Do You Matter?: How Great Design Will Make People Love Your Company by Robert Brunner, Stewart Emery, Russ Hall (With)

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Synopsis

“Definitely, a game changer! Design experience is the power shift to our era what mass marketing was to the last century.”

John Sculley  former CEO, Pepsi and Apple

 

“Great design is about creating a deep relationship with your customers. If you don’t, you’re roadkill. This book shows you how and much, much more. Be prepared to have your mind blown.”

Bill Burnett  Executive Director, Design Program, Stanford University

 

“Design is the last great differentiator, and yet so few really understand it. Do You Matter? offers a marvelous series of direct, in-your-face observations and drives home the means to an absolutely integrated design strategy.”

Ray Riley  Design GM, Entertainment and Devices, Microsoft

 

“This book will challenge you to ask and answer what arguably are the most important questions an executive can ponder today. So open up.” 

Noah Kerner  CEO, Noise and coauthor, Chasing Cool

 

More and more companies are coming to understand the competitive advantage offered by outstanding design. With this, you can create products, services, and experiences that truly matter to your customers' lives and thereby drive powerful, sustainable improvements in business performance. But delivering great designs is not easy. Many companies accomplish it once, or twice; few do it consistently. The secret: building a truly design-driven business, in which design is central to everything you do. Do You Matter? shows how to do precisely that. Legendary industrial designer RobertBrunner (who laid the groundwork for Apple's brilliant design language) and Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) begin by making an incontrovertible case for the power of design in making emotional connections, deepening relationships, and strengthening brands. You'll learn what it really means to be "design-driven" and how that translates into action at Nike, Apple, BMW and IKEA. You'll learn design-driven techniques for managing your entire experience chain; define effective design strategies and languages; and learn how to manage design from the top, encouraging "risky" design innovations that lead to entirely new markets. The authors show how (and how not) to use research; how to extend design values into marketing, manufacturing, and beyond; and how to keep building on your progress, truly "baking" design into all your processes and culture.

Publishers Weekly

In this mostly well-argued book, industrial design expert Brunner and corporate consultant Emery (Success Built to Last) put forth a design manifesto: building a successful company is not just about the shiny end product but about designing every aspect of the customer's experience. By paying just as much attention to store design, Web sites and customer support as to the product or service being sold, a company can build an emotional relationship with its customers and so secure market share for life. They contend that design should influence every single business decision and-if done right-will lead consumers to become truly invested, and willing to pay extra. The authors return again and again to several well-known brand names as exemplars of their theory. Ikea, Samsung and Whole Foods are all given props, though highest praise is reserved for Brunner's old employer, Apple, so much so that at times this book reads like an Apple promotional product. Combining their knowledge of design, organizational structure, branding and product placement, the authors have essentially repackaged a simple idea: the customer's feelings matter. (Sept.)

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Biography

Robert Brunner’s career as an industrial designer is iconic in the high technology arena. As director of industrial design at Apple Computer, he founded the Industrial Design Group and developed the original Macintosh PowerBook, Newton, and 20th Anniversary Mac—prelude to the iMac. As a partner at Pentagram, one of the world’s most influential design firms, he worked with Fortune 500 companies, including Nike, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Dell, and Nokia, as well as developed new products for many global enterprises. In early 2007, Robert founded Ammunition, a product design, brand, and interactive development consultancy. His product designs have won numerous awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America and BusinessWeek, including eight best of category awards. His work is included in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Robert also teaches advanced product design at Stanford University.

 

Stewart Emery is coauthor of the international bestseller, Success Built to Last. He has a lifetime of experience as an entrepreneur, creative director, corporate culture consultant, and executive coach. He has conducted coaching interviews with more than 12,000 people in the last three decades and is considered one of the fathers of the Human Potential Movement. Stewart serves as Visiting Professor at the John F. Kennedy University School of Management. Author of two other best-selling books, Actualizations: You Don’t Have to Rehearse to Be Yourself and The Owners Manual For Your Life, Stewart Emery has led workshops, seminars, and delivered keynotes all over the world. As a consultant, he asked questionsthat lead MasterCard to its legendary “priceless” campaign.