“The Agenda Setter.”
By Digital Strategy — November 14, 2011 - 1:00 pmPlease find a summary below of one of the sessions at this year’s PSFK Conference.
“I don’t believe design is a short term assignment. Brands need to be curated and refined over time to be good…strong…relevant.”
What He Said: Yves Behar is the Founder of fuseproject, a San Francisco-based design agency contributing to areas including technology, furniture, sports, and fashion. Given the unfortunate passing of Steve Jobs the night before the conference, it was only appropriate to discuss the profound influence this innovator and role model had on designers and business people alike. “50% of the credibility of the designer position comes from Steve Jobs putting design at the forefront,” Behar said. He spoke of the profound transformation design has taken in the last 60s years – moving from the hands of a few shepherds like Herman Miller in the 50s to the hands of marketers in the 70s and 80s. But in the last 20 years in particular, we’ve seen design move from a vanity or “nice to have” to a key factor in what defines the product or experience for consumers. The packaging, the engagement, is now a large part of how a product or service socializes itself (for example: One Laptop Per Child, PACT, and Verbien/Augen Optics).
What We Heard: We’ve seen design used as a catalyst for change – for everything from social good to entrepreneurial ventures. And it will likely stretch to new and different areas over the next few years. Design is a critical discipline to integrate across all aspects of the marketing process, from strategy, to marketing, to brand, and identity.
Talk by Yves Behar, Fuseproject.
he protected apple til the very end (insisting on that chairman title), although he might have known which he has only weeks remaining.