DCM Issue 6

Design Council Issue 6 £8.
00
Magazine Summer 2009
‘Gentlemen we have
no money, therefore
we must think’
Will the credit crunch kill off cash? page 6
Inside this magazine
12 Not so grim up north: the resilience of Scandinavia
18 The thrifty case for sustainable design
30 Outsourced chores: the white goods revolution finally arrives
34 The art of leadership, from Alexander the Great to Pepsi
40 Urban legends: how design can transform our cities
Design Council Magazine

Issue 6 Summer 2009
Design Council Issue 6
Welcome
It always pays to be clever with money, especially when there’s less of it than
usual. So it’s time to get ingenious about how we deploy increasingly scarce
resources. Disposability is out and durability is in as sustainable design moves
centre-stage and the spirit of make do and mend enjoys a comeback (page 18).
We also take a look at how design can make public sector procurement
more innovative and cost-effective (page 26) as the government looks for £30bn
in efficiency savings by 2010. And what fate awaits money itself? The notes
and coins in our pockets could soon be consigned to history by plastic and
m-commerce (page 6). Nevertheless, we’ve asked three designers to apply
their own brand of ingenuity to imagining a future for pounds and pence.
You’re sure to have your own views on all this and the rest of DCM. As ever,
do share them with us at dcmeditor@haymarket.com.
David Kester
Chief executive, Design Council
Design Council team Lloyd Bradley Mitcham, Surrey Telephone

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Photography & illustration

2009 Google Lions, Sven Nackstand Joon AP
– Tele Atlas AFP, NBAE, Lipnitzki Philip Vile/AIG
Conka design Roger Viollet, Library Rex Features/
Corbis/Jon Hicks, Chip Of Congress, Fine Art Lehtikuva OY, CSU
East Reuters Photographic Library, Archive Everett
Courtesy of the Ulf Sjostedt, GAB RGB Digital
Museum of Design Archive/Redferns, Royal Copenhagen A/S
in Plastics at the Simon Dack/Keystone Shutterstock
Arts Institute at Paul Frost The Federation of
Bournemouth Imperial War Museum Small Businesses
Dragon Rouge, London Marc Nolte Verner Panton Design
Dualit National Archives Walmart
EEF Nike www.platina.se
Fripp design Oak Taylor-Smith
Getty Images/Three PA Photos/Ahn Young-
www.designcouncil.org.uk
Unconventional wisdom
Helping the developing world see things more clearly,
aiming for a better mobile net and reflecting on users
Mobile internet
Surfing in the slow lane
Is the mobile internet – the future of web use,

according to some – actually delivering? Revered
useability guru Jakob Nielsen says not, and it’s
design problems he blames. “In terms of the user
experience quality,” he says, “it is like stepping
into a time machine for a quick trip back to
[desktop browsing in] 1998.”
Nielsen suggests several solutions, but says
websites must take responsibility for creating
mobile versions of their sites. He believes mobile
Budget eyecare applications (downloadable content that lets you
read maps or shop, for example) offer a significant
Vision on opportunity for a better user experience.
Nielsen believes the iPhone, while not perfect,
The World Health Organization estimates that could be the tool which makes the mobile
there are almost one billion people worldwide web come alive, because it is “pioneering a
who can’t afford to have their vision corrected. breakthrough in mobile useability.” A survey by
The problem is especially acute in Africa and ABI Research revealed 16.5% of US iPhone users
Asia, says Professor Josh Silver, vision scientist spent between $100 and $500 on applications last
at the Oxford-based Centre for Vision in the year – which means many are spending more than
Developing World. In some parts of Africa, there the cost of the phone itself on content.
is only one trained optometrist for every million BlackBerry, Microsoft and Palm are all opening
people, compared to one for every 4,500 in the their own application stores, which should mean
UK. Fortunately, Silver has the solution – using a proliferation of mobile applications beyond the
design to deliver liquid-filled glasses to those in iPhone. If the quality can rise in tandem with their
need for as little as $1 a pair. In Malawi, where quantity, Nielsen will be able to sleep easy.
the average daily wage is $1.39 for men ($0.84 for
women), that’s the same price as four cans of Coke.
Silver has developed a simple, affordable pair of Q&A
vision correction glasses that could transform the
situation. The refractive power of each lens can be
Using users wisely
independently adjusted. And the optical power of
the lenses – which consist of two thin, liquid-filled Roberto Verganti is an academic and
membranes – is determined by the curvature of design consultant who teaches at the
the lens surface and can be altered by varying Politecnico di Milano and Harvard
the volume of liquid. Business School. His forthcoming
Silver says 30,000 pairs of the special spectacles book Design-Driven Innovation – Changing the Rules
are already in use, but he hopes to have produced of Competition by Radically Changing What Things
one billion by 2020. Mean explains why, when it comes to innovation,
“One of the major challenges we face is how business must consider carefully how it handles
we finance the scale-up and how we distribute its market research and user input…
the spectacles,” says Silver. “At the moment they
cost between $15 and $20, but if you scale up What role do you see for user-centred innovation?
massively you can bring the cost right down. Design is a way to innovate the meaning of things.
We are confident that we will eventually be User-centred innovation is great for improving
able to make then for $1.” something incrementally – you ask people what
04/05
they want and provide better solutions. But to Creative cities

Bangalore
radically change a product’s meaning, you can’t
always start from the users because they pull you
towards an existing meaning.
A focus group almost killed Herman Miller’s
Aeron chair. It had a radical new meaning – it was an
ergonomic machine that let you see its mechanism
[the chair uses a mesh covering rather than
cushioning]. When Miller showed it to a focus
group, they asked to see the upholstered version.
Source of capital
India’s‘Silicon Valley’is the
So why are focus groups still so popular? world’s outsourcing capital,
I know that managers sometimes feel more but it’s slowly becoming
comfortable if a user tells them what they want known for its creative skills.
A debate hosted by the
– if they fail, they can say it’s the fault of the user. Design Museum and the
But if they succeed, they say the method works British Council named it the
well. The greatest executives are managers with world’s next design centre. As
more Indian companies
visions. They have a role in society and they have design products from scratch
to put forward their vision; they can’t wait for and brand identity becomes
society to tell them what to do. more important, Bangalore
looks poised to benefit.
High-tech hub
Is the need for more design-driven innovation Bangalore has the largest
greater now, given the economic climate? number of broadband
internet connections in the
Innovation needs to be led by designers. Some country and is home to IT
people might think now, ‘who cares about giants Wipro and Infosys. In
emotion and meaning? All that matters is cost’. February, its Indian Institute
of Science grabbed
That’s completely wrong. Companies have to international headlines
invest in design now because people don’t want by launching a 500 rupee
to feel poor. Companies need to cap costs without (£7.25) laptop. The National
Institute of Design has its
capping the meaning of their products – and that R&D campus in Bangalore.
requires clever use of design. Heavy duty
The city accounts for more
Ground cover: the earth- than 35% of Indian exports.
topped Sir Joseph Banks Bangalore is leading the
Building was one of Max biotechnology sector and
Fordham’s engineering its aviation, automotive
design success stories and heavy manufacturing
industries are strong. Toyota,
Hindustan Motors and Volvo
all have plants in the city.
Designs on growth
Bangalore’s position as an
IT and manufacturing hub
is encouraging designers
to relocate there. The
Karnataka region, which
includes Bangalore, houses
916 arts and science
colleges and more than 100
Honouring a design classic R&D centres. The city is also
hosting Let’s Design, a reality
The Prince Philip Designers Prize 2008, run by the Design Council, has been awarded to engineer TV show which gives young
Professor Max Fordham, in recognition of his lifetime’s work as a pioneer of environmental building people the chance to
design. Despite being“fairly cynical about prizes”, Fordham admitted that receiving the award in become fashion designers.
November was one of his proudest moments. He thanked the judging panel, chaired by the Green solution
Duke of Edinburgh, for“acknowledging that engineering design really is design”. Bangalore has been
For more than 40 years, Fordham and his consultancy have been redefining the way engineers dubbed the ‘Garden City of
approach building projects.“You have to start from thinking about the universe,”Fordham says. India’ and green technology
“From there, you keep homing in to the specific problem.”Memorable work includes designing is growing. Daily Dump
systems for the Sir Joseph Banks Building at Kew Gardens, the indoor cricket school at Lord’s and designs innovative home-
the Heelis building in Swindon, headquarters of the National Trust. composting products to
Fordham’s contributions have been honoured by the RIBA, the RSA and the recycle household waste.
Royal Academy of Engineering, and his lectures and research have influenced The caring city
architecture and engineering students around the world. “I try to get engineers to Socially conscious enterprise
understand they are part of the design team and should enter into the political is growing too. Industree
and conceptual debate about a project,” he says. Craft Foundation has
Now 75, Fordham is ready to focus on writing his ideas down. “There’s created employment for
definitely a thesis in me on why design should be about making buildings 16,000 women in the region
sustainable, not just ticking all the boxes.” by harnessing the skills of
For more about the prize, visit www.designcouncil.org.uk/ppdp. local artisans.
Money for nothing:

will the future be
entirely cash-free?
Do m-commerce, debit cards and social banking spell
the end for cash? Robert Jeffery investigates. Meanwhile,
three leading designers share their visions of the future
DCM asked three British design agencies to redesign cash.

Over the next six pages, you can see how they responded
No 1 Tomorrow’s money
The block with a chip by Conka Design
“This concept makes use of the most modern advances in
materials and technology,” says Mark Hodge, creative director.
“Manufactured from recyclable and biodegradable bio-
plastics, it features a small internal microchip over-moulded
within the plastic, ensuring counterfeiting is an impossibility.
“It is based more on credit and less on the coin-and-paper
system. The chips within each unit store information about
the value of the coin or card, so it can be used within vending
machines, or accurately tracked within a shopping environment.”
06/07
Cash has had its day. Ten years from now, half Puckoon, Spike Milligan’s comic novel set in 1920s
of Europeans believe, we will be spending so Northern Ireland, a landlord won’t accept a green
much through electronic payments, cards and pound because he thinks it is a cheque: to him,
m-commerce (transactions using mobile phones) brown – the colour of the old 10-shilling note – is
there will be no notes or coins left to handle. the colour of money.
It’s easy to underestimate just how profound The rise of plastic and bank transfers has
a shock that will be, given the long and colourful begun to erode our love affair with notes and
history of money. The first notes started circulating coins: “Some people already go the whole day
in China around 600AD. The English pound dates without handling cash, thanks to credit cards and
back to the eighth century and probably owes its swipe cards. It may eventually become a ‘dirty’
name to the practice of measuring large payments commodity people just don’t want to touch as it
by weight, 240 silver coins weighing one pound. becomes rarer,” says Adrian Furnham, professor
Although you could exchange coins at a of psychology at University College London and
goldsmith for a promissory note, money did author of The Psychology of Money.
not really take off in the UK until the Bank Our attitude to the allegedly grubby £5 note is
of England was incorporated in 1694. In the already changing. Fivers pass through many hands
1770s, an argument over whether Britain’s quickly, have vanished from ATMs and, on average,
North American colonies could print their own are now in circulation for only nine months.
banknotes (British mandarins believed the The amount of cash in circulation has never
reckless Americans would print too much money, changed dramatically – instead, it’s the make-up
triggering hyperinflation) was one of the hidden of our assets that best demonstrates our shifting
drivers behind the War of Independence. attitudes to currency. Just after World War II, the
Until the 1880s, when the Bank pre-printed amount of bank credit (the money held in bank
notes, cashiers signed each banknote personally. accounts and available to be converted into physical
Even then, it took a while to get used to cash. In currency if required) was roughly equivalent to
the cash in circulation. Today, it is 160 times greater
than the value of the notes and coins in our pockets
and accounts for 97% of all money supply.
When the Bank of England talks about printing
money to revive our economy, the presses don’t
literally roll: the liquidity available to banks
just increases. This explains why the idea of
a genuine run on the banks terrifies treasuries.
No 2 Tomorrow’s money We live in an economy built on credit.
Our dependence on credit may grow as it
‘Clik’ and anti-bacterial coins by Fripp Design
“Clik (top) is fresh and modern. Embedded with RFID becomes easier for us to use plastic and mobile
[trackable, identifable radio frequency tagging], it is impossible phones to buy stuff. Chip and PIN is still relatively
to copy and the bumps can be easily read by the blind slow, but Barclays is the first bank to introduce
by simply counting the rows and columns to work out the
denomination,” says design director Neil Frewer. ‘contactless cards’ where up to £10 can be spent
“Coins are bacteria-ridden, so our second concept (above) without any verification. By 2011, five million such
has no dirt traps or crevices that could harbour diseases. cards will be in circulation.
The anti-bacterial-coated PET shell will take knocks over time
with ease, and the glass-like finish ensures its looks won’t There is an economic rationale behind phasing
fade. Suspended inside the shell are a range of materials, each out cash: counting out notes or coins makes us
representing a different amount, from plastics for pence to think more about what we are spending. No
metals in the pounds”.
matter how familiar we are with electronic
payments, there is something less immediate and
tangible about debiting an account electronically.
Psychologists call this ‘payment coupling’ – the
association between deciding to spend and the
actual spending. Priya Raghubir and Joydeep
Srivastava, who wrote the definitive study on the
subject, liken any form of physical payment that
isn’t legal tender (including credit cards and gift
vouchers) to “Monopoly money.”
We enjoy buying something less when we think
about it, so we are more likely to use our credit cards
to make frivolous purchases. And because credit
card bills group purchases together, the individual
‘The less well-off are trapped in a cash economy. Mobiles can

empower them. If you’re on benefits, £2.50 to use an ATM is a lot.’
Dave BirchConsult Hyperion
08/09
spending decisions we make seem less significant. One in 10 Britons believes that ‘under the
For similar reasons, we spend more on holiday if mattress’ is the safest place to keep their assets –
the foreign currency we are using is worth less than and 28 million Americans, appalled by the carnage
our own. The banks’ quiet phasing-out of monthly in the financial sector, are storing their money there,
statements may increase the effect and encourage despite being urged not to by the government. In
us to treat real money like Monopoly money. China, consumers who embraced newfound lines of
We have the technology to do away with cash but credit are turning back to cash.
the credit crunch suggests it may, for a while, be a Our attachment to cash runs so deep that many
case of ‘cash is dead, long live cash’. Psychologically, organisations have chosen to print their own.There
we aren’t ready to dispense with notes and coins. are more than 330 micro-currencies in the UK;
“Money is imbued with emotions,” says Furnham. Lewes and Totnes are the latest towns to launch
“For some that’s love, for others power, ambition or ‘pounds’ to encourage local spending. The flaws in
freedom.” When pop group The KLF were filmed such schemes are fairly obvious – if suppliers won’t
burning £1m on a remote island in 1994, it provoked accept the currency, businesses won’t either, and
outrage. Such a reaction would have been unlikely the whole trend contradicts the globalisation of the
had they wiped a few zeroes off their bank balance. economy. But in Europe, it is serious business.
Chasing the money

Designing a banknote is
a prestigious but increasingly
rare commission. The
last major overhaul of the
fundamental British design
was more than a decade
ago, in response to the
growing sophistication of
counterfeiters. Note design
has since been outsourced
to De La Rue, an Essex-
based commercial security
printer and manufacturer of
cash-sorting equipment.
Note design is a balancing
act between security
requirements, austerity and
disability legislation (the US
government, which made all
its notes the same size and
colour, had to add colour
after a legal challenge from
pressure groups for the
partially sighted).
If De La Rue does ever
rethink English notes,
the basics are unlikely
to change. The Bank
of England rejected
radical options in its last
commission. The tradition of
depicting famous historical
figures will probably endure:
the Bank’s research shows
that people noticed small
inaccuracies in faces more
readily than objects.
The design team needs
an intricate understanding
of the complex printing
processes and must deliver
value for, well, money – notes
should cost no more than
3.5p to produce.
Varying coin design is
easier, and security is less
of an issue, but retailers
and banks are reluctant to
handle coins. They’re fiddly,
hard to count and get lost too
easily. Reducing the size of a
coin has a proportional effect Money mad: children play
on value: studies of the latest with banknotes in 1920s
five-pence piece found it was Germany – hyperinflation
less likely to be picked up off meant the currency was
the floor than the old version. almost worthless
No 3 Tomorrow’s money
‘Earthworth’ by Dragon Rouge
“Society is going through a reality check after an era
of mass consumerism,” says creative director Chris Barber.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to create a sustainable
currency. Earthworth uses tree-free agricultural by-products and
100% unbleached post consumer content. And at the end of
their life, the notes can be composted or digested in a bioreactor
to create biofuel. Counterfeiting measures are included on the
holographic information bar, including RFID-encoded ink.
“It would act as a daily reminder to consume more respectfully,
and think about the life of product, both before and after use.”
Regional currencies are widespread in Germany. buyer can’t save enough to complete the purchase
In a bid to stimulate economies, some notes have they get their money back, minus a service fee).
‘spend by’ dates so that, if unused, they must be Popular in the 1930s, the ‘layaway’ is perfect for
renewed for a 2% levy. Islamic finance, which could newly constrained consumers who want to make
gain a foothold in the UK banking system, works bigger purchases.
along not dissimilar lines – it doesn’t offer interest, Cash remains king now, but how long will it
so there is no incentive to keep hold of cash. be before it is dethroned? Once the credit crunch
“Gentlemen, we have no money, therefore starts to ease, and economies recover, the lure of
we must think.” That’s what physicist Ernest m-commerce, time banks (paying for services with
Rutherford told the cash-strapped British Admiralty services), digital micro-currencies and peer-to-
in World War I as he tried to improve submarine peer ‘social banking’ suggests it can’t be long
detection without troubling the Treasury. With before the jangle of coins is silenced forever.
money tight, fewer credit cards being issued With the banking industry’s reputation
– and little faith in the banks – many of us are, shredded, social banking has gained some
like Rutherford, thinking outside the box. The momentum. Zopa, a peer-to-peer system that
American Internal Revenue Service has even had lets people loan directly to each other, is popular
to clarify the tax rules on bartering to claw back (and the Chancellor might like to note has only
revenue from those who don’t spend currency. a 0.2% bad-debt ratio) using a similar model to the
The trouble is, if consumers are to spend their American system Prosper, which has lent £124bn
way out of recession, the economy needs to rely less outside the conventional banking system.
on cash. Faced with a daily diet of redundancies and Dave Birch, director of Consult Hyperion, an IT
recession, we are cautious about impulse buys. As consultancy specialising in digital money, thinks
access to credit becomes harder, we use more cash cash will disappear “when we finally understand
and are more likely to spend on necessities than what the mobile phone was invented for.” In Japan
luxuries. The desire to remain outside the tax and South Korea, small transactions are routinely
system keeps cash alive among some sole traders. made through m-commerce as phones sync with
There are many situations where we could use vending machines, ticket booths and newspaper
less cash if we chose to but high fees to merchants kiosks. The Japanese m-commerce market is worth
and consumers deter many of us. Last November, more than £5bn, and 80% of e-commerce among
Downing Street said it was alarmed by sudden and 15-to-24-year-olds now takes place by phone.
sharp increases in credit card rates and fees as the Sophisticated m-commerce solutions mean
card companies try to compensate for the risk that users can receive cash from others, and choose to
many of their cardholders won’t pay their debts. pay in any currency. But security concerns could
K-Mart, one of America’s biggest retailers, has delay Birch’s forecast that most under-21s in the
revived the ‘layaway plan’, where goods are put to UK will be using such systems within five years.
one side and paid for over a few months (if the The Design Council has launched a Technology
10/11
‘Some people already go the whole day without handling cash.

It may become a “dirty” commodity people don’t want to touch’
Prof Adrian Furnham UCL
Strategy Board and Home Office-backed

challenge to devise the most effective systems
for verifying identity and ensuring security of
m-commerce transactions, an issue mobile phone
companies and payment providers haven’t yet
fully grasped (visit www.designcouncil.org.uk/
crime for details).
And, of course, with m-commerce the payment
coupling effect means we’ll all spend more. “Part
of the business case for m-commerce is that there
will be an uplift for merchants,” says Birch. He
does add, though, that phones’ interactivity will
enable us to see how much money we have at the
Loose change
point of spending it.
In Kenya, another early adopter, person-to-
The world of currency in person m-commerce means small businesses can
10 paragraphs transact without bank accounts, and consumers
Serious money
can transfer cash across the country without
The highest denomination running the risk of having to carry it in person. In
in circulation is Zimbabwe’s December, the British government announced
$100 trillion. In February, plans to persuade poorer countries to remove
$1 trillion was revalued as $1,
but the old notes remain valid. barriers to m-commerce, claiming it could save
£9bn in bank charges and other costs.
Fair copper Birch believes the same benefits could be felt
Soaring metal prices mean
that pre-1992 2p coins each empire, payments were often closer to home: “People who are comfortably
contain 3p worth of copper. made in olive oil. off don’t use much cash. But the less well-off are
Nine’s a bargain Designs on himself
trapped in a cash economy. If you’re on benefits,
A 1997 study found that Dutchman Robert Oxenaar, a £2.50 charge to use an ATM is a lot. Mobile
60% of prices in advertising regarded as the world’s phones could be very empowering in that sense.
material ended in the digit 9 foremost money designer,
and 30% ended in the digit 5. included his own fingerprints
In the average EU country, the social cost of
and friends’ names in his payments [the cost of processing and allowing
Beenz means disaster Guilders, which he designed access to cash] amounts to 0.5% of GDP. If you
The most notable of many until 2002.
attempts to introduce a ‘web have no cash, you have none of that.”
currency’,was the Beenz Healing power He points to successful trials involving Visa and
scheme launched by Research suggests we like Barclays among British users (who “didn’t feel it
Charles Cohen in the 1990s. holding cash so much it
Deemed illegal in many could act as a pain reliever.
was science fiction…they thought this was what
countries, Beenz blew Recent studies show that phones were meant for all along”) and the ease and
£100m in venture capital people feel less pain after rapidity with which the Oyster card has replaced
before it imploded in 2001. being scalded by hot water
when given money to hold.
cash on London’s transport network.
Mackerel economics Orange chief executive Tom Alexander says:
Since 2003, when cigarettes Monetary muse “Today you pay for things by cash or on your credit
were phased out, inmates of In 1903, Brazili’s finance chief
Californian prisons have been Joaquim Murtinho, made an card. Tomorrow, you’ll use your mobile to buy the
trading in ‘macks’ – cans of image of his mistress the face things you want, whether that’s on the high street
mackerel. In 1920s Siberia, on the new 2,000-real note. or the internet.”
people could exchange furs
for money credits while, in the SpendalongaMax The credit crunch has granted cash a stay of
early days of the Roman The UK government execution but has also handed us an opportunity
promoted Decimal Day (15 to build an infrastructure (embracing retailers,
February 1971) by asking Max
Bygraves (above) to record financial institutions and individuals) for
a song called ‘Decimalisation’. a more technologically advanced future. Only
the psychological allure of the folding stuff – or
Dollar bull
In 1999, Canadian economist another recession – can hold us back. And cash
Herbert Grubel suggested has already suffered one symbolically important
Canada, Mexico and the US death. In 2006, the makers of Monopoly issued
adopt a common currency –
the amero – but the idea never a new edition of the game that replaced notes with
caught on. a Visa-style credit card.
Design Council Issue 6 12/13
‘Fair-haired folk producing

sober beech furniture’
That’s the clichéd view of Scandinavian designers. But,
as Paul Simpson discovers, this vibrant industry is helping
the region innovate and cushion the economic blows
If you had invited radical Danish designer

Verner Panton to dinner, you could expect him
to rearrange your furniture. Panton once said:
“I can’t bear to enter a room and see the sofa
and coffee table and two chairs, immediately
knowing we will be stuck here for an entire
evening. I made furniture to be raised and
lowered to give a new angle on life.”
The launch of his famous one-piece plastic
chair in 1960 was Panton’s declaration of
independence, a bold alternative to the craft
ethos dominating Danish design. Panton would
design a remarkable array of products and
interiors. His womb-like Phantasy Landscape Cutting edge: Verner Panton’s
foam rubber room looks now like a rare blend Phantasy Landscape (above)
and Royal Copenhagen’s Blue
of the sensibilities of Salvador Dali and Austin Fluted Mega (left) show the
Powers. Panton’s career as the enfant terrible scope of Scandinavian design
of Danish design is proof that to understand
Scandinavian design, its economic and social
role, you have to go beyond the myths.
Myth 1: There is such a thing as

Scandinavian design.
In 1980, some disgruntled designers staged a mock
funeral in Oslo for the concept of ‘Scandinavian
design’. The 1950s, the golden age of design in
Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, fixed
a certain image of Scandinavian design – cool,
craft-based, democratic, functional, reassuringly
modernist, socially aware, using natural materials –
which has proved both a burden and an inspiration.
Not every Scandinavian designer has felt
it necessary to stage mock funerals, but the
Norwegians had a point. The region’s design
industries have, in the last 30 years, been driven
by different influences, priorities and economic
cycles. The collapse of the Soviet Union hit both ‘A down-to-
Finland and Sweden hard in the early 1990s, and in
1992 the Swedish government had to rescue banks
earth, modest
with a plan that became the template for later culture could
bailouts. The pain is more widely spread now, be seen as being
although Iceland’s economic meltdown dwarfs the
Finnish and Swedish recessions of the 1990s. at odds with
ln Finland, the reinvention of boots and wood design with a
pulp group Nokia as a telecoms giant has created
a high-tech sector that accounts for 3% of GDP.
capital D, which
In Denmark and Norway, the absence – and is often a luxury’
“Norwegians are also known for having a down-
to-earth and modest culture – and these qualities
could be seen as being at odds with design with
a capital D, which is too often seen as rather elitist
and a luxury. Norwegian design is rarely elitist. It
can be expensive, but that’s a different thing.”
Myth 2: Scandinavian design consists of “fair-

haired folk producing sober beech furniture”.
This was never the full story – Volvo anyone? –
but became a powerful stereotype after the
success of products like Hans Wegner’s Round
Chair, used by John F. Kennedy when preparing
for the first televised presidential debate in 1960.
The surprising fruits of Scandinavian design
include Nilfisk vacuum cleaners being used in
space by NASA; Flytoget, the express train service
to Oslo airport (the first rail company in the world
to introduce ticketless travel); and Linus Torvalds’
open source operating system Linux, uploaded
onto the University of Helsinki’s server in 1991.
Where to now?: the Swedish The stereotypes obscure the way some of the
town of Kiruna is planning to region’s most famous, long-established companies
move lock, stock and barrel –
but its town hall will have to be have reinvented themselves through design to
dismantled to be transported remain competitive.
Royal Copenhagen started out in a converted
presence – of oil has proved crucial. In Sweden, post office in 1775, making blue and white
the large design industry is still overshadowed by porcelain for the Danish royal family. When
IKEA, while Iceland’s tiny sector was starting to the company invited designers to pitch product
thrive when economic apocalypse struck. ideas to celebrate its 225th anniversary, Karen
Henrietta Thompson, the Wallpaper journalist Kjaeldgård-Larsen – a 26-year-old Dane –
who curates the ‘100% Norway’ design exhibition suggested they blow up the blue and white
in London, gives a sense of the subtly different pattern that had been the company’s trademark.
characteristics of Norwegian design: “It has many Niels Bastrup, Royal Copenhagen’s creative
of the qualities Scandinavian design is famous director, says: “There was a lot of attraction
for, but I often see a sense of humour, a wittiness, towards this idea, and lots of fear. When
which is particularly Norwegian. a company has existed for so long, your heritage
Monica Förster on what makes Scandinavian design distinctive
design and everything cold, but I don’t think they How is the current economic
is accepted.That’s really would view it like that in Italy. climate affecting you?
something that creates an The environment affects other Maybe people are more
extra dimension. people’s perception of objects careful at the moment, not
and design. experimenting as much, but
What influence do you think from a creative perspective it’s
Scandinavian design has Do you have to design not only negative. The projects
in other countries? your products for that actually come out during
We have a unique heritage, a specific market? this time may be projects that
which is based on simplicity I work with between 20 and were lost for a while, and I feel
and functionalism. This often 30 companies, and all these that’s a good thing for design.
comes through in our work companies aim for a specific
and can give our design market. Of course, the
Monica Förster is a furniture a strong identity globally. You choice I make to work with
and object designer based can always react against your a certain company means
in Stockholm. Twice Swedish history, but you can never that I am choosing to
Designer of the Year, her really escape it. target my designs at
clients include Modus, a particular
Tacchini and Swedese. What impact does the audience.
environment have on
What do you find exciting your design?
about Scandinavian design? We are surrounded by forest,
The variety – there are so so there is a tradition of
many directions of design, working with wood and raw Sit down, relax:
rather than one single line materials. The climate is Förster’s Drop
working in a cross-disciplinary important too. For example, in stool,
way. We have everything from Sweden we would tend to see produced by
minimalist design to concept an aluminium chair as being Modus
14/15
‘I can’t bear to fjords beautiful enough to pine over. The region

has occasionally been disfigured by industry.
enter a room Kiruna, the northernmost town in Sweden, was
and see the sofa designed around an iron ore mine and, although it
does have an ice hotel, has become more famous as
and table and the town that has to move because the town centre
chairs, knowing may one day slide down a hole left by the mine. By
we will be stuck 2014, it will have been rehoused a few miles north
west, at the foot of Luossavaara mountain. Houses
here for an will be loaded onto large trailers, but the town hall
entire evening’ may have to be cut into pieces.
Kiruna’s case is exceptional because Scandinavia
can be your strength – and your biggest enemy, has become a market leader in environmental
an extreme force that can stop you developing.” solutions. In 1973, Denmark’s economy was 99%
The Kjaeldgård-Larsen ‘Blue Fluted Mega’ dependent on foreign oil. High oil prices forced a
range repositioned the brand. “Once Blue Mega new energy policy that has remained pretty
was established, the natural thing was to pick consistent through changes of government. Today,
another colour,” says Bastrup. “We chose to Denmark has the lowest energy consumption per
make a black-fluted range that took us out of unit of GDP in the European Union.
grandma’s kitchen and made our product much Denmark’s success isn’t entirely about policy.
more a part of the design world.” A Danish household uses 58% of the energy
After Scandinavia, Japan is now the largest consumed by a typical American one, partly
market for Royal Copenhagen, accounting for because most Danish families have only one car
40% of turnover, and 70% of Japanese recognise and are happy to rely on public transport. When
the brand, Bastrup says: “In the last decade, Royal IKEA chose to trial a service for customers to
Copenhagen has gone from being a high-end
porcelain manufacturer to a brand in its own right. The new wave of Nordic design
Daring to invest means we’re still here today.”
1 1 Rauhella
Myth 3: Scandinavian design is all about craft. This Norwegian company
uses environmentally friendly
First it was cars, now the fashion for ‘pimping’ materials to create its Trollkid
products has reached the vacuum cleaner. Fairytail Furniture. Meet the
Sweden’s Electrolux has produced a limited Throne Elk: chair, cupboard,
hat-stand and friend all in one.
edition of its Ergorapido vacuum cleaner decked
with 3,730 Swarovski crystals. The Ergorapido – 2 2 AutoSock
sans crystals – spearheaded a cultural revolution Norway’s award-winning sock
for tyres, designed to cope
within Electrolux which focused on user-driven with unexpected snowfalls,
innovation and design. Launched in 2004, the is so innovative it’s featured
in New York’s Museum of
Ergorapido won 60% of the European market for Modern Art. Sales doubled
hand-held vacuum cleaners even though it cost between 2004 and 2006.
40% more than existing appliances. By studying
3 3 Politiken
user habits and creating multi-disciplinary global This Danish daily paper was
product development teams, Electrolux stopped redesigned in 2006 in an
being a consumer appliance group that had attempt to stop readers
migrating to online media: it
forgotten how to launch things. fought the internet at its own
Despite the huge amounts written on the subject game, framing its front page like
by American authors, user-centred innovation is a web page and taking other
design cues from the net.
not a US idea. In the 1970s, Denmark’s Aarhus
University pioneered what was then called 4 4 Harri Koskinen
‘human-oriented design’ and the manufacturing The Finnish designer won the
Compasso d’Oro prize in 2004
group Danfoss founded a user-innovation unit in for his oak frame Muu chair,
the early 1990s. Quality and innovation, not the part of a range created for
way things are styled, will, designers hope, become Italian manufacturer Montina.
He’s also known for his Block
central to their pitch to the world. light, for Design House
Stockholm in 1998.
Myth 4: Scandinavia is a green paradise. 5 5 Charlotte Sinding
No country can escape its landscape, and At an exhibition in Stockholm,
Scandinavian design showed a certain reverence the Swedish jewel artist
for nature and natural materials long before displayed jewellery resembling
trembling body parts. Other
‘sustainability’ became a buzzword.But work includes rings adorned
Scandinavia isn’t all ice hotels, endless forests and with four-inch silicon birds.
borrow free bikes so they could take their own
purchases home, it did so in Copenhagen.
Because sustainability is at the heart of
Scandinavian policy and culture, designers have
a competitive edge. The idea of ‘sustainable
fashion design’ can sound like so much greenwash.
But in 2007, Norwegian designers launched FIN
Fashion, the world’s first label to have Fairtrade
accreditation. FIN is a pioneer, but in Norway’s
booming fashion industry is far from exceptional.
Myth 5: There is no such thing as

Scandinavian design.
The Norwegian designers who staged their bit of
agitprop in 1980 would turn in their mock graves,
but there is a consensus that Scandinavian
design can only compete globally if the region
becomes a design industry and market that
transcends borders. Increased competition
would, the theory goes, restructure the industry
and the number of design-conscious customers
in the home market would reach a critical mass. Crossing borders: H&M is
Such restructuring sounds laudable in theory, but showcasing the work of
Finland’s Marimekko, which
in practice? In a single Scandinavian market could hopes to become a global
the 18 firms that comprise the Icelandic design fashion brand
industry compete with the 11,199 Swedish design
companies? And yet there is a growing sense that
something must change. Even Denmark, home to
one of the world’s most famous design industries, is
The future is now
struggling to maintain its global profile. Design initiatives panels and inmates grow their
As Thompson points out, the different design across Scandinavia own organic food.
industries draw strongly on their national roots. 7 Øresund Bridge, Denmark
1 Kolding, Denmark The longest combined rail and
“Norwegian design is very often proud to be Home of Designskolen road bridge in Europe, with two
Norwegian. You can see it in the names and the Kolding, one of two university- rail lines and a four-lane road.
constant references to Norwegian traditions… level design schools. 8 Oslo, Norway
2 Samso, Denmark The new Norwegian Institute
provenance and heritage is important when so This island runs renewable of Fashion opened its doors
much is globalised and homogenous.” But she energy to the mainland. earlier this year.
can see the logic behind one Nordic design 3 Hammarby Sjöstad, Sweden 9 Aarhus, Denmark
CO2 emissions have been cut Home to Kaos Pilot
market. “Norwegian design is world class, but here by 50%, thanks to free International,the top
relatively small. And when it comes to exports, public transport and energy- Scandinavian design school.
more needs to be invested in education, training saving design. 10 Klädesholmen, Sweden
4 Lapland, Finland Sweden’s first floating hotel is
and support for manufacturers and designers.” The Sami herdspeople track designed to have minimum
The potential fruits of collaboration can be seen their reindeer on the 300km impact on the environment.
in the deal Finnish fashion designer Marimekko migration from highland to 11 Reykjavik, Iceland
coast using GPS collars. Government-imposed limits
struck with Swedish clothing company H&M to 5 Tofte, Norway on foreign exports have
use some of its patterns. Under new owner Mika A tenth of Norway’s energy will inspired a craft revolution.
Ihamuotila, the Finnish group plans to develop one day come from salt – Tofte 12 Helsinki, Finland
is home to its first huge plant. Helsinki’s Design District is 25
into a global lifestyle brand. Ihamuotila’s overhaul 6 Bastoey Island, Norway streets of design, antique and
is ambitious, but he says: “Success will never rest Bastoey Prison has solar fashion shops.
solely on efficiency benefits from processes, as
we would inevitably lose that game. Instead,
Marimekko must walk its own path, creating 4
a desired brand for which customers are willing to 11
pay more than the one at the store next door.”
Ihamuotila, who had previously only run 5
financial institutions, admits his decision to “invest
8
my entire mental and financial capacity” looks 6 10 3 12
“completely insane, considering the advice on 9 7
diversification of risk in every business book” but, 1 2
like Panton with his chair, he is happy to back his
judgement against conventional wisdom.
Working knowledge Vital intelligence on Scandinavia 16/17
!"#$%&' education, technology and Total service exports, 2006

R&D. International trade UK $229,233m
Area 43,094 sq km supplies one third of GDP,
Population 5.5m led by manufacturing, US $418,848m
GDP $213.6bn which makes up 31% Denmark $52,484m
(PPP: $38,900) of the economy. Services
GDP growth -2.5% contribute nearly 66%. Finland $16,073m
Inflation 3.5% GDP is decreasing and Iceland $1,832m
Internet users (2007) 3.5m unemployment rising, but
Unemployment 2% prudent management in Norway $32,892m
Foreign direct investment past years means the Finnish Sweden $49,386m
(2007) $11.2bn government is in a strong
position financially. Source: OECD
(&)"*)#+
Denmark’s economic growth ,-&"#+-./ be energy-independent by Greenhouse gas emissions
has most definitely stalled. Corporate balance sheets 2050. Currently, more than have increased by 15% since
Two bank bailout packages are strong, banks hold few 99% of electricity is from 1991. The government has
have cost £16bn, and toxic assets, and the housing hydropower and geothermal opened up more areas
Denmark has just overtaken market is relatively stable. energy and more than 70% for oil and gas exploration.
Sweden as the most Finland’s schools lead of primary energy is from R&D as a percentage of
heavily taxed nation among the world in mathematics, renewable sources. GDP is below the OECD
developed countries. reading and science abilities. average and manufacturing
Support for Anders Fogh Investment in R&D, 3.45% 0"%'#"//"/ R&D is particularly low.
Rasmussen, prime minister of GDP, is the second highest The IMF says the banking
since 2001, should be enough in the OECD. failure could cost taxpayers ,8"3"#
to give him a good chance Finland remains an IT more than 80% of GDP.
of winning a referendum on powerhouse, particularly The number of science Area 449,964 sq km
joining the euro, which he has through Nokia’s dominance. and engineering graduates Population 9m
promised to call before 2011. is low, and the number of GDP $358.4bn
The government launched 0"%'#"//"/ people with only lower- (PPP: $39,600)
its DesignDenmark initiative With relatively little secondary education is high. GDP growth -3.5%
in 2007, aiming to boost the hydropower capacity, much Inflation 1.6%
design sector by creating of Finland’s energy comes 67&8%9 Internet users (2007) 7m
‘fashion zones’ and involving from fossil fuels, although Unemployment 6.4%
designers in the public sector. renewable energy – a target Area 323,802 sq km Foreign direct investment
for state investment – makes Population 4.6m (2007) $20.9bn
,-&"#+-./ up 23% of energy use. GDP $267bn
Copenhagen ranked fourth High investment in R&D (PPP: $57,500) (&)"*)#+
in FDI Magazine’s 2008 has not been fully converted GDP growth -1.2% Sweden is vulnerable to the
survey of the European cities into the expected growth in Inflation 3.6% global slowdown through big
with the highest potential for innovation, jobs and exports, Internet users (2007) 3.8m international exporters like
economic development and because it is focused on Unemployment 2.6% Volvo and Ericsson. Crisis-
attractiveness for investors. specific sectors, dominated Foreign direct investment hit Saab has been put up for
Denmark now exports by a few large companies. (2007) $602m sale by General Motors.
$3.6bn of oil annually from The four-party centre-right
its North Sea reserves; in the 45"2%#3 (&)"*)#+ government has maintained
1980s, it imported nearly that Its economy is shrinking, but public confidence, though it
amount. Some 20% of its Area 103,000 sq km Norway is still outperforming may not win the 2010 election.
power comes from the wind. Population 304,400 most of Europe. The country The weakening of the
GDP $12.97bn is the world’s third-largest Swedish krona will reopen
0"%'#"//"/ (PPP: $42,600) exporter of gas and the debate on adopting the euro.
The Danish Confederation GDP growth 2% fourth-largest exporter of oil. Sweden’s design industry
of Industry says this year’s Inflation 13.4% Norway’s services sector is has grown faster than any
exports will see the worst Internet users (2007) 202,300 the biggest employer, with other in Scandinavia over the
decline since WWII. Unemployment 9.4% 76% of the workforce. past two decades. Design
The government hasn’t Foreign direct investment The election in September House Stockholm beat
raised this year’s welfare (2007) $3bn will be closely fought, but the international competition
budget, despite demand current centre-left coalition to win the commission for a
increasing. Education is also (&)"*)#+ should stay in power. new global range of crockery
suffering: state support for Iceland’s economy will shrink There are more than for Starbucks in 2007.
universities has been cut by almost 10% in 2009. The 2,300 Norwegian design
by 2%, while fewer students collapse of its three largest businesses, but 89% employ ,-&"#+-./
graduating in science will banks was the biggest-ever fewer than five people. Manufacturing as a whole
lead to skills shortages. banking failure relative to the remains strong, and the
size of an economy. ,-&"#+-./ annual percentage of GDP
1)#2%#3 A centre-left government Despite decreases in oil from manufacturing is rising.
replaced the coalition prices, investments in In the past decade, the
Area 338,145 sq km government in February, petroleum should remain high. number of students in higher
Population 5.2m following public protests. PM Jens Stoltenberg has education has risen by 50%.
GDP $201.2bn The crisis has reopened the set a target of being carbon US economist Richard
(PPP: $38,400) debate about joining the neutral by 2030. Hydroelectric Florida says Sweden has the
GDP growth -2.8% EU, and most Icelanders power supplies 98-99% of highest levels of business
Inflation 4.1% favour a new currency. Norway’s electricity. creativity in Europe.
Internet users (2007) 3.6m Science output is high,
Unemployment 6.4% ,-&"#+-./ and about 30% of R&D is in 0"%'#"//"/
Foreign direct investment Software, biotechnology and higher education. Investment Swedish banks are heavily
(2007) $8.4bn tourism have all grown as is high in the services sector. exposed to struggling Baltic
Iceland’s economy has economies.
(&)"*)#+ diversified over the last 0"%'#"//"/ The number of people
Finland reinvented itself after decade; the fishing industry Norway has trouble attracting living on welfare benefits
severe recession in the early remains sustainable. professionals and highly is rising fast. Despite high
1990s, investing billions in The country expects to skilled workers from abroad. taxes, pensions are low.
Tights into fan belts:

design for thrifty times
As countries and companies look for ways to save
the planet – and money – Rhymer Rigby suggests that
sustainable design is now more relevant than ever
Next time you buy a sofa, here’s an interesting we are overdue at least a partial return to an
question to ask yourself: would you rather have attitude familiar to householders in the 1940s:
one £4,000 sofa or eight £500 sofas? Not in your “We expect you to buy a piece of furniture
living room, but over the course of your lifetime. knowing it will last your entire life.” Moreover,
As we’re increasingly beginning to realise, a well- she says, if clients bring her good-quality old
made object that lasts a long time and can be furniture, she’ll renovate it for them.
repaired and updated is a sustainable choice, no This return to a ‘make do and mend’ mentality
matter what its other credentials. goes hand-in-hand with our new-found love of
This has become an issue because our craftsmanship, and is reaching far beyond the
consumption habits have changed. We don’t really bespoke end of the market. Websites offering
expect our consumer durables to be that durable tips on recycling household items (tights can be
any more. Since the early 1990s, our neophilia has used for everything from pond skimmers to fan
reached dizzy heights, largely driven – in the case belts, while “pantyhose make excellent polishing
of interiors at least – by magazines and companies cloths” according to www.greenlivingtips.com)
whose interests lie in a regular (and, historically, have exploded in popularity, and home make-
shockingly short) upgrade cycle. over shows emphasise frugality and reuse where
Items such as chairs, tables and desks that once they embraced consumerism.
previous generations would have expected to last The iconic lamp-maker Anglepoise is
at least 20 years are now chucked out after two or a fifth-generation family business that has been
three. The demand for mid-market antiques has around for 150 years. “We’re in it for the long
almost collapsed as a result. Chances are, you can haul,” says CEO Simon Terry, the founder’s
buy a Victorian mahogany dining table for less great-great-grandson. “That’s what we do. Our
now than you could 30 years ago; who wants old philosophy has always been to make it right first
when you can have new and shiny? We throw time. We find ourselves looking after customers
away two million tonnes of clothes a year, up 34% who have our lights for 75 years.” The company
on 1996. Almost three-quarters of the clothes recently launched a kit that allows customers
bought in the UK end up in landfill. to rewire their old lamps to current standards.
But our love affair with the ever-new may be “We’re a small company,” he explains, “and
coming to a close – and not just for environmental
reasons. Everything from the economy to the Vintage recycling
Wartime ‘make do and mend’
desire to shop ethically is making us reconsider posters reminded Brits how
our unsustainable attitude to durables. to survive rationing. The credit
Lisa Whatmough, owner of London furniture crunch may force us to adopt
maker Squint, believes we are seeing a move away a similar mentality
from ephemeral interiors. “Part of the problem
has been that, in the past few decades, people have
been into upgrading their homes. You go from
a flat to a house to a bigger house and you buy a new
batch of furniture each time. The credit crunch
could well stop the endless aspiring to buy bigger
and better things – not least because people won’t
be moving house so often.” Whatmough believes
18/19
we can’t compete with cheap lights from places
like IKEA – so we don’t.”
But, he says, when you buy an Anglepoise
light, you enter into a relationship with the
company. When something goes wrong with your
lamp 15 years down the line, you know there’s
a good chance, you’ll be able to get spares or have
it repaired. Of course, an Anglepoise lamp retails
at £60, as opposed to IKEA’s £12. But a £12 lamp
is something designed to be thrown away the
moment the interiors magazines tell you it’s time
for another make-over. And the same applies to
everything from fashion to household appliances.
Laudable though Terry’s stance is, there are
some items for which the long-life sustainable
philosophy doesn’t work so well. It would be
impractical to buy a laptop believing it would
be useable 30 years later. Nor has the thrifty,
make-it-to-last approach filtered through to the
mobile phone industry yet. But not everything
at the cutting edge must be disposable.
One of the most celebrated examples of
this is the near-indestructible Land Rover. It’s
modular (parts can be replaced easily), extremely
robust, (mostly) British-made and easy to
service. Small wonder that 75% of Land Rovers
made since 1955 are still on the road today.
And, if you look around you, there are plenty
of products that fall into this category. Michael
Bonney, of British bicycle-maker Orange
Bikes, says that many of the company’s earliest
models from the late 1980s are still being ridden
(although, he adds, you probably wouldn’t want
to ride a 1988 mountain bike down some of
“There’s no such thing as sustainable design”

I always think it’s a bit sad eco-effectiveness to accumulate in breast milk”
that whenever we talk about produce things that make and take that as a starting
the environment we start the planet more productive. point for creation.
talking about sustainable What people don’t realise ‘Cradle-to-cradle’
design. Suddenly we’ve is that the problem isn’t just companies such as Philips
reduced our concerns a carbon or energy problem, and AkzoNobel collaborate
to a tiny niche. Besides, it’s a methane problem and with others. Together, they
sustainability is just not very a nitrous oxide problem, say “let’s make a printer that
ambitious. If your husband concerning the ingredients actively cleans the air”. So
or wife was to say “our and materials we use. you can be ambitious and
Professor Michael relationship is sustainable” Of course, most designers make products that are really
Braungart, author that’s not really enough. are not material scientists. beneficial in the same way
of Cradle To Cradle: So there is no sustainable They don’t need to be – they trees are beneficial, rather
Remaking the Way design, just good design just need to ask the right than just being less bad.
We Make Things, or not-good design. questions. But first, they The key message is that
on why we should For years, traditional need to have more ambition. companies and designers
look beyond environmentalists have Some designers say “let’s must define meaningful
sustainability to encouraged us to think beautify this at the end”, goals for what they want
consider good about the environment from instead of “let’s make really to achieve. Products don’t
and bad design a guilt perspective. Being good design”. need to be perfect, because
told to reduce our carbon We need to unite people you can’t know what perfect
footprint is like saying ‘it’s around positive goals and will mean in 2020.
better if I’m not here’. Guilt then they can think about It’s more about being
management has turned how to really achieve willing to define your
into an obsession for eco- something. Designers could intentions. If all designers
efficiency. We just can’t get say, for example, “in 10 could have more ambition
enough of being ‘less bad’ years, no chemicals from and more self-esteem, that
instead of working on products or materials will would be a very good start.
20/21
today’s more difficult trails). And it’s not just Leaner and greener
upmarket, custom-made bikes to which this Sustainable design in action
applies. “Unless you damage the frame, almost around the world
any bike will last indefinitely.” Milking it
But why do people expect an indefinite life from Gallon milk jugs (below) from
a bike when they no longer do from a chair? The Wal-Mart and Costco in the
US are designed to stack
answer may well be because no one has designed together, making shipping
a disposable bike yet. More generally, though, more efficient. The milk arrives
mendability is usually related to relative cost. at stores more quickly,
retailers save up to 70% on
In India or China, many objects considered labour and customers pay
disposable in the West are repaired. We may soon 10 to 20 cents less per jug.
follow suit. The cost of any good, notes Terry,
is the raw materials plus the labour – and the golden
age of wasteful consumption has relied on both low
raw material costs and low labour costs. As recent
fluctuations in oil and steel prices have shown, this
cannot be depended upon. And, in the longer term,
‘The credit crunch could stop the endless aspiring Reason to believe
to buy bigger and better things – we could buy The Reason washing machine
(www.reasonwashingmachine.
furniture that will last an entire lifetime’ com) automatically dispenses
the correct amount of water
and detergent – and its 10kg
as workshop countries like China become drum lets you wash more
clothes in the same cycle.
relatively richer, neither can low labour costs.
Whatmough points to the fact that her furniture Daily bread
First launched in 1945,
is all made in the UK and keeping craft skills the Dualit toaster (below) has
alive. While this may seem desirable in a warm, become a design icon and,
fuzzy Islington kind of way, it’s positive in other unlike most white goods, it’s
built to last. Handmade in
ways, too. After almost two decades of ignoring the UK, all its parts can be
manufacturing and genuflecting before a financial repaired or replaced. It’s user-
services sector that had, in historical terms, friendly too: the manually
operated lever
swollen to become a disproportionately large part allows you
of the UK economy, we’ve suddenly discovered keep toast
that it’s quite nice to have an economy where warm until you
want to eat it.
things are made and value is added.
There are reasons to suggest the tide is turning Great Danes
against the sort of disposable minimalism Hansen Living kitchen
furnishings are designed to
espoused by celebrity culture and popularised last decades and improve with
by much of the press. A few years ago, a age. The range, made from
rekindling of interest in the craft movement sustainably harvested wood,
is assembled in Denmark.
began. People now talk of authenticity and
seek somewhere that tells the tale of a life lived Long haul
rather than a magazine read. The hard-edged US luggage firm Briggs
& Riley is revered by travellers
minimalist sometimes struggles to translate into for its ‘Simple as that’
Britain’s largely Victorian housing stock. And, warranty, which guarantees
as Whatmough points out, while the clean, replacement bags or cases,
even if an airline is responsible
modern look may be pleasing to the eye, for the damage.
a well-upholstered sofa is a million times more
comfortable to sit on. Green swoosh
Nike’s Trash Talk basketball
So are we returning to the values of the 1940s? trainer (below) is made from
Not quite. But we are coming to realise that the company’s manufacturing
at some point in the 1990s, the British – long by-products. The top of the
shoe comes from synthetic
respected for their restraint, modesty and love of leather waste from the factory
quality – took a collective look at WAG bling and floor and the outsole from
ecologically sound rubber.
bought into it in a big way. But make-over and
move and this season’s sofa was then. Now, it’s
make do and mend and design for life.
For more on sustainable design, visit

www.designcouncil.org.uk/sustainabledesign.
Five different ways to

look at tomorrow’s world
We often rank countries by wealth and education, but is
it time to consider age, peace, happiness… and robots?
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N O R T H
A T L A N T I C
Gulf of
Mexico O C E A N
Tropic of Cancer
C
ar
ib
be
an
Sea
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0° Gulf of
Guinea
S O U T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Capricorn
O C E A N
40°
22/23
! Ageing populations
In 2020, the average age in than the world’s oldest Median age (years)
India will be 29. It will be 37 populations: Germany, Japan
39+
in China and 48 in Japan. By and Monaco. With one in four
33-38
2030, India will have only 0.4 Iranians under 15, Iran can
27-32
dependents for every worker expect an economic stimulus,
21-26
whereas the UK, by 2040, will but this could pose a political
Under 21
have a dependency ratio of risk as young modernisers
No data
0.65. The UK’s median age, clash with the establishment.
39.6, is only slightly younger
Source: CIA World Factbook
40° 80° 120° 160°

Laptev Sea
East
Kara Sea Siberian
Sea
Chukchi
Sea
B e ri
ng S
tr a it
a
Bering Sea
Se
Sea of
ic
lt
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Ca
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spi
Black Sea Sea

an
Sea of
Sea
d i Japan
te
rr
a n
e a n Yellow
S e a
Sea
East
China Sea
P A C I F I C
R
e d
O C E A N
S e
P h
a
ili
Bay of
pp
en South
Ad Bengal
of
in
Gulf China
e
Sea
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a
Celebes
Sea
I N D I A N
l
O C E A N
ne
anh
Coral Sea
e C
iqu
amb
Moz
Tasman Sea
160° 120° 80° 40° 0° 40° 80° 120° 160°
80° A R C T I C O C E A N
Arctic Circle
40°
N O R T H
A T L A N T I C
O C E A N P A C I F I C
Tropic of Cancer
O C E A N
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0°
I N D I A N
O C E A N
S O U T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Capricorn
O C E A N
40°
Antarctic Circle
" Voting patterns
Our propensity to vote varies a close-run, two-party contest Turnout in most

80°
so wildly that 32 nations have keeps voters gripped. The recent elections
made it compulsory. While 85% average turnout in
92% stay away from the 86%-100%
Bolivia may be explained,
polls in Indonesia – fearing 71%-85%
in part, by the fact that non-
intimidation and violence 56%-70%
voters could be docked three
– the same percentage do 41%-55%
months salary.
vote of their own volition in Below 40%
Luxembourg. In Malta (93%) Source: International IDEA No data
160° 120° 80° 40° 0° 40° 80° 120° 160°

Arctic Circle
40°
N O R T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Cancer
O C E A N
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0°
I N D I A N
O C E A N
S O U T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Capricorn
O C E A N
40°
Antarctic Circle
# Peace in our time
Defining peace might seem The UK ranks 49th – behind Peace rating (lower
80°
near impossible, but the Botswana, but 82 places is more peaceful)
Global Peace Index has done ahead of Russia, which is
its best. Rating countries on ranked lower than Sri Lanka. 3+
24 factors – including military Is this why the Russians 2.6-3
spending and human rights are, as map 4 shows, the 2.1-2.5
– they reckon Iceland is the glummest major power? 1.6-2
most peaceful, ahead of 0-1.5
Norway and New Zealand. Source: visionofhumanity.org No data
24/25
160° 120° 80° 40° 0° 40° 80° 120° 160°
Arctic Circle
40°
N O R T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Cancer
O C E A N
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0°
I N D I A N
O C E A N
S O U T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Capricorn
O C E A N
40°
Antarctic Circle
% Happy, happy, happy
What makes Danes so oeuvre of Leonard Cohen. Happiness and life

80°
cheery? Effective public The Global Happiness Index – satisfaction rating
transport, short working compiled from interviews with 3+
hours, high employment and a locals – shows a rough and 2.1-3
peaceful culture? Apart from not-that-surprising correlation 1.1-2
the Czech Republic and between wealth and 0.1-1
Poland, the old Soviet bloc is, happiness. Below 0
this survey suggests, so glum No data
they might be cheered by the Source: World Values Survey
160° 120° 80° 40° 0° 40° 80° 120° 160°

Arctic Circle
40°
N O R T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Cancer
O C E A N
P A C I F I C
O C E A N
0°
I N D I A N
O C E A N
S O U T H
A T L A N T I C
Tropic of Capricorn
O C E A N
40°
Antarctic Circle
$ Rise of the robots
In Greek mythology, the god lines – the Japanese believe Robot density per 10,000
80°
Hephaestus built mechanical they bring good luck. By manufacturing workers
servants. Now, dreams of 2025, one million robots
living in harmony with robots 51+
could be at work in Japan. In 41-50
are inching closer to reality. Europe, the UK lags behind
In Japan, home to 40% of the 31-40
France, Germany and Italy in 11-30
robots on earth, androids act its use of robots.
as receptionists and are even 0-10
welcomed on manufacturing Source: IEEE Spectrum
How to spend
taxpayers’ money
innovatively...
... stimulate small businesses and deliver better services.
It can be done, Paul Simpson says, with a bit of design
thinking, a cultural shift and a spot of re-engineering
26/27
If you commute to work in central London, you probably carry an example Unpicking procurement
of innovative government procurement in your pocket. Five million Britons David Kester, chief
regularly use an Oyster card, a credit card-sized electronic pay-as-you-go executive, Design
ticket that eases journeys, fights fraud and saves Transport for London Council
“For design to help
a serious amount of money. improve public
The Oyster card does many things that the government admits the public services, a pre-procurement,
sector isn’t always good at. Promoted by one public body (Transport for conversation must take place.
That could be the difference
London), the Oyster wouldn’t work without collaboration from other public between a process where
organisations (particularly Network Rail) and businesses. It increasingly draws purchasing specifications
on the kind of open source architecture that is at the heart of the government’s offer too little scope for
innovative solutions and one
future IT strategy and is the kind of innovative solution to users’ needs that the that identifies project needs
public sector is often criticised for failing to deliver. holistically, allows discussion
The Oyster proves two things. First, that innovative government and recognises users.”
procurement is not as rare as some cynics suggest. And second, that the Ben Reason,
actual business of procurement is not just a concern for policy wonks. If the live|work
“You don’t know
government could procure goods and services in a seriously more innovative where innovation’s
way, it could save a few billion, think differently about some of the daunting going to come
challenges – health, crime, infrastructure – that seem increasingly unlikely to from. Smaller businesses may
create something that hasn’t
be solved by throwing money at them, stimulate businesses (especially SMEs) been thought of before, but it’s
and deliver services that could tangibly improve the quality of our lives. hard for them to win the work.
So why, if all that good could come of innovative procurement, doesn’t the As a small business, we find
applying for public sector
public sector do more of it? work very time consuming
To answer that, it is unfortunately necessary to crunch a few statistics. and it can be unrewarding.
Nigel Smith, chief executive of the Office of Government Commerce, You don’t always get
a chance to meet people and
an independent office responsible to the Treasury for making sure the understand what they want.”
government gets value for money, says: “The government spends around
£175bn a year, with only £12bn of that spent by professional buying Nigel Smith, chief
executive, Office
organisations. There are probably 44,000 points in the public sector where of Government
a good or service is being bought.” Commerce
If anything, those stats underestimate the complexity of the public sector, “Innovation in
procurement cannot come
a world where central government, local authorities, devolved parliaments, purely from the customer
quangos, funds and private finance initiatives are profuse and overlapping. To deciding they want an
give just one example of the impact this can have in practice, Make It Work, innovative solution. Most
innovation comes from the
a Sunderland City Council pilot project that used design thinking to help the customer expressing the
long-term unemployed, drew on seven different funds. And this was a pretty outcome and suppliers
compact, local initiative that cost around £5m over two years. coming up with an innovative
way to reach that goal.”
Martin Temple,
Opaque rules and maddening bureaucracy chairman of the
In government, responsibility is divided in a way that many businesses would Engineering
find baffling. Strategy – call it policy – is usually set by politicians. Delivering Employers
Federation and
that strategy is devolved to ministers, permanent secretaries and other senior BERR’s Business Support
civil servants. Policy-making is glamorous, procurement isn’t. But policies can Simplification programme
fail if the goods or services needed to fulfil them aren’t bought properly. “The mindset of the designer
can encourage change,
To further complicate matters, every civil servant buying a good or service particularly if there’s a creative
is constrained by British and European Union procurement rules written to conversation where questions
ensure the process is as competitive as possible and to encourage the buyer to can be raised. Design should
be embedded into the
focus on unit cost. There are so many of these rules and they are sometimes procurement process, not
so opaque you suspect they were written in homage to Sir Humphrey, Nigel added in as another box
Hawthorne’s masterfully evasive permanent secretary in the sitcom Yes Minister. suppliers have to tick.”
Although the words “bureaucracy gone mad!” – the exclamation mark is
ever-present, especially on radio phone-ins – have a certain resonance, you
need some process to protect the taxpayer. Otherwise you might find, as one
American education board did a few years ago, that $367,000 earmarked for
classroom improvements had been spent renting an inflatable alligator and
an underwater slide. So, inevitably, many procurement officers play it safe.
Innovation is one of those terms that nobody challenges. It would be a brave
minister who stood up in public and argued that their department needed to
be less innovative. But for a civil servant – a breed routinely demonised in the
tabloid press as “mandarins” – innovation isn’t an unqualified good.
“If you are in public sector procurement, innovation very often brings risk.
And people tend to underplay that,” says Smith. “What we’ve got to do is
Debugging the NHS show procurement professionals what they can do to manage risk and help
Can you design out them recognise that effective management of risk can be of great benefit.”
healthcare-associated Since April 2008, Martin Temple has chaired a board responsible to the
infections in the National Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) for
Health Service? This was the
gauntlet that the Department simplifying the way government interacts with business. And, in his view, such
of Health and NHS Purchasing factors explain why public procurement “becomes an old-style mechanistic
and Supply Agency threw process where you mostly end up buying what you bought the year before”.
down when it teamed up with
the Design Council to invite This process typically starts with a tightly drawn tender (often based on the last
designers and manufacturers one), to which suppliers respond with bids and a contract is awarded.
to create new innovations As processes go, this is neat, simple – and very often counter-productive. As
for healthcare furniture and
equipment that reduce Temple says: “The one question that might never be asked is: ‘What are you
patients’ exposure to trying to do?’ rather than ‘What are you trying to replace?’ And designers, with
infections such as MRSA. their mindset, are well placed to make sure those kind of questions are asked.
A panel that included
designers Richard Seymour To me, design should be embedded in the procurement process at an early
and Tom Dixon whittled 37 stage, where it can help shape the pre-tendering process.”
entries down to five designs,
with each design team
To provide a forum for such questions, David Kester, chief executive of
receiving £25,000 to cover the Design Council, calls for a “creative pre-tender conversation” in which
further product research and interested parties talk around the issues raised by a piece of procurement.
development.
PearsonLloyd, the brains
The need for politicians to do something fast and decisive might suggest that
behind Virgin Atlantic’s stylish the last thing government procurement needs is a talking shop. But Kester says:
Upper Class seats, scored “The right discussion at this stage can save time and money later on. You may
two successes – for a patient
bedside chair and a commode find that the ideas to help you solve your problem are already out there.”
– with design consultancy In his view, a better procurement process would be: “Research, define,
Hollington, responsible for specify and buy.” He sees the Design Bugs Out initiative (see left) as a model
some of the most famous
Parker pens, also selected. for this approach. A “creative conversation” between patients, staff, managers,
Minima made the shortlist manufacturers and designers led to a ludicrously simple idea that might not have
with a design for a new emerged under the “old-style mechanistic process”: a good way to fight bugs
was to design equipment that was easier for staff to clean.
Similarly, opening up the procurement process in the prison service, using
a new procurement model developed by the Environmental Innovation Action
Group, could help the Home Office save £1.2m a year on the cost of sending
hazardous prison mattresses to landfill, by buying a different kind of mattress.
The OGC recommends such conversations take place, the earlier in the
process the better, but Smith says there are pitfalls. For a start, what may seem,
to a successful bidder, like a constructive creative conversation may seem, to
Wheel on fire: a designer an unsuccessful rival, more like a cartel. What you don’t want, says Smith, is the
ponders part of a bug-busting kind of conversation where unsuccessful suppliers can claim they were denied
hospital bedside cabinet
the kind of insight that would have led them to tender very differently.
patient chair, along with And then there is the matter of intellectual property rights. Kester says these
Kinneir Dufort.
Product prototypes could be an incentive for suppliers to collaborate with government: “The
are currently being NHS isn’t in the business of owning intellectual property, it’s in the business of
showcased among healthcare. The intellectual property on goods and services that emerge from
healthcare professionals and
the public, to seek their these discussions could revert to the suppliers.”
opinions. Products entering
development could be made The beauty of failing early and cheaply
available to the healthcare
market in 2010. Everyone agrees the public procurement process is imperfect. But different
Chris Howroyd, project parties have different ideas of which imperfections are the most critical.
manager for healthcare at Simplification is so popular that Whitehall risks becoming cluttered with
the Design Council, says the
competition could lead to decluttering initiatives. For others, aggregating buying power is key. But Smith
a number of new products, says: “Obviously, if we are buying energy from thousands of different points of
but acknowledges it is
only one part of the fight
procurement, it makes sense to aggregate deals to get better value. But in some
against superbugs: cases, if we want to encourage innovation, it may make sense to de-aggregate.”
“Designing a new bedside Ben Reason of service design group live|work would agree. His firm ran
cabinet won’t on its own
eradicate infection. It needs
the Make It Work project: “The government is trying to create opportunities for
behaviour to change and the innovation to happen. It can learn from Dott 07, which started with small scale
systems that work around it projects that had the potential to grow. Sometimes, two-month trials can be
to change too.”
more useful than three-year pilots.” And more cost-effective.
Innovations do fail. That costs money. And research in the US shows that the
public perception of government waste is impervious to reality. So it’s vital to
innovate within a budget. Kester says: “With design, you can move quickly to
a prototype that clarifies the issues. If you’re going to fail, fail early and cheaply.”
28/29
For John Wright, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, a level ‘If you are in
playing field is key: “Small and micro businesses drive the UK economy. Yet
only 16% of public procurement contracts are awarded to SMEs and most small
public sector
businesses find trying to win public contracts frustrating. Most procurement procurement,
officers tend to use an approved list of suppliers, which makes it near- innovation
impossible for a company that has not supplied previously to win business.”
By 2010, says Smith, the government should have shifted to one pre- often brings
qualification questionnaire for all contracts and abolished the £180 fee for risk. People
accessing public procurement contracts via Supply2.gov.uk. But, as Temple
says: “If you were in government procurement, under pressure on resources
tend to
and time, your first preference would be to work with one company, not 200.” underplay that’
One answer might be to encourage large companies to include small businesses
in their consortium and make it the larger partners’ job to nurture these SMEs.
Innovative public procurement would be good for government, small Nigel Smith
business, the economy and taxpayers. It won’t be an easy ride for those who Office of
take the risks, buying goods and services for the government, but how many
other ludicrously simple ideas – such as easy-to-clean equipment for hospitals Government
– might a design-led re-engineering of public procurement uncover? Commerce
Design Council Issue 6 30/31
When will white goods

be revolutionised?
You might not have a robot in the kitchen, but you
could soon surf the net from your sink. Trish Lorenz
explores the unpredictable future of home appliances
Kitsch appliances With the benefit of hindsight, the future was a wonderful place. Apart from
A look behind the facade an obsession with bland décor, gleaming uber-hygenic floors and oddly
of the microwave, which
revolutionised white goods uncomfortable furniture, post-war visions of future kitchens tantalised us
when it entered popular use with such perennial futurologist’s favourites as the magnetically levitated,
in the 1970s induction-heated frying pan and the fridge in a drawer.
The Ideal Home Exhibition of 1956 predicted that the ‘House of
Tomorrow’ would be atomic-powered. Food would be vacuum-packed in
plastic bags and irradiated with gamma rays – no need for tedious refrigeration!
The ‘Monsanto House of the Future’ – on display at Disneyland from 1957-67
– promised a plastic ultrasonic dishwasher for your plastic dishes. Lives would
be changed by Frigidaire’s fridge with motorised revolving shelves and,
bizarrely, a built-in mixer. And in 1969, $10,000 could buy you the Honeywell
Kitchen Computer, which could store recipes, tell you what to make with the
ingredients you had and, for its pièce de resistance, balance your cheque book.
There has been real progress since then, of course – inventions such
as microwave ovens and freezers, without which it is difficult to envisage
contemporary life. These changes have come in response to consumer
trends, particularly around our living habits, growing environmental
awareness and ever-evolving internet and mobile technology.
The way we live is changing rapidly – and that has a big effect on the
white goods we use. Official figures show that the percentage of European
households occupied by one person rose from 18% in 2001 to 30% in 2008.
At the same time, notes Nina de Man of trend-watchers PitchWork, 30% of
Europeans aged between 25 and 35 still live with their parents. Many others
share flats until well into their thirties. By that age, previous generations had
wed and started a family. Lives are increasingly frenetic. Homes are shrinking
as cities become congested. Even in the US, the median home was 8.7%
smaller in the third quarter of 2008 than in the quarter before. “Increasingly,”
de Man says, “we’re looking to maximise every second of the day by
outsourcing recurrent tasks like household chores to technology.”
‘A decade ago, we tried to install a computer in every appliance. Not

any more. Now, all the information you need is on the internet’
Gerd Wilsdorf Siemens
Marc Tanner, head of industrial design at the Industrial Design Consultancy,
sees the squeeze on our time and space as polarising our personal lives. “Tasks
like cooking can sometimes be functional – say, on a Monday evening after
work – and other times fun, as when you have friends round for dinner on the
weekend. Products are having to offer both automated one-button options
and more complex features too.” Panasonic introduced a microwave with
a button marked ‘chaos’. Sadly, this option merely varies the power of defrosting
rather than opening an inter-dimensional portal.
The pressures on our time mean we can now buy an oven that automatically
decides on the most suitable cooking method, temperature and cooking
time for your food, or a dishwasher that judges how much rinsing is needed.
Appliances are taking up less space, too, from tiny dishwashers that fit in
a drawer beside the sink to multifunction ovens that double as a microwave.
As functionality is rethought and updated, we are edging ever closer to
those seemingly fantastical gadgets envisaged in days of yore. Husqvarna’s
Automower (released last year) is a solar/electric hybrid robotic lawnmower.
Owners simply lay out a boundary cable that tells it where to stop and it does
the rest. JVC’s Everio camcorder enables one-button uploads to YouTube,
ensuring recordings don’t exceed file-size limits and eliminating the need to
time recordings or edit footage before uploading. The Flatshare Fridge – the
winning entry at Electrolux’s Design Lab 08 – consists of a base station and
up to four stackable modules, allowing each individual to have their own
refrigerator space. It can be locked or customised with colourful exterior
designs, and has handles to make it easy to transport when moving.
Climate change is also driving the makeover of domestic appliances.
Thomas Johansson, design director at Electrolux Major Appliances Europe,
says: “Appliances account for about 20% of an average household’s energy
consumption.” Whether of their own volition or driven by consumer demand
and regulatory pressure (as typified by eco-labelling schemes) manufacturers
have smartened up their act. The Automower, for example, has no exhaust
emissions, uses roughly the same energy as a standard light bulb and
is made from 90% recyclable material. V-Zug’s latest tumble drier uses heat-
pump technology to recycle hot air back into its drum, making it 45% more
efficient than conventional condenser technology.
“We estimate that in European homes alone, there are 188 million appliances
that are more than 10 years old,” says Johansson. “Replacing them with
more energy-efficient products would reduce CO2 emissions equal to those
‘Increasingly, we’re looking to maximise every second of the day by

outsourcing recurrent tasks like household chores to technology’
Nina de Man PitchWork
generated by six million cars in one year.” The switch to energy efficiency
would do the profitability of Electrolux and its rivals no harm, but it would help
even if, as James Woudhuysen notes (see box below right), the gains to be
accrued in this way are sometimes exaggerated.
Whirlpool – which designed the sleek, futuristic astronauts’ kitchen in
2001: A Space Odyssey – is going further by developing what it calls the ‘Green
Kitchen.’ Taking a systematic view of the entire kitchen, the company aims
to share water and power between appliances to minimise carbon footprint,
maximise efficiency and reduce cost. For example, a filter under a sink will
detect clean waste-water (run-off while waiting for a tap to run hot or cold)
and store it in a tank behind the fridge. The heat generated by the fridge’s
motor will warm it to 40°C so it can be used by the dishwasher or washing
machine without being heated again, saving both water and energy.
“We predict this type of system will save more than 70% of the energy
that an A-class product uses today, which translates into an average saving
of £355 a year per household,” says Alessandro Finetto, Whirlpool’s
director of global consumer design. The first products in the range are
expected to launch in 2010.
While manufacturers are starting to tackle eco issues, they haven’t truly
exploited the benefits of internet and mobile technology. “To date, we’ve seen
fairly naive attempts at linking the internet to appliances,” says Tanner.
“Things like screens on your fridge and so on. Designers need to step back
a bit; they can see it will happen but they haven’t done the thinking behind it
yet.” LG’s much-vaunted internet fridge has been followed by dishwashers
and other appliances that do the surfing for you, but these are high-end
products retailing for four figures, not everyday purchases.
Gerd Wilsdorf, head of design at Siemens, says integrating the internet will
32/33
From Sleeper to Scooba eventually become mainstream. “The internet will move into actual practice,”
It took 30 years to turn a
he says. “It’s about being able to do things like downloading recipes and
sci-fi comedy into reality following cooking instructions.” Finetto agrees but believes that the first
innovations will kill off complicated user manuals, with manufacturers sending
In 1973, when Woody Allen instructions to mobile phones or providing web-based information instead.
pretended to be a robot in
his classic futuristic comedy “A decade ago, we tried to install a computer in every appliance. Not any more.
Sleeper, it was widely Now all the information you need is on the internet.”
assumed such machines
would soon be doing the
To see what’s really possible in this area, companies will consider engaging
chores in all our homes. younger designers who have never known life without connectivity. Over the
next few years, so-called iGeneration designers will graduate and may work
While robots have been put
to use in the workplace, they with manufacturers to drive development. At Design Lab 08, students from
have not transformed our across the globe were invited to create appliance concepts. Among the most
kitchens. Last year, the interesting ideas was the Sook, a wireless kitchen assistant that generates,
University of Munich
revealed it had developed displays and shares recipes – bringing social networking into the kitchen.
a new household robot that Sook uses sensors to detect what food is on its cutting board, weighs it
keeps track of the contents and suggests recipes. As a recipe is generated, the user can rework it, adding
of your kitchen, learns simple
tasks and “could be making ingredients or checking alternatives online. When the meal is cooked, Sook
you dinner while you relax”. photographs it and uploads the image and recipe to the user’s chosen site.
Alas, users needed to plaster “I found that 75% of the iGeneration are on social networking sites,” says its
their kitchen with RFID tags.
creator, Adam Brodowski, a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design
Perhaps the best option in Georgia. “They are centred on creating and sharing internet content, and
might to be to emulate each person aims to be noticed for their creativity. My product lets them share
iRobot, a US firm which has
been quietly automating recipes and experiences; it essentially lets them cook together.” Think Gordon
individual tasks with products Ramsay’s Cookalong Live with a computer rather than a stroppy chef.
like the Scooba floor-washing Products with this level of technical sophistication may be a while away, but
robot, launched in 2006.
Sales have been restricted by change is coming. “The general movement in the industry is to add value from
the £206 price tag. an intelligence point of view, so you have less of a static machine and more an
intelligent device,” says Finetto. “It’s not something that will tell you what
to do but it will help you. It will adapt to you, rather than you adapting to it.”
So the multi-tasking, life-organising kitchen appliance may be much nearer
than we think. But many users will be wary of becoming early adopters. The
future sounds very beguiling but if you check out a website like www.
whitegoodshelp.co.uk you find that users in the present are more intrigued by
such issues as “my washing machine is slowly eating my clothes”.
Back to the future
James Woudhuysen, almost running out you going to save 1-2% of UK

professor of forecasting and get a little reminder saying emissions. It’s a joke.
innovation at De Montfort ‘renew your warranty’.
University, says designers Does anybody do that? What we need are quieter,
and manufacturers should No. Does it cost much? No. more compact, more
sort out the basics before Does everybody have trouble intrinsically efficient machines,
they get carried away by new finding their warranties? Yes. with clearer displays that go
technology. a bit further than the internet
The way the discussion is fridge and all that carry-on.
“People rush to talk about going, though, is ‘you need
smartness in white goods, smart metering to check your The problem is manufacturers
but behind a washing carbon footprint’. Carbon are not prepared to take risks
machine you’ll find a little dioxide doesn’t come out of with R&D. They don’t believe
piece of plastic costing five your kettle, it comes out of consumers are brainy enough
pence, where the hose hooks [Yorkshire coal plant] Drax B. If for new features, and they’re
in. Think how many times you you want to fix carbon dioxide, obsessed with business
have to pull out a washing look at Drax B, look at carbon models – rentals and
machine to see why it isn’t capture and storage, don’t warranty agreements.
working: if they spent 25p finger-wag at consumers.
instead of 5p they could solve So it’s not just the bottom line
half the hose problems that I want clean water, I want – it’s risk aversion coupled
happen. Smartness? It would cheap energy, I don’t want with what you might call
be smart to fix that. climate change ignored financialisation. That leads to
– but as I argue in my book, management being distracted
There’s no function that tells Energise, if everyone switched from that fitting at the back.”
me when the guarantee on their lights off at home, it
a product is running out – would save 0.6% of carbon Hear James Woudhuysen’s
I have to go to my paperwork dioxide emissions from the podcast on ‘The Limits of
for that. Instead, you could UK. If you try to minimise Design’ at www.design
get a code with your warranty through metering the white council.org.uk/intersections/
to key in, and then when it’s goods-related emissions, it’s jameswoudhuysen.
‘There go
the people.
I must follow
them, for
I am their
leader’
Every generation defines its own kind of leadership, says
Lloyd Bradley. But do Lincoln, Gandhi and legendary
NBA coach Phil Jackson have traits in common?
34/35
Bad leadership is easy to define and mock. We

despise the vacillators, martinets and spineless
wonders and relish a naval officer’s famous verdict
on a colleague: “His men would follow him
anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.”
Good leadership is much tougher to define.
“There are two main types of leader,” says Cary
Cooper, professor of organisational psychology at
Lancaster University, “the transformational and
the managerial. The former is inspirational,
enthusing people with their passion to get involved;
the latter is transactional, restructuring and
pragmatically getting things done.”
The recent presidential election gave America
the choice between passionate transformation and
pragmatic management. Barack Obama’s victory
was predicted to herald a new age of enlightenment.
Presidents do influence models of leadership.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s affable, easy style (a great
cover for his immense ruthlessness) was imitated by
executives across corporate America. So Obama’s
inclusive, community-activist approach, which
stresses universal responsibility, may reshape the
way the world does business. CEOs seeking
transformational change may heed the power of his
rhetoric and his ability to persuade thousands to commit to his cause. Obama
initially rejected the phrase “Change is coming to America” as too simplistic.
But he changed his mind and this simple, memorable yet usefully amorphous
slogan helped him win 53% of the votes. He was offering leadership but
following too, sensing the national mood for change and directing it.
Destiny, or just very good timing?

Whether you call this good timing or opportunist empathy, the excitement over
Obama’s style is nothing new. Defining an era or generation has been a primary
quality of good leadership for centuries. Indeed, the opening quotation has
been attributed, with a few tweaks, to four historical figures: Benjamin Disraeli,
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin (a 19th-century French revolutionary), Andrew Bonar
Law (prime minister for six months in the 1920s) and Mahatma Gandhi.
“People need to feel some sort of ownership of their own destiny for a leader
to influence their attitudes and behaviour,” says Cooper. “This is what
‘If all you want is… double-digit earnings growth and nothing
else, then I’m the wrong person’
Indra Nooyi PepsiCo
One approach: different

times, different places,
but Gandhi (above) and
basketball coach Phil
Jackson (left, with Michael
Jordan) underlined their
leadership with philosophy
leadership is about, and it is more important in hard
times. When people feel they have no control over
anything, they want to feel engaged with the
process of their lives, so they can perceive
themselves as being active.”
This isn’t only true in politics. In industry it is
crucial to understand what’s happening outside
the boardroom. Take Indra Nooyi, CEO of
PepsiCo. She joined the company as senior vice
president of corporate strategy and development
in 1994, quickly identifying public concern about
unhealthy diets. Within three years PepsiCo
had sold KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, bought
Tropicana (and later Quaker Oats) and cut trans
and saturated fats in its snack foods. Since 1994,
net profit has more than doubled.
Nooyi was responsible for the slogan ‘Performance With Purpose’, which
encapsulates a less US-centric PepsiCo: balancing profits with making healthier
snacks, aiming for zero environmental impact and looking after the workforce.
“If all you want is… double-digit earnings growth, then I’m the wrong person,”
she says. Her friend and adviser Henry Kissinger thinks it’s a matter of time
before she’s headhunted for a job in Washington.
Was Alexander a great delegator?

Alexander the Great is probably the most revered military leader in history.
“He was a great believer in teamwork and delegated beautifully,” said Oliver
Stone, while researching his 2004 biopic Alexander. “In terms of manpower, the
Persians had a superior army but could not move without central approval from
[King] Darius. Alexander was fluid and quick to react as the battle developed.”
Once, after the Persians had trapped his army in a canyon, Alexander came
across a nine-year-old shepherd. He entrusted the boy to lead his army over the
mountains along a trail the Persians didn’t know. “Listening is the neglected
Creating design leaders
A programme for change problems.” The creative creative industries face

This spring, the next stage sector has, she explains, an uncertain economic
in the Design Council’s “a particular need for climate. Students will be
leadership initiative kicks leadership and a high level able to study the latest
off at Ashridge Business of management skills,” as thinking on how to lead
School in Hertfordshire. senior executives seek to lead innovation and change.
Senior design executives and manage creative people. They will hear high-
invited by the Design And there are some issues profile speakers, who are
Council will join peers that transcend the different drawn from both within
from the advertising and creative disciplines: “For and outside the creative
commercial music sectors example, advertising agencies industries, exploring the
(selected by Institute of like Saatchi are very good challenges they face,
Advertising Practitioners at making sure their clients and will be involved in
How does the design industry and Creative & Cultural understand the intangible a series of stimulating and
ensure it develops the right Skills respectively) on a pilot value they deliver, something engaging practical tasks.
leaders, an area traditionally course teaching advanced designers can learn from.”
regarded as a luxury rather leadership in the creative A model for the future
than a necessity? industries. The course, run Design in a cold climate Once the course
by Ashridge and funded The six designers on the concludes in July, all
The first step by the Arts Council under pilot course are: Peter Blake, the parties involved will
The Design Council, as its Cultural Leadership client partner, The Team; review its effectiveness.
part of the UK Design Programme, will be the first Dee Cooper, director of But the Design Council
Skills Alliance, has been of its kind in the UK and will product and services, Virgin hopes that, if it is
addressing the issue of run from March to July. Atlantic Airways; Caroline successful, it will become
professional development Hagen, managing director, a model that could be
in the design industry with Creating new leaders Reach; Holger Fricke, senior expanded at Ashridge
various initiatives. Last Lesley Morris (above), programme manager, Frog and provide the basis for
year it launched NextNet, head of skills at the Design Design; Kevin McCullagh, similar programmes at
a mentoring programme to Council, says: “Although the director, Plan Strategic; other business schools
help develop a network of scale of companies is very and Kate Stewart, director, across the UK.
future creative leaders. A free different across the creative Team-a-Go-Go. This modular
guide to mentoring can now sector, they can learn a lot programme is designed Find out more about
be downloaded from the from each other as they to be of particular use to training for designers at
Design Council website. can face common senior executives as the www.ukdesignskills.com.
36/37
Great minds: PepsiCo’s part of the communication process,” says Cooper. “Too often a good
Indra Nooyi (left) knows her communicator is defined by an ability to talk, but communication works both
public; Lincoln (above) used
compromise; André Breton ways. The ability to listen can define a good leader although it isn’t nearly as
(below) shunned superficiality noticeable as being a good talker.”
for positive thinking Alexander triumphed because he delegated. Mark Fritz, founder of HR
consultancy Procedor, says this is a crucial skill for a leader. “It allows the people
around and below to grow, so the whole leadership grows with them. Too many
would-be great leaders fail because they are afraid to delegate.”
Is philosophy the key to stability?

In his campaign, Obama delegated and refused to micromanage. Under the
slogan ‘Respect. Empower. Include’, he used social networking to mobilise
thousands of volunteers and motivated them by letting them get on with it.
Political commentary website The Huffington Post praised the campaign for
“undogmatically mixing timeless traditions and discipline of good organising
with new technologies of decentralisation and self-organisation.”
If all it took was awareness of the surrounding temperature and an aptitude
for sitting back and watching others work, we’d all be leaders. Many other
qualities separate the great from the good and the terminally mediocre.
Take US basketball coach Phil Jackson’s handling of such large personalities
as Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Having studied
philosophy, psychology and religion, Jackson has no time for what he calls
“controlaholic” coaches. In training, he quotes The Teaching of Don Juan or
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, underlining his tactics with Buddhist
philosophy, but some of his motivational ploys – likening an opponent to Hitler
– have been controversial. With nine championships, he is the most successful
coach in NBA history. Dubbed ‘Zen Master’, he responded: “There are no Zen
Masters, only Zen. You don’t master Zen.”
The ability to compromise doesn’t do any harm either. Abraham Lincoln was
the consummate dealmaker: he included three presidential rivals – William H
Seward, Salmon P Chase and slave-owner Edward Bates – in his cabinet. Even
the Proclamation of Emancipation was a by-product of Lincoln’s desire to heal
a Union divided by Civil War. As he famously wrote: “My paramount object
is to save the Union, not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the
Union without freeing any slave I would do it; if I could save it by freeing all
the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others
alone I would also do that.”
Less likely to meet halfway, but still a successful leader, was shipping tycoon
Aristotle Onassis. His motto may have been “the only way to succeed in
business is to make others see things as you see them” but he was flexible.
He had no office, no desk and wrote down very little. He operated around the
clock, meeting contacts anywhere, any time (but preferably in the small hours
in a nightclub) and adapting quickly. But then he had no one else to answer to.
Few leaders have faced such a man-management challenge as writer
André Breton who led the Surrealist movement in the 1920s. A trained
psychiatrist, he sought to “transform the world by remaking the human
mind”, believing a sound philosophy was essential to stimulate true cultural
change. He was a hands-on leader – famously slapping an opponent in the
face – but as the 1930s grew more politicised, Surrealism fragmented and
Breton was marginalised. His vision of remaking the mind later appealed to
‘People need to feel some sort of ownership of their own destiny

for a leader to influence their attitudes and behaviour’
Professor Cary Cooper
intelligence agencies, LSD advocates like
Timothy Leary and corporate brand-builders.
“A good leader must have a philosophy that can be
communicated,” says Fritz. “It makes [the leader’s]
direction compelling, it gives people something to
figure out, feel part of and gives people a sense of
stability as they interact with the leader. People will
not stick with leaders who seem to constantly change
their minds.” Paradoxically, Winston Churchill
started as a Conservative, became a Liberal and
then rejoined the Tory party. Rivals dismissed him
as an opportunist (David Lloyd George said of him:
“He would make a drum out of the skin of his own
mother on which to sound his own praises”) but he
found his cause as a wartime leader.
Is charisma more important than character?

Does a new president – and a new economic era
– signal the demise of CEOs with a rock star profile
and the perks to match? Probably not. The perks
are out of fashion but this kind of leader will survive.
Who can imagine Virgin without Richard Branson?
Look how Apple’s share price dipped when Steve
Jobs went on sick leave.
With caring and sharing being part of the zeitgeist,
up-and-coming Bransons can’t rely on personality. Fritz says: “Charisma is Problem shared:
a supreme delegator,
important in the beginning. It is what attracts people and allows potential Alexander the Great was
leaders to get their ideas across.” To maintain their leadership, they have to also a paradigm-busting
win us over, showing they care at least as much about us as about themselves. leader in his time
So the most fashionable leader of the moment isn’t Obama, it is Haruka
Nishimatsu, the CEO of Japan Airlines who recently insisted on being paid less
than his pilots. Such dramatic gestures can backfire but this fits Nishimatsu’s
style. He knocked down the walls of his office and now works in the middle of
an open-plan floor so any member of staff can approach him. Nishimatsu takes
public transport to work and buys his suits from a discount store. He says: “If
management is distant, up in the clouds, people just wait for orders. I want my
people to think for themselves.” Nishimatsu might, in hard times, seem the
perfect leader but, as any student of leadership knows, there is no such thing.
38/39
What defines a leader?
We often hear about Month of birth Attractiveness

‘natural-born leaders’. August Gladwell’s The good-looking
But the idea of an intuitive studies of get plenty of
ability to manage others Canadian ice- breaks. Research
has been undermined by hockey players has shown they’re
research into the genetic suggest that more likely to get a job,
and social factors that they are disproportionately less likely to be convicted
define leadership. According likely to be born in the first of a crime and more likely
to sociologist Malcolm three months of the year. to be thought of positively
Gladwell in his book Outliers, As teams make their annual than their less attractive
it takes 10,000 hours of selections in January, the counterparts. A 1980 study
practice to reach the top players who are older at of people seeking political
of a profession, whether that point will be stronger office found attractiveness
running Microsoft or on and more experienced. was closely linked to voters’
stage as a Rolling Stone. Economists Kelly Bedard perceptions of candidates,
So, hard work aside, what and Elizabeth Dhuey claim although men gained more
do you need to be a leader? that students born near the extra votes than women for
start of the academic year being considered attractive.
Height (who are older when they do
TA Judge and M Daniel start school) have aAugust
better Prison
August
of Cornell University chance of rising to the top. Mahatma
were the first to find But a study of 50 CEOs Gandhi, Nelson
a strong relationship undermines Gladwell’s Mandela and
between physical height theory.
AugustEight were the Martin Luther-
and career success. Their youngest in their academic King all did time, which gave
study suggested that over a years, while the September- them the common touch and
30-year career, an individual December period saw the an added determination to
measuring 6ft would earn fewest birthdays. succeed. Of course, Jeffrey Aug
almost $166,000 more than Archer and Conrad Black
someone seven inches Birth order have also been behind
shorter. In his earlier book Being the eldest bars, so this theory may
Blink, Gladwell surveyed child is a big not stretch too far.
250 Fortune 500 CEOs and advantage
found their average height when it comes Being white and male
was just under six feet. to entrepreneurship. Up Barack Obama’s
The average Western male is to 60% of British business presidency marks a
5ft 9in and 90% of the CEOs owners are first-born with watershed in US race
beat this mark. at least one sibling. Experts relations. But the fact
believe they developed remains that there have only
Finger length leadership and teamwork been five black senators in
Scientists at skills from an early age.
August US history. Only 17 of 100
Cambridge Only 23% of CEOs are the senators are female. In the
University found youngest in the family. UK, 128 women and 518
August
that financial traders men were elected as MPs in
whose ring fingers were Parental loss 2005. Only 19 Fortune 500
longer than their index One in three prime firms are run by black people A
fingers made 11 times more ministers and and 12 are led by women.
on the stock market over a presidents lost
20-month period than those a parent in their Left-handedness
with the opposite finger youth to death, divorce or Only 10% of the
trait. The link between finger abandonment. Psychologist global population
length and success was Oliver James says the is left-handed, but
put down to testosterone ‘bereaved’ can become eight US presidents
exposure in the womb. highly driven as success have been. Left-handers are
Ring-finger length has can mask their loss. John often seen as more creative,
previously been linked Lennon and Marilyn Monroe intelligent, independent
to increased aggression, never knew their fathers, and adaptable. And change
confidence, fertility, while Winston Churchill rarely really is coming to America:
concentration and reflexes: saw his parents. President five of the last seven
all (fertility aside) desirable Andrew Jackson was occupants of the Oval Office
attributes for leadership. orphaned when he was 14. have been southpaws.
Prime numbers
75% 54
Proportion of business The average age of
2
Women nominated for
56%
Proportion of Fortune
leaders who claim European CEOs. In the US vice-presidency 1000 CEOs who said
that good physical America, the average by a major party: they were unpopular at
fitness is vital in CEO is 56 Democrat Geraldine school. Only 4% were
building a career as Ferraro in 1984 and popular. But 84% said
a company director Republican Sarah they were “voracious
Palin in 2008 readers” as children
5
Half the world’s population now lives in

cities. So the task of redesigning urban
life to ensure it works for everyone is more
pressing than ever, says Rachel Abrams
ways to redesign a city

40/41
hklkartta/), which shows where every one is at any

given point and allows commuters to see exactly
how long they’ve got to reach the bus stop, or
whether their journey is subject to delays. It’s also
great fun.“An arrow notes the direction and the
icons jolt every few seconds like a city version of
Asteroids. No more fidgety gazing into the
unknown!”says Helsinki-based urban designer
Candy Chang, one of a growing band of fans.
British commuters needn’t feel too left out. The
My Society website (www.mysociety.org) – from
the team behind the highly effective fixmystreet.
com – brings together interactive maps showing
London house prices and journey times to a fixed
point in a single colour-coordinated graphic. If
Every city needs its designers. In all their variety, you’re in the market for moving, you can easily
cities are a mass of contradictions: clockwork balance what you can afford with where you can
routine and swirling chaos, colossal infrastructure commute from – or discover an area you might
and intangible emotion, individual exuberance be better off working in. Ultimately, by reducing
and the anonymous crowd. commuting times, such schemes could make the
Someone needs to make sense of it all. Design, capital a more sustainable, efficient city.
in all its forms, can make cities work more
effectively. In essence, that’s because it can 2 Social interaction
broker relationships Exploring a foreign city with someone you know
between people. makes the experience more meaningful. Social
It may call on skills network Dopplr (www.dopplr.com) has taken
from all kinds of other this idea to new heights with what CEO Marko
disciplines – research, Ahtisaari, former design director of Nokia, calls
psychology, product “an intention-sharing service online”.
prototyping, computer Subscribers post details of forthcoming travel
science, animation, plans and share them with a community of friends
information and and acquaintances who have signed up: more
interface design, to than 250,000 trips were posted last year. They can
name but a few. Most share travel tips – that unsung antique shop the
broadly, designers guide books have missed – or arrange to meet.
invent and improve Small groups form around business conferences or
products and services far-flung weddings.
that support and
enhance elements of
daily life. Some outcomes are arrived at
through technology, while others are done
face-to-face with end users.
The five areas below demonstrate how
designers have helped cities across the
world. Active citizens, design strategists and
innovators have all had an impact in these case
studies, each revealing previously unmet needs,
introducing small but significant changes, and
improving the quality of urban life.
1 Visual information
Networked transit information makes Helsinki’s
public transport as predictable – and almost as
enjoyable – as a merry-go-round ride. For any Waiting game: in San Francisco
(above left) commuters can hitch
point-to-point journey, a city-run information a ride, while Helsinki’s travel maps
system (www.ytv.fi/eng) tells passengers the best (above) take the pain out of waiting
options by public transport. Most tram stops have
a digital timetable that helps passengers by telling
them how many minutes until the next tram arrives.
The real magic, however, is an online map of buses
and trams in real time (http://transport.wspgroup.fi/
5
4 Mass transit
You don’t need to be a designer to think about
designing better ways of working. When formal
systems break down or are lacking an element,
people improvise to fill the gaps. Commuting
drivers in California’s Bay Area have developed
their own way of working the system: they pick
up random pedestrians at rapid-transit (train) stops
in the East Bay to drive them into San Francisco.
The pedestrians get a free ride and, with an extra
ways to redesign a city passenger, the drivers get to use the car pool lane
toll-free. This cooperative ride-sharing practice
has grown up defined by, but independent of, the
formal transit network. Over time, participants
Like other social networks, it also becomes have documented the etiquette of the ride on
a toolkit for sharing and tracking experiences a website (www.ridenow.org/carpool), where they
(and carbon footprints), a framework of content also share warnings about ‘cars to avoid’, but that’s
as intimate and compelling as the cosmopolitan about as official as it gets.
network that generates it. Expats in some cities An emerging system, it’s certainly lean and
find they don’t even need to pack their bags to efficient (as long as you don’t hitch a lift from
participate, as visitors from home descend on a serial killer). Cutting in line is regulated by
them from the site. nothing more than the threat of other commuters’
disapproval, proving it’s not just we British who
3 Way-finding disdain a queue-jumper.
Legible London, the Jeff Howard, author of Design for Service,
brainchild of design a West Coast-based blog, says slang has emerged
consultancy AIG, is an to celebrate this casual car-pooling phenomenon.
ambitious project to In Washington DC, ride-sharing is referred to
roll out pedestrian- as ‘slugging’, where passengers – the slugs – are
friendly directional scooped up. As with any system, it has limitations.
signs for the capital. Return journeys from the other end tend to be
People walking unreliable because the pick-up points are less
through the city obvious. But as a peer-to-peer network, it drops
previously had to a big hint to transit planners, encouraging them
consult competing, to design possibilities for such behaviour into city
confusing or infrastructure. Sure enough, bays have gradually
incomplete signage, or been marked out in San Francisco to make car-
were left to their own
devices (an A-Z pocket
guide or, heaven forbid, asking a stranger).
The project team has worked with Transport
for London and several different boroughs
across the capital to develop comprehensive
pilot schemes of consistent signage. These
graphics reflect findings from research studies
to direct pedestrians, confirm routes and
announce destinations. Results so far include
a set of successful prototypes that represent
clearly not only what people see around them,
but correspond to their own mental maps,
adding to or reinforcing the partial knowledge
of London streets people may already have
in their heads.
The best way-finding solutions for cities are Day and night: Legible London
(above left) is revolutionising
people-centred and co-created. The designer’s way-finding, as clubbers find
most important task is to synthesise and then going green is cool
visualise what pedestrians have in mind. To
do this, they ask a lot of research questions
at the start of the process, work hard to earn
the participants’ trust and draw on their own
experiences to shape what comes next.
42/43
Design-driven cities
Across the world, politicians are understanding the
importance of design to helping cities function better
London
Almost a quarter of UK design consultancies
Venues in the US, UK and are based in London. Global clients make up
mainland Europe are championing 27% of London designers’ work. Last year,
the London Development Agency launched
green standards for energy- a £3.5m design support programme for
small businesses, including a roll-out of
consuming, 24-hour party people Designing Demand. The London Design
Festival is the largest of its kind in the world.
“London’s businesses are becoming
pooling easier, as what began life as a socially driven increasingly aware of the power of design.
They understand that design needs to be
phenomenom gets co-opted into a city’s way of life. integral to the entire process of delivering
a product or service. If you try to go to market
5 Greener lifestyle without thinking about design, you won’t be
making the most of your opportunity.”
Even do-gooders love to disco. Nightclub venues Boris Johnson, Mayor
in the US, UK and Europe are championing green
Montréal
standards for energy-consuming, 24-hour party Quebec’s capital is challenging Toronto as
people. Low-wattage lighting, even in illuminated Canada’s fashion hub, and is notable for
dancefloors, and campaigns to recycle vinyl and its aerospace and IT industries. In 2006,
Montréal became the first North American
CDs are all catching on. city to be named a UNESCO City of
Although flyers remain the definitive way to Design. In his previous role as minister
spread the word about events, party organisers are of industry for Quebec, Mayor Gérald
Tremblay brought in a tax credit for design,
urged to print them locally at eco-approved print which stimulated private investment.
shops, where recycled, unvarnished paper and “Design has meaning only when it enables
non-polluting inks are available. Promoters are human beings to live well. Becoming a
design city means advocating a better
using mobile and online services to share more quality of life in a perspective of sustainable
of their information digitally and avoid having to development. Design is essential to the
clear up masses of waste paper at the end of a big future of Montréal, giving us the opportunity
to reshape the city.”
night. And clubs like Watt in Rotterdam will offer Gérald Tremblay, Mayor
drinks on draught from biodegradable cups
instead of cans and glass bottles. Seoul
Design is at the heart of the South Korean
Ultimately, the green clubbers hope their capital’s bid to become internationally
standards will sink in, and night-clubbing tourists competitive. The city’s design sector is
will take eco-friendly habits back to local clubs. expected to be worth £10.5bn in under
10 years – nearly twice its value in 2007. The
Many of these initiatives have come about Design Seoul project is transforming the city,
organically, but clubbing is all about following from redesigning street signs to reshaping
trends, and the eco-night-out movement has its global brand. The International Council
of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) has
spread. The music industry is getting on board: named Seoul 2010 World Design Capital.
a series of projects is planned to ‘green’ Miami’s “Design doesn’t just mean making the city
long-running Winter Music Conference, look smart. Good design makes life safer
and easier and makes people feel good.
where DJs and promoters jet in from across Take education – children who receive
the world. The Green Music Alliance education surrounded by good design
(www.greenmusicalliance.org), which spans become flexible and generous in character.”
Oh Se-Hoon, Mayor
countries and genres, shows record labels how to
reduce their carbon footprint and directs consumers Sydney
to events and artists with an eco-conscience (take Design accounts for 5% of employment in
New South Wales, as much as financial
a bow, telecommuters Radiohead and KT Tunstall, services and more than agriculture.The
who runs her tour bus on biodiesel). Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision sets
targets for environmental, social, economic
and cultural development through design.
Clearly, designers get involved in many urban Current projects include extending the
infrastructure projects, from transit and healthcare cycle network, creating new public areas
and artworks and building a green
to sustainability and recreation. Complex, city-scale infrastructure network.
problems and opportunities call for interdisciplinary “Good design is central to the future
thought and action. Designers are brilliantly placed sustainability and liveability of our cities.
Urban design can create connections
to assist in this process. In cities, where things are between where people live and work that
both never- and ever-changing, design could help encourage people to use public transport.”
us imagine and create a different quality of life. Clover Moore, Mayor
Case study 1
How thinking about

useability kick-started
an ‘iPod for the heart’
44/45
clear the new model needed to embrace the latest

technological developments and that to stand out,
Cardionetics needed a more distinctive brand.
Electronics and software for the new model, the

C.Net5000, were designed in-house. But the new
body was developed by IDC – an industrial design
company – in tandem with the revised circuit
board. “Work with IDC was directed by a far
more detailed design brief,” Needham says. “This
The issue included all we had learned through Designing
In the UK alone, someone dies from a heart Demand and our fresh understanding of how to
attack every six minutes. Cardionetics is a young brief designers clearly.”
company that aims to make a serious dent in this
depressing statistic. The firm, based in Bracknell, The outcome
Berkshire, designs and manufactures software and The C.Net5000, for healthcare professionals, was
related hardware to monitor, screen and diagnose launched in 2006 and sales are twice as brisk as for
patients with heart problems. Its first product, the the C.Net2000. A sister product, the MHM100, was
C.Net2000, was a groundbreaking ECG heart developed in partnership with Medick Healthcare
monitor – light enough to be worn on the move (set up by Cardionetics’ former chair). It shares
while still providing fast, accurate analysis. the core functionality of the C.Net5000 but offers
a simpler data display so patients can use it.
But was Cardionetics better at helping hearts than
it was at presenting its own products? Feedback Following Designing Demand recommendations,
from users, and a sense that its initial product was Cardionetics also rethought its brand, bringing
looking dated, led the company to re-examine its Aloha Design on board to update the corporate
design principles in 2003 – and it chose an unlikely identity. They worked at achieving reognisable
inspiration. Rather than look at other areas of tone of voice and brand personality, changing the
medical analytics, Cardionetics studied the way colour scheme of the logo, device and associated
the iPod had reshaped consumer expectations literature. “Designing Demand helped us see new
of wearable technology. ways of applying design,” says Needham. “It has
helped ensure we can continue selling our
The company realised it needed to develop products successfully.”
a product that was easier to wear and simpler
for patients to use. It teamed up with Designing For more on Designing Demand, visit
Demand, the Design Council’s programme to www.designingdemand.org.uk.
help UK businesses make the most of design.
Its Innovate service, which offers sustained
support to technology start-ups, helped
Cardionetics develop a smaller, more lightweight
successor to the C.Net2000. A brief history of heart care
1842 Italian physicist Carlo Matteucci demonstrates that
The solution an electrical current accompanies each heartbeat
The design team began with the user in mind, 1876 Étienne-Jules Marey uses an electrometer to record
rather than the technology. “We took a lot of time a frog’s heartbeat
and trouble to involve users of the C.Net2000, to 1887 First recorded human electrocardiogram
find out what the strengths and weaknesses of the 1901 Willem Einthoven modifies string galvanometer
first generation product were,” says Cardionetics (amplification system used for undersea telegraph
CEO Philip Needham. lines) to produce electrocardiograms
1928 First portable electrocardiogram, weighing 50lb
That done, Cardionetics looked at its own business 1942 Augmented limb leads added, to produce the
to help identify the best way forward. “We began 12-lead electrocardiogram used today
by analysing what they were selling to whom, and 1949 Norman Holter develops a backpack that can record
whether that was right for the market,” says John
and transmit the wearer’s ECG
Boult, the Designing Demand design associate on
2005 Danish cardiologists report improved treatment
the project. “We explored who uses this technology
and how different groups have different needs and when ECGs of patients are transmitted wirelessly
preferences in how to use it, and where.” It became from ambulance to cardiologist’s handheld PDA
Case study 2
Why Rolls-Royce is one

British manufacturer
flying high in a downturn
46/47
to Rolls-Royce engineers around the world who

can then focus on a precise problem without having
to strip down the engine.
The outcome
Together, these strategies ensure Rolls-Royce
keeps its customers’ planes and its own business
flying. It has used design to innovate radically,
rather than simply to create an incremental
advantage rivals could easily copy.
The issue TotalCare has given Rolls-Royce a competitive

The name Rolls-Royce has become so edge. Around 80% of engines sold include
synonymous with quality that leaders in TotalCare: spare parts and long-term servicing
their fields are routinely described as the operations have overtaken new sales to account
‘Rolls-Royce’ of that field (see bottom right). It for 63% of the engines division’s total revenues.
wasn’t always this way. In 1971, the manufacturer
went bankrupt and was nationalised. The car Although Western airlines aren’t ordering as
manufacturing operation was sold off two years many new planes as they used to, Rolls-Royce
later. After being privatised in 1987, judicious can also look forward to an increase in orders
acquisitions and a reputation for reliability saw – and TotalCare packages – from Middle Eastern
the aero-engine division become the world’s carriers, including Etihad and Qatar Airways.
second-biggest maker of large jet engines. In the meantime, its engines power planes for
45 of the world’s leading 50 airlines.
Yet as manufacturers from emerging economies
moved into the aerospace sector, the company has And the good news for the wider economy is
had to fight fiercely to retain its customers as they that Rolls-Royce is the country’s second-biggest
are targeted by new, cheaper rivals. exporter, earning more than 85% of its revenues
from abroad – a prospect that would have seemed
The solution laughable just a generation ago.
The genesis of Rolls-Royce’s revitalisation lies in
design. After nationalisation, it invested heavily The Rolls-Royce of…
in a new engine prototype that enabled it to A random list of the Rolls-Royces
overtake rival Pratt & Whitney, which had owned
90% of the large engine market in the 1960s. Crustaceans Langoustine
Crucially, the new design was scalable, so it could Fashion accessories Prada
be customised easily for every new type of plane. Hotels Burj Al Arab, Dubai
Security Biometrics
Staying profitable since then has meant thinking Stairlifts Stannah
beyond product. All the major aero-engine Decision analysis tools TEC
manufacturers offer after-market service
Watches Rolex
programmes. Rolls-Royce needed something
Trees European silver birch
extra. Service was placed at the heart of its offering.
Instead of buying an engine and then a service Malaysian paperback publishing Silverfish Books
package, it decided to encourage customers to pay Rolls-Royces Phantom IV HJ Mulliner
a fee, under a contract, for every hour an engine
ran. In return, the company maintained it and
replaced it if it broke down.
Rolls-Royce’s TotalCare programme – the fruit

of these endeavours – is renowned for its quality,
and has effectively ‘locked in’ key clients. As
well as offering maximum benefit to the customer,
TotalCare also gives Rolls-Royce a competitive
advantage. From its operations room in Derby,
engineers monitor the performance of 3,500
engines flying at any given moment. Data beamed
from each plane is analysed and used to spot
potential issues. This information can be passed
Magazine Spring 2009
Case study 3
From middlemen to kings

of cashmere: Heritage
profits from a gutsy decision
48/49
That required investment, as well as physical and

attitudinal changes. Despite the gathering storm
clouds, Heritage found £40,000 to build new design
facilities – a long-term commitment. “As long as
you can explain to people why these things are
an investment, not a cost, they are prepared to
commit,” says Williamson. “You have to help them
understand how their business will benefit.”
The outcome
The issue Heritage’s designers now work directly with
Heritage Cashmere produces luxury clothing clients, helping them to understand and anticipate
and accessories for leading retail brands. But until customers’ needs. One result of this was a London
recently, there was nothing high-end about the fashion showcase that generated revenue of
Yorkshire-based group’s business performance. £300,000. A new relationship with a Thai company
In 2006, it was failing to make a profit on a turnover has provided access to innovative technology
of £2.2m. Over 10 years it had become less a for printing directly onto cashmere, bringing
manufacturer and more a middleman for imported unique products to market. Heritage also plans
cashmere. It wasn’t adding value, and its margins
were being squeezed by low-cost competition.
‘We knew what we wanted, but we
Heritage joined Designing Demand, the Design didn’t have the guts to go for it... it’s
Council’s business support programme, embarking
on the Immerse service, which offers intensive
been a sea change in 18 months’
support for established firms .The brief was simple: John Kaye, Heritage Cashmere
revive what had once been a promising company.
to create an own-brand offering and to produce
“When I first saw Heritage,” says Designing branded items for hotels.
Demand design associate Andrew Williamson,
“my impression was that things were a bit here, “We knew what we wanted but we didn’t have
there and everywhere. The team could see there the guts to go for it,” says Heritage chairman John
were several quick wins we could deliver.” Kaye. “The changes we took on board put design
at the centre of the business – it’s been a sea change
The crux of the problem was the company’s in 18 months.” A profitable one, too. Turnover in
physical environment. “Everyone was in their own 2008 was £2.75m, and the forecast for 2009 is set
pigeonholes and no one communicated properly,” to match that figure, with a budgeted profit of
says Williamson. In particular, the design £100,000, the first in the company’s history.
department was underused and out of sight.
“Design was adding cost but not value.” Much of the success is down to attitude. Williamson
explains: “The best businesses are saying: ‘If we
The solution don’t invest in product design, communication and
Immerse begins with a day’s intensive assessment so on, we’ll be on a slippery slope.’ If you don’t
to determine a design action plan. Then, over 18 prepare yourself for when the recession starts to
months, companies are given support to implement ease, you risk losing ground on your competitors.”
their plans. For Heritage, the key was to build a
stronger identity as a designer and innovator and For more on Designing Demand, visit
to compete more effectively. www.designingdemand.org.uk.
“The process looks for innovative and creative

design ideas,” says Williamson. “We came up
with a list, grouped under areas such as strategy,
environment and culture. Heritage was very
receptive. They wanted us to show them how
to implement all the points in the action plan.”
“It was obvious to us that they should pull the

design team and the sales team much closer to
everyone else so everyone could understand
how they worked,” he adds.

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Why Rolls-Royce is one

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