Dynamist Blog

More on the Aesthetic Imperative

One of the pleasures of correctly identifying a business trend is reading well-reported articles that develop new angles. (The publicity from getting quoted is nice too.) Since Dilbert has raised the issue, this seems like an opportune time to flag a couple of well-done pieces from the past few months:

Jason Tanz in Fortune looked at how well-established industrial companies are using aesthetics as a competitive tool:

Of course, it's no surprise that companies like Apple and Herman Miller are good at design. What is surprising is how many downright dowdy manufacturers are successfully reinventing themselves as design-driven shops. Master Lock, for instance, would be happy to sell you one of its sleek new Titanium Series padlocks, developed with the aid of Design Continuum in Boston. (If you're not crazy about this particular model, don't worry. "We change our designs every year, almost like the auto industry," says John Heppner, Master Lock's president and COO.) AC Delco now offers a car jack that mirrors the curves and colors of the wackiest concept car. And in the past few years the Stanley Works--a 160-year-old company--has released a raft of new offerings that range from a one-piece Antivibe hammer that cuts down on vibration to a laser-equipped stud finder. "You're seeing lots of companies that have very good technological histories saying, 'That's great, but it's not enough in this marketplace,' " says Virginia Postrel, a columnist for the New York Times and author of the new book The Substance of Style. "Now they're trying to find a way of using design to make their technologies resonate."

It's working. In 2001, Whirlpool introduced its Duet line of washers and dryers, which have soft curves and splashes of color; now the company has 19% of the front-loading washer market, up from zero two years ago. In 1999, Coleman revamped the design of its coolers to make them look more streamlined; by 2001 its cooler sales had increased 40%, and Coleman led the category for the first time in ten years. (It sells 100,000 of its hip solid-steel coolers — which retail for around $100 — annually.) And in the two years since it was released, Stanley's newest Antivibe has become one of America's top-selling hammers.

And Bobbie Gossage in Inc. examined small-business strategies. HarperCollins has posted an excerpt from the first chapter of The Substance of Style online here; in it, I discuss GE Plastics' use of aesthetics as a competitive tool. (Interestingly, the excerpt is from a slightly earlier draft of the chapter than the one that actually appears in the book.)

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