Self-expression has taken many forms in my life as an artist. I recognize self-expression is essential in my life for growth, empathy, and confidence. I am fortunate to be an artist whose every day work allows for it. Several years ago, I changed the course of my life. It was essential for my growth as an artist, writer, and professional. At the very beginning of that transition I wrote about an article I read in Fast Company magazine. To be honest, I might have been seeking validation as a professional woman due to my past life, but however it happened, I found it. While this may seem meaningless to the uninformed reader, it changed me. This reflection and enlightenment revived my confidence as a designer, a writer, and a professional. So, here it is. An homage to another new beginning. Enjoy my words.
Design is more than just a look, more than just a visually pleasing side note. Design is an experience. It is the torch carrying the flame of ideas from a brainstorming session to a finished product on retail shelves. It is the one stable component carrying this ever-evolving process on its shoulders. Three women stand out as top designers highlighted by Fast Company magazine. Their life experiences and reputations brought them to this position in their careers and in life. Each woman, through her own path, and each very different, has come to the top of her field excelling in design. It is through them viewers see the importance of creating a positive reputation, engaging in the process of design in many forms, and creating an environment and experience for their consumers’ finished product.
Claudia Kotchka is VP of Design Innovation and Strategy for Proctor & Gamble. Trained as an accountant, Kotchka worked her way up to become the first non-designer to run the art and package department at Proctor & Gamble. It was Kotchka’s hard work and innovative personality that caught the eye of the CEO. She built her reputation in the industry as a design and strategy leader, which directly resulted in a proposal to run the entire design fleet. She was asked personally to take this on based on her prior efforts and assumingly impeccable portfolio. Similarly, Fiona Morrison of JetBlue also created a reputation that had executives pining for her expertise. While Fiona does not consider herself a designer and is working in a very different industry than Kotchka, she is considered a design champion and strategist. Morrison sets the stage for JetBlue’s corporate identity and truly creates the experience. She considers her work an obsession, which shows in her reputation. She too was asked to come work with JetBlue on a new Terminal 5 project because of her keen eye. Having previously worked for Jet Blue, Morrison was sought after for this position. Lisa Strausfeld is known as Pentagram’s Digital Artiste and she built her career as an information designer. Every step of her life seemingly led up the position she now holds. Similar to Kotchka and Morrison, Strausfeld was asked to work on a project for New York’s Penn Station because of her excellence in information design, a reputation she spent years of experience building, which then led to her partnership with Pentagram. All three of these women are admired for their design abilities. They are appreciated for what they know well and have clearly built amazing reputations in the design industry. Without a positive reputation their success would have been limited. Maintaining and building positive reputations are what make designers successful in this world.
In addition to reputation, the design process is different for each woman yet plays a key role in the development of a project and speaks to their individual style. Kotchka began her current role with Proctor & Gamble considering her department to be the, “last decoration station on the way to market.” Since then, she has completely reformed Proctor & Gamble into the protocol it is now as stated by CEO A.G. Lafley, “We have an innovation process and we want to make sure that design is plugged in at the front end.” Design is the process. If Proctor & Gamble were introducing a new product, or even revamping an old one, it would require design from conception. What will the product look like? How will they incorporate their branding into the design of the product? What will the packaging look like? What will the store display look like? How will it create a “feel” that will keep consumers buying? These are all legitimate and real questions being asked at the brainstorming level and throughout the process. Morrison too shows an appreciation and need for process. She works with TJ McCormick, her designer, and describes their relationship as, “We are a unit.” Morrison is the verbal communicator and McCormick is the visual communicator. This is how they work best and its part of their process. Morrison and McCormick started by creating a designed language of patterns to communicate across the whole company. She describes them as a “…tool, something you can use without even having to say JetBlue.” It is this “language” they use at the beginning levels of their design project and repeat throughout to help create their identity. Add to that, Morrison knows when the project is great when it gives her “chills”. Without this process, JetBlue would probably seem somewhat two-dimensional like a scrapbook of fabrics, colors and designs that would be glued together to create this folksy identity. Morrison along with McCormick shows her consumers the importance of the process and implementing these ideas effectively and deliberately. In addition, Strausfeld describes the importance of her process and how she goes about it being different from the norm but important nonetheless. “It’s not a formula. It has to be reinvented each time,” says Strausfeld. She comes from an architecture and web design background and places data on the page from bottom to top. Its like she is building an actual building which forces the most important information to the top of the page. Without her process, assumingly she too would end up with a hodgepodge of text and data all over the place, no hierarchy, and a huge mess. Kotchka, Morrison, and Strausfeld are all at the top of their companies. They all maintain individuality when it comes to the creative process but all truly show an appreciation and necessity for its existence. Without a design process, city road signs, maps, and even “how to” instructions would leave consumers scratching their heads.
Most importantly, all three women describe their finished product as successful when it creates not just a look, but also a feel, an environment, and an experience. This is the most important component of design. Kotchka wants her consumers to engage in their product, get enjoyment from using it and ultimately come back for more. She describes the experience the consumer has with an Altoids mint, from the look and texture of the box to the paper inside, the smell and the texture of the mint itself all contributing to the experience. The consumer in this instance is creating a relationship with the product. Assumingly, Kotchka also thinks about the relationship Proctor & Gamble consumers have with their products. Does the stay-at-home dad begin to enjoy cleaning the bathroom with his new Mr. Clean Magic Wand? Is it durable for his strength? Will it alleviate some back strain by keeping him from bending over so deeply? And, does it ease the cleaning process by making it quicker and more efficient? All of these questions and strategies Kotchka’s team explores in their process and develop the final experience. Afterall, she says, “That’s all we care about—what’s going on to win with the consumer.”
Morrison wants visitors to the JetBlue Terminal 5 to experience the space from check-in to baggage claim and remember it as a positive one. She describes it as going beyond basic function. She speaks of one element in the food areas saying, “They tap in to this human need to experience things differently, not to be a bunch of drones marching across this vast expanse to the gates.” They are creating something more than just a visual moment. Their design spreads across into customer satisfaction and becomes the whole travel experience with their company. Morrison too, must ask what will keep them coming back? How can we create a travel experience that is luxurious, relaxing and efficient?
Strausfeld lives by the mantra of her mentor that, “good design is good design, regardless of medium.” Her information designs may not garner the same wide-eyed awe that the JetBlue terminal does from the untrained eye, but nonetheless creates an environment where gathering data is easy and efficient. Her body of work reaches millions of users everyday, most of them without even realizing there was design involved. The design experiences and environments that humans stumble upon daily maintain the flow of life, the traffic patterns, engage the senses and set the tone. Design is in the simplest forms of everyday living all the way to the complex. In contrast, without design elements creating this flow, would everything be a mess? Or, would this complete chaos be normalcy? Humans walk past these designers work daily in schools, train stations, office buildings, have their work on their desks, in their medicine cabinets, on their favorite websites, and everywhere they look.
The process is different for everyone but the goal seems to be the same. Grab the eye and engage in some form of communication. Kotchka, Morrison, and Strausberg are truly innovators in the design world. They carry the torch in their respective design paths. They have each maintained their reputations through their hard work and attention to detail, kept a keen eye on the importance and necessity of process, and all the while kept their consumers appreciating their experience. These three women are doing much more than working with design. They are living design.
SOURCES
Reingold, Jennifer. "The Interpreter | Fast Company." FastCompany.com - Where Ideas and People Meet | Fast Company. 1 June 2005. Web. 01 Sept. 2011. <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/95/open_design-kotchka.html?page=0,0>.
Salter, Chuck. "Fiona Morrisson Brands JetBlue with Whimsical Design | Fast Company." FastCompany.com - Where Ideas and People Meet | Fast Company. 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 01 Sept. 2011. <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/149/project-runway.html?page=0,0>.
Tischler, Linda. "Feature Story - Lisa Strausfeld | Fast Company." FastCompany.com - Where Ideas and People Meet | Fast Company. Web. 01 Sept. 2011. <http://www.fastcompany.com/design/2009/featured-story-lisa-strausfeld?partner=mod>.