1. BY MEL LIM
twitter / @mellimdesign
email / mel@mellim.com
web / www.mellim.com/conversations
Craft Value Value Craft
2.
3. “The beauty of the imposter syndrome
is you vacillate between extreme
egomania and a complete feeling of,
‘I’m a fraud! Oh God, they’re on to
me! I’m a fraud!’
So you just try to ride the egomania
when it comes and enjoy it, and then
slide through the idea of fraud.”
— Tina Fey
Actress, Comedian, Writer, and Producer
4. “Know your power…and be ready.”
— Nancy Pelosi
Minority Leader of the
United States House of Representatives
6. I’ve designed to make people
shop more, gamble more, play more,
walk more, walk less, talk louder, talk
softly, eat more, eat less, eat fast, smile
more, be serious, be happy, be focused,
click here, click there, download this,
right click here, go there, do this, listen
up, act now, and spend more, save
more,
MORE, MORE, MORE
8. We have the ability to persuade
We have the ability to instigate change
We have the ability to create a new reality
We have the ability to make a business
We have the ability to break a business
We have the ability to influence
And influence is leadership
We as designers have the POWER
10. Being AWARE of our power is
the first step to value creation
Value comes from our ability to shape
or inspire change, or transpire an action
Value is personal
Value = MEANING + THE ABILITY
TO GENERATE MORE OF (X)
11. McKinsey | Lunar Design
Delloite | Doblin, Digicon, Ubermind, Banyan Branch, Aqua Media
Accenture | Fjord
Capital One | Adaptive Path
Square | 80/20
Google | Mike & Maaike, Gecko Design
Facebook | Teehan + Lax, Hot Studio
Business = Design
15. Businesses want:
• To build products and services…quickly
• To convert customers...quickly
• To grow…quickly
• To win…quickly
• To profit…quickly
Time = Money
16. Designers are asked the following:
• “Can you make users download faster?”
• “Can you make users click the “buy now” button faster?”
• “Can you help customers make their purchasing decision
faster?”
• “Can you help customers prolong their experience?”
• “Can you make users stay longer on our website?”
Time = Design Challenge
17. Customers want:
• “I just want my life to be simpler so that I can spend
MORE time with my family.”
• “I want tools that can help me perform my job faster,
easier, and more efficiently.”
• “I just want more time in a day so that I can really do
what I want to do.”
• “I just want things to work…and I want it to LAST!”
Time = LIFE
18. We live in a world
of impermanence…
And yet, brands yearn
for longevity…
but design for
obsolescence…
19. Value, in essence,
is the manipulation of time.
And we as designers have
the ability to shape how
people spend their time.
21. Design is how we experience a product, a service or
an environment. It is how we feel when we walk into a
grand hotel lobby, sip a cup of high mountain tea,
or wear a pair of designer jeans.
How we remember the experience is driven by its quality;
how it's delivered to us, how it compares in authenticity to all
the other products and services. The more memorable the
design, the greater its value.
And to give design value — a memory worth keeping,
a story worth telling — we have to craft it.
22. To design for brands, we must first design for people.
To design for people, we must first understand culture.
To understand culture we must first understand history.
To understand history, we must first respect traditions.
And to do all of the above, we must give it time.
Time to fully absorb, experience, feel, nurture, taste, see...
where all of our senses are challenged and provoked.
That is design.
That is art.
And that is what it takes to design for people and for brands.
23. What is beyond Data-Driven Experiences?
• What is beyond your usual suspects of personas,
customer journey mappings, quantitative and
qualitative research work?
• What do you do with the data and how do you
balance it with the ever-changing generation of
consumers who are seeking life beyond the urge to
consume, to buy, to deplete?
• How do brands create meaning and mindfulness in
the product and service offerings?
24. What’s the next competitive edge?
• Even the Chinese do not want to buy “cheaply” Made in
China products
• A new characteristic Chinese consumers are looking for –
craftsmanship
Purchasing Factor
Craftsmanship 37%
Expensive 33%
Status 30%
Mintel report, published March 26th 2014
26. To give empathy, relevance, and connections
Our life is our toolbox and we must fill it with sensory experiences
27. To break rules, take risks, challenge the status quo
Don’t drink the Koolaid
28. To craft value and to value our craft
Embody our profession and be the champion of design
29. To impart uniqueness & thoughtful creation
Building quality & standing behind your designs through the test of time
30. To be the conduit between money & value
Something of value may cost more to create initially.
But something of no value may cost a lot of money in the long run.
32. “Learning a craft is important because
it teaches us how
to think about our life as craft.
…Just as every stroke of the plane
affects the shape of the boat’s hull,
every decision, every thought plays a
part in shaping who we become.”
— Richard Kyte
Director of D.B. Reinhart Institute of Ethics in Leadership
The timing of this webinar is purely synchronistic. In this growth period of my company, we are currently writing a book that invites people to take the time to create in ways that are mindful and meaningful. Personal branding can also benefit from a deeper consideration of what is appropriate and important to share in social media venues, whether you are a student, an entrepreneur, a professional, etc. One look at the global communities, and environment around us gives us clear messages that we are long overdue for a mindful approach to the experiences we create and send out into the world. All that is around us mirrors back to us who and how we are. With technology moving us along at such a dizzying speed, we seem to have lost our balance, our harmony, and even our awareness of who we truly are at heart. It is time to bring calm to the chaos through a reflection on values, a revived appreciation of mindful and meaningful approaches, and an emphasis on craft, curated selection and integrity. How we present the lifelong project we know as ourselves to the world directly impacts and informs everything else that we do in life. Let’s explore . . . because the world IS watching and taking its cues from us.
I attended the FORBES Women’s Summit last week.
This was my second year in attendance.
I found myself among women leaders in finance, politics, business, arts, medicine, and technology.
You can imagine how humbling this experience must have been for me, to be surrounded by
these amazing, high-powered CEOS, including Sara Blakely, Jessica Alba, Chelsea Handler and Ivanka Trump….
I was beginning to wonder, why did Moira Forbes invite me to the conference? I am not a big design agency. I am not Paula Scher. I am just a Malaysian born Chinese immigrant who happens to be a designer. All of a sudden, I had this weird feeling in my stomach. The imposter syndrome crept in and engulfed me. I’d figured that if Tina Fey, Sheryl Sandberg and Meryl Streep have it, I guess it’s okay for Mel Lim to have it as well.
But that moment of self doubt disappeared as soon as
Nancy Pelosi gave a powerful short speech about POWER.
She said, “KNOW YOUR POWER….and BE READY"
Wow. At that moment, i knew…I knew that the 200 of us who were there at the conference, were there for a reason. We had something to learn from each other, to teach others, and to share. We were there because our life experiences, with all our advances and adversities, have propelled us to achieve remarkable things in life and now it’s time for us to pay-it-forward in some fashion or another.
Today I am going to share with you something you may or may not already know …. the power we have as designers….
Over the course of 18 years here in the US, I've designed experiences with the intention of inspiring people to shop more, gamble more, play more, walk more, walk less, talk louder, talk softly, eat more, eat less, eat fast, smile more, be serious, be happy, be focused, click here, click there, download this, right click here, go there, do this, listen up, act now, and spend more, save more, more, more, more, more.
AND at a very large and connected global scale.
HERE IS OUR POWER! We have the ability to persuade, instigate, and propel change at both the micro and the macro scale. We have the ability to make or break a business. We have the ability to influence. And influence is leadership.
We, as designers, have this POWER.
Now that we know our POWER, what do we do with it?
And i’ve dedicated the past 10 years of my career, to promote the importance of design in value creation, in business success, in building brands,
in building teams, in finding like-minded people who are equally as dedicated to creating a seat at the table, and have input to shaping what businesses may look like, at the C-level.
Over the last 15 years, businesses have in fact progressed — Design now has a seat at the table. Just take a look at this.
IT’s no longer a question of whether or not DESIGN is of VALUE. Any company or brand that is focused on growth, scaling, innovation, and brand longevity will eventually invest in design. It’s not a question of IF. It is a matter of WHEN.
And why would others care to know it? What makes it important? And why is it important for you to share it?
For the past 12 months, we’ve been researching brands and interviewing customers,
for our book which we hope to publish in 2016. In our research, we have found that there is a common denominator, in value creation…it is TIME.
Time = Design Challenge
Time is of essence, and people DO care about how they spend their time…
And how they live and work in a Rabbit Age…
We live in a world of impermanence. Nothing lasts, and certainly nothing lasts forever. So why do brands embody the paradox of yearning for longevity while designing for obsolescence?
And this is where we come in. Value in essence is the manipulation of time…and we as designers have the ability to shape how people spend their time.
I was invited to lecture a class a few months ago at Stanford University.
The class was called Enlightened Innovation.
The premise of the class was to examine creativity and purpose in innovation.
What’s beyond data-driven experiences?
What’s beyond your usual suspects of personas, customer journey mappings, quantity and quality of work.
What do you do with the data and how do you read and react to this surge of new generation consumers who are seeking life beyond the urge to consume, to buy, to deplete?
How do brands create MEANING and become MINDFUL of their products and service offerings?
Even the Chinese consumers do NOT want to buy cheap products Made In China.
You may ask what has this got to do with me?
This has got a LOT to do with us designers here in the US. We can no longer sacrifice quality and craft for mediocrity and so-called “efficiency”.
Efficiency comes from experience and the know-hows come from trial and errors, practice, and dedication to craft.
Right now, designers have this notion, thinking eh…they can outsource the cheap coding, dev work, they can outsource the “mundane” non-creative thinking projects, they can outsource projects that don’t care about quality or craft…..
BUT imagine….what if, someday, China has the creative thinkers, the innovative technologies, the know-hows AND the dedicated pursuit of excellence in quality and craft?
How would that impact us?
Model the awareness that exceptional designs are developed through quality craftsmanship.
And know intrinsically that craftsmanship is as much about shaping an attitude and philosophy on life and work as it is about achieving the precise execution of a skill or art.
We must be artisans in the truest sense. In this way, we build quality brands that can stand behind their product, and quality products that promote and honor the brand
Understand the relationship between money and value.
Something of value may cost more to create. Something of no value may cost a lot of money.
And sacrificing craft for expediency and cost-effectiveness may be the most expensive decision of all
According to Richard Kyte, the director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, boat building has served as a metaphor for the art of living since the time of Plato.
“Learning a craft,” says Kyte “is important because it teaches us how to think about our own life as craft.”
He offers that “. . . just as every stroke of the plane affects the shape of a boat’s hull, every decision, every thought plays a part in shaping who we become.”
Started with really understand what the technology does, at both a micro and macro scale,
How to tell that story
How to connect to the users and customers
How to connect to investors and the public
Looking at the individual product identity, branding and the UX and UI of the software
Looking at how to translate all that into a digital, 3 dimensional experience
A true omnichanel experience – videos, sales decks, whitepapers, datasheets, case studies, tradeshow designs, digital integrated campaigns.
Looking at how to celebrate their users
After all the software is about enabling UX designers to do what they need to do
The logo, the product UX and UI design, how that translates to various channels, from a 2-d to a 3-d experience
So back to my class at Stanford…
At the end of the class, a bunch of students raised their hands and asked, so what’s next for branding and experience design?
Another panelist took the stage and explored the usual tensions in technology, branding, omni chanel marketing, and data-driven experiential marketing.
I on the other hand responded with this story of Chanel….
Chanel - standing behind your product
My late mother was a fashionista. She had grown up amongst 13 siblings and being the eldest in a very traditional family, after she completed high school, my mother worked in sales. I remember growing up and whenever we didn't eat our dinners, she would go on and on how she started working at the age of nine supporting 13 of her siblings. She never went to college - instead she worked so that my aunts and uncles didn't have to and she helped put them through school. One ended up in an Ivy League, and one became a high court judge
My mom had worked really hard her whole life. 20 years into her career, she reached the point in her career where she was doing really well - her company which she had built from scratch blossomed into one of the most well mown furniture manufacturer in Asia, and she was traveling around the world, it was the point in her career she was finally starting to treat herself. After all, she had helped / supported everyone in her family...
My mom became the fashionista of her time. Chanel, escada, Dior, saint Lauren, Versace grazed her closet. So when my mother passed away in 2010, she had left my sister and I with her "vintage" couture accessories n clothing. One of them was the infamous Chanel maxi/jumbo flap bag circa 1990.
I didn't give much thought to "the bag" until of late when I had hit a point in my career, similar to my mother, where I thought I would buy myself a Chanel. I decided to take my moms Bag to the Chanel store at south coast plaza in Orange County.
With the bag being so old, the authentication number had already worn off. Regardless, the Chanel specialist looked over the piece and decided to accept it for restoration/ refurbishment. They made no guarantee but they would replace the strap, redip the gold buckles n possibly redye the lamb skin.
While waiting for the 12-week restoration process, I begin to wonder ... Which other brands out there would take back a product after 25 years, without proof of purchase, with a rubbed off authentication number, and work on restoring the piece of art? Who would on their sane mind take on the liability of possibly ruining an old vintage piece? Are there any other brands out there that would do this?
This experience made me wonder, can we as service providers stand by our services, ideas the same way Chanel did?
On Mother’s Day, the manager at Chanel called and we went to pick up this piece. It was the most memorable occasion — me thinking of my mom, her legacy, and what she had passed down to me and how I would pass this piece to my son’s future wife (or not)
But I’ve shared this story with at least 20 other girl friends of mine, and about 10 of them have become fans of Chanel.
This story truly is about craftsmanship, delivering on a brand promise and customer loyalty and engagement. It is not about a click of a button, or web experience.
This is about how a brand can stand the test of time, and be able to create meaning through the longevity of their product design, and history.
This is a brand that understands its people, culture, history and traditions.
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Call to action….
So if you know of any one, it could be artists, brands, chefs, farmer, musicians, that embody this process of slowing down, to refine, rehone, relearn their craft, to build/make things with their hands, let me know. We would like to interview and possibly feature them in our upcoming book, publishing in 2016 by Focal Press.
To learn more about other brands and people that embody this uncompromising dedication to quality and craftsmanship, and as a result have survived 26 world recessions, stay in touch with us through our twitter or facebook channels. Or write me!