Episode 65: Using Design to Sell Products Effectively

Show Notes for This Episode:

[1:00] In today’s episode we’re talking about how to use design to sell stuff effectively
[2:00] Selling products with a bad design vs. going out of business with good design
[2:45] Design is something you add to a business
[4:00] Making sure design is functional not just appealing
[4:40] Ask yourself what would make someone buy that product
[5:20] Ian’s mistake of not doing the research before starting on a design project
[6:20] Over-designing and losing the art of design and the commercial application
[7:20] When simple design seems almost impossible
[8:20] Making designs in line with the brand
[9:20] Creating commercial art to sell products
[10:00] Design Cuts working with the designers and redesigning the preview images
[10:40] Investing the time in preview graphics made a huge difference for the products
[11:20] Thinking about the end customer and putting them first
[12:10] Tom’s example of drawing parts of a portrait but not thinking of the face as a whole
[13:00] Students asked to design for entrepreneurial projects being tested with actual customers
[14:10] Dustin’s example of Frank restaurant in Texas and the small design things that make a huge difference
[15:00] The power of design
[15:30] Designing things people don’t know they need
[16:00] Is the commercial element of design always emotional?
[17:30] Making design that stands out among your competition
[18:20] The importance of signage as non-commercial design
[19:30] Bathrooms with bad signage designs
[20:20] Consider the framework
[20:45] Get valuable information from the client: how do they want the company to be perceived, what is the main objective for the design etc.
[21:15] Starting with the simplest version of what the client wants
[22:00] Getting in the mindset of the product’s target customer
[23:30] The hosts example of how they would use design to help a street vendor sell more coffee
[24:45] Designers working in isolation and Dustin’s suggestion of going to spend some time in the place where the product is sold
[25:30] Being the Daniel Day Lewis of design world and method designing
[26:00] Following the client around for a day
[27:30] Getting information from similar business around you
[28:20] Having the right information to direct the design
[29:50] Creating a design around solving a problem
[30:20] Marketing and design should not work in separation
[31:50] Designers not wanting to incorporate marketing messages in their design
[32:30] The tension between designers and the marketing team
[33:40] Lisa’s experience of working for a magazine and interacting with the marketing team
[34:20] Tom’s experience of being on both sides
[35:00] The need of being a good marketer as a freelance designer
[35:30] Tom asks the host about some of their struggles with commercial design
[36:10] Dustin working for a company and being thought how their sales funnel works
[37:20] Tom struggle with starting design very young and not having any business acumen
[38:00] Dustin joking about Tom wearing a suit and briefcase to school
[39:00] How gaining business experience helped Tom with his design work
[40:00] Lisa attending business meetings and paying attention
[41:10] Measuring the performance of good design
[41:45] The confidence you get knowing your design helped increase the company’s revenue
[42:50] Tom checking out Instagram and being amazed by how many people started doing a daily challenge
[43:10] If you have any questions please tag us using the #honestdesigners and #honestdesignershow hashtags or the host’s individual Instagram profiles
[44:00] Thanks so much for listening to this week’s episode