Design Sojourn

Umair Haque, Director of the Havas Media Lab, writes:

What your fiercest rival does badly, do incredibly well.

It makes so perfect sense, that it is painful when people don’t seem to follow it. Anyone who is serious about winning starts of by looking at how to beat the competition. Unfortunately, more often than not, we end up trying to beat the competition at what they do best rather than what they do poorly.

Instead of: “Let’s beat the iPhone by creating a phone with a faster processor and a super bight and sharper screen!”

It could be: “Let’s beat the iPhone by creating phones that are reliable, and if it breaks have a damn good no questions asked returns policy.”

Instead of: “Let’s beat the Casio G-Shock by making a stronger more rugged watch!”

It could be: “Let’s beat the Casio G-Shock by making a slim but incredibly strong watch”.

Here is a good one, instead of: “Let’s beat Playstation 3 and X-Box 360 by making faster and more powerful gaming machine!”

It could be: “Lets beat Playstation 3 and X-Box by making fun games for everyone including non-gamers.”

Think about that when you next propose a design strategy or craft a product proposition to your clients?

via Harvard Business Review.

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