand – the hand of your designer!