Interesting blog post from Brian Thomson Collins (link)Â relating the power of design to the increasingly weak power of advertising messages. What makes it relevant and interesting for the service design community is that he repeatedly uses the term experience, and in effect, it is the experience that he argues trumps advertising.
Unfortunately he uses the iPhone as his example (I say unfortunately, because everybody seems to use this as their prime example of the user experience these days).Â
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Some nice thoughts though:
Not the best promise. Not the cleverest copy. Not the Big Idea or the biggest budget. The best experience wins.
He points out 4 reasons why design is displacing messaging:
1. Design has the potency to rearrange markets.
2. Design trumps cosmetics.Â
3. Design creates an architecture of participation.Â
4. Design determines the conversation.
I think he is spot on with these, and to me, it all boils down to the combination of well designed interactivity as part of a well designed experience. Both equally relevant for products and services. Â In the future, we might see a reduced spend on messaging and an increased focus upon design, and I don’t think thats a bad thing.