Experience Design: A Framework for Integrating Brand, Experience, and Value, published by Method's co-founders, aims to help businesses tap into the power of design and foster better collaboration between business and design in order to deliver more valuable experiences to customers.
Patrick Newbery and Kevin Farnham argue that in order to be successful, businesses need to engage customers through value, not just look and feel, and this requires a different approach from both sides-business managers and designers. Although innovation has been a prominent topic of focus for businesses and the media, statistics show that only 25% of new product innovations ever reach commercial launch, and only 45% of these meet profit goals. That nets out to 11% success rate, which is not a guaranteed lifeline.
"Apple's reinvention of itself changed the world in many ways. The design of the end products and services is brilliant. But It wasn't just how they were designed-it's what Apple chose to design, and why, that mattered," explained co-author Kevin Farnham, CEO of Method. "Apple created value by redefining the experiences people could have with products they already wanted to use."
The book advocates that businesses should view their engagement with customers as an integrated system of brand, experience, and value, that changes over time. Experience design helps business take a portfolio-based approach to exploring new areas of value as natural extensions of the brand and customers' needs.
Hiring the best design talent to finish and market products that were developed as reactions to change is an outdated model. Experience design requires unlocking a brand's purpose and intent in order to define and differentiate products and services that meet the real needs of customers. Teams must focus on customer engagement and experience throughout the customer lifecycle. Business and design must have a common view of objectives, options, and decision-making criteria.
"Value drives relevance which drives engagement, which is the best way to drive revenue," added co-author Patrick Newbery, Method's Chief Strategy Officer. "The age of image as brand is closing. Trying to fix the experience at the 11th hour through brilliant design alone cannot create value that doesn't exist."
Experience design gives business a reason to invite design to the table earlier, and helps business understand how design can help solve problems beyond look and feel. It outlines how business can structure engagements with design partners to increase the chances of success and reduce the risks.
"This isn't a radical new view or a proprietary methodology. It's an observation that many on both sides of business and design have been making over the past decade. The book is a wake-up call and an outline for how to change," Newbery said. "We think that businesses that can't learn and adapt will find themselves operating at a disadvantage."