People who understand design know that it isn’t a layer added on top of something but that it’s intertwined. Design has come to mean ‘visual’ to many people, but good design is about planning and composing things in a considered way that affects appearance, function and meaning. It’s inseparable from quality. It’s not a lick of paint.

A Woolworth’s water bottle caught my eye during the holidays. It has all of Woolworths’s historic logos on it. Quite a unique gesture, likely to be overlooked by most customers, but it’s evidence of a business that understands and appreciates design.

Design lead businesses are rare in an age where most pursue quick results. This for me is what makes Apple so good. For years they have been planting the seeds of quality through design. Now they are reaping the rewards.

Businesses and brands where quality comes first seem to outlast others that chase short term goals, how will spending a quarter of my budget on design improve my profit this quarter? It won’t, but your business won’t exist in ten years time if you don’t prove your relevance, value and quality.

It seems that everyone knows that we should all think long term, be sustainable, create real value… but I just need to hit my sales target first.

The leaders decide

It’s the leaders of organisations that determine the structures and incentives that shape the output and culture of their businesses.

It takes vision, guts and fortitude to embrace a design culture, to think, This expense will only pay off in 10 years time (although it’s likely more an intuitive drive than that).

Without the end in mind, organisations almost certainly become a short term focused. It’s what we revert to naturally, conforming to the safety of doing things the way everyone else does. Often these businesses look on as they succumb to the same fickle sentiment that elevated them.

A trail to consider

Design lead businesses leave evidence of their consideration, artifacts that show someone thought about this.

This Woolworths bottle is one of these.

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it. Perhaps it’s an idea they cribbed. Even so, just the fact that they would build meaning into something, enrich it, where it’s unlikely to benefit them now, shows a level of generosity and long term thinking.

Next time you are waiting to pay at Woolworths, take fresh look. Look at the products, the packaging, the merchandising, the communication, the shop, the whole thing.

The signs of life are there.