Design for the new millennium

by Anthony Manduca

The importance that should be attached to design in all stages of a modern business was highlighted at the latest business breakfast organised by The Malta Business Weekly and Le Meridien Phoenicia. The guest speaker was Andrew Summers, the chief executive of the UK Design Council who spoke on "Design for the new millennium".

Mr Summers was the first overseas guest speaker to address such a business breakfast and his visit to Malta was made possible by the British High Commission and British Airways. The Design Council, established 50 years ago, considers its mission statement as "to inspire by the use of design UK businesses in the world context, to improve the prosperity and well-being of people".

Its inspiration is now reflected in last year's industrial policy statement by the British government. "Our success," said Prime Minister Tony Blair, "depends on how we exploit our most valuable skills - knowledge, skills and creativity. The key is to design high value goods and services and advanced business practices."

Mr Summers asked why design was so important today. He replied by quoting Roderick Fitch: "Only one company can be the cheapest. All the others must use design." He also quoted Janice Kirkpatrick: "Tomorrow's business must innovate or deteriorate. They must design or die."

Mr Summers said that today's world is characterised by incredible change: "Biotechnology, global telecommunications, internet booksales, online business and digital TV were all unknown 10 years ago. Who knows what we will see in 10 years' time?" he asked.

The real challenge, he said, is concept design. "This means that design must be in everything, not just in designing better products, or better processes, but creatively designing new business models. Bringing about the change of culture which sees design as a new value of business is not easy. A 1997 survey in the UK found that while 92 per cent of companies agreed that design can give companies a competitive edge, 50 per cent of the businesses admitted they regarded design as a waste of money," he explained.

In just two years, he said, perceptions have changed. Sixty-seven per cent now admit that design is very important but only 24 per cent accept they use design as an integral part of their business.

Mr Summers said that many people in the business sector seem to think of design only as something linked to a brochure, he said, but the concept of design is far more wider than this. There are five key areas where design matters and changes the whole nature of the business:

Planning, including design at the design stage, already sets the stamp for what comes afterwards.

Processes: Design must not be relegated to the concept of things. It must also come in the redesigning of the processes which make up the production chain.

People: All the people involved in the production process must understand the importance of design. Conversely, one can say that design is too important a concept to be left to the designers.

Resources: Time and money must be used to allow design a hand in the processes.

Culture: Design must become the culture of the workplace.

Mr Summers said that the Design Council has come up with the idea of the Millennium Products to emphasise the importance of design as an integral part of today's industry. He said there is a showcase of these Millennium Products at a special exhibition close to the Millennium Dome.

The Millennium Products are new products in which anybody can see new thought processes at work. They include such things as coffee plastic cups which are recycled into pencils, handbags made out of inner car tubes, cups for toddlers which do not leak, radios with no batteries, talking calculators for the blind, life-jackets which automatically inflate in the water, surgical gloves which change colour if punctured and ATMs which recognise the iris of an individual instead of PINs.

The next stage for the Design Council is to encourage the sharing of ideas, getting people to make others see that there is room for creativity and more creativity in the processes of today's world and certainly tomorrow's world.

Mr Summers concluded: "We have to meet the challenge of the new world. We have to rethink design as a management strategic tool. Creating a new business design means creating new opportunities for business, education and also governments."