Success is a matter of design

By Shaun Inguanzo
DESIGN is more important to a business’ success than most people think.
That was the clear message at a combined Lab 3000 and South East Networks business breakfast last week at Sandown Racecourse.
More than 170 people from the Greater Dandenong business community and Victorian design industry attended the function to listen to guest speakers Richard Henderson from R-Co and Gerry Mussett from Sprocket Design.
Mr Henderson is an Australian design industry leader who has worked on branding for organisations such as the Australian Football League and events such as the Sydney Olympics and Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
He gave a riveting speech about the significance of design in a business’ success during which he said great design was a combination of attraction and function.
Mr Henderson said that when it came to designing a logo, businesses mistakenly chose what they believed represented the work their company carried out.
He said that a good logo would aim to connect with customers’ emotions and make them feel a certain way about the product.
Mr Henderson used Apple as an example of a company that had a good design ethic and said its success was evident in the iPod.
He said while the iPod was just an MP3 player, it had clever design and functionality, and that the company’s ideas and willingness to innovate stemmed from CEO Steve Jobs.
Mr Mussett, managing director of Sprockett Design, said his company carried out the industrial design work on products.
He showed the audience examples on a slideshow of products that performed important functions, but would otherwise be overlooked for their poor cosmetic design.
Mr Mussett highlighted the importance of design never interfering with functionality by explaining that the company worked on the design of a child seat, which had to look attractive but ensure it kept the child occupant safe at all times.
Meanwhile, the Christmas spirit was alive at the breakfast and South East Networks collected money at each table to give to Joey’s Van and the Keysborough Learning Centre’s open door program.