Why should you, as a marketing professional, care about the current and imminent design trends? Even if the products and services you offer aren’t strictly design related, design and brand converge more frequently and forcefully than ever.
Case in point: For more and more consumers, the purchase decision has become less about product selection and more about lifestyle choice. Brands continue to evolve in the mindset of the consumer, with emotional connections tying consumers more tightly to brand preferences. This is why more companies are seeking growth by leveraging their core business into collections of new categories.
Companies such as Ralph Lauren have championed the expansion from fashion and personal accessories to almost everything for the home. Now it seems that nearly every other marketer has the same idea. Coach, the leather goods company, now offers a fashion collection; pemaker Montblanc sells watches, jewelry, eyeglasses, and even fragrance.
Product functionality is not necessarily companies’ priority as the focus shifts to lifestyle-enhancing solutions. Even the mindset of Ferrari has changed from “We produce high-performance automobiles” to “We sell lifestyles.” The strength of a brand’s image, style, and quality give us the desire to buy into their lifestyles, a lifestyle we want to make our own.
Which is why luxury is no longer exclusively the domain of the wealthy. Self-indulgence, paired with one’s desire to be socially branded by image, combine for an increasing consumer demand for luxury products across several verticals. The idea of “desired luxury” is transforming the product offerings of many brands, such as Levi’s, which introduced a top-of-the-line pair of jeans that competes against haute couture prices. Esthetic design is a luxury brand’s vital edge and is necessary to compete with other category “bests.”
Other trends
* Single-function products are fading away. Activities such as retrieving e-mail, checking sports scores, watching a video clip, taking photos, listening to music, and making a phone call are converging in a single portable device. The convergence of communication and entertainment has left electronics companies with the competitive challenge of designing the ultimate user-interface experience. The next generation will be hybrid devices that are half land-based and half portable, expanding functionality and interface quality regardless of whether the user is at home, in the office, or on the street.
* Today’s consumer is moving--and moving quickly. Convenient and portable products must be designed to match the fast pace of multitasking professionals, stay-at-home parents, and students alike. Compact cosmetics, remote car ignitions, and multifunctional cell phones are accommodating the new pace of life. The design solution of the multipurpose product is toward ever smaller, simpler, and interactive, while design becomes more important to differentiate similar products from an ever-more-crowded market.
* Kids are now technology-savvy purchase drivers, and parents are spending more to keep them happy. Internet and technological advancements have kicked coloring books and G.I. Joe to the curb. Mp3 players, e-learning, and computer games are expensive necessities for today’s youth. A child’s desire to have the latest, coolest clothing, gadgets, and toys has challenged many companies with the quest to design the ultimate product experience for their half-pint users.
* The health and personal-care consciousness of men is rising quickly. Wwe will see unprecedented offerings in skincare as more men spend downtime at the spa. Aging baby-boomer men care more about how they look and feel. As they seek the fountain of youth we’ll find them dipping into pots of antiwrinkle and rejuvenating creams. Fragrance, fashion, and medical specialists are jumping on the bandwagon. The art of shaving has given way to holistic regimes of personal care both internally and externally.
Kenneth Hirst is president of Hirst Pacific (www.HirstPacific.com),a New York-based strategic design firm. Hirst provided the creative vision behind such fragrance lines as Tommy and Jennifer Lopez’s Still as well as designed the Gillette Series men’s grooming products.
