Page 82. Connect to the Topic. Part B. TUNE IN

Unit nine

page 82

connect to the topic

part B: tune in

welcome everyone to upstart; the talk show about new business ideas.

I’m joined today by Mark Latham, owner of the design company D4 designs; welcome Mark, good to have you here.

yes thanks; good to be here.

so Mark, what I want to start with is your company is a design company, a design company for businesses; what do designers do?

the simple answer to this question is this: designers create a look and feel for a product.

how does that happen?

basically a designer takes an idea and makes it a reality; turns an idea into a real physical thing.

can you give an example?

Sure; let’s take the iPhone: Apple had a goal of creating a new type of phone.

a new type of phone, not just for talking to people.

Right; they wanted it to feel like part of a person’s identity.

make it look and feel personal.

Yes; they wanted the iPhone to feel personal and to be functional; that’s why it became so successful.

so which is more important? to feel personal or to be functional?

well it’s both; this is what we call the user experience.

for example you could make a beautiful looking phone, but if it’s hard to use or if it doesn’t meet the needs of the user, it’s not good design.

Right; no one would want to buy it.

Exactly; people want to feel like, hey I like this it works for me; that’s a successful design.

Well, that explains a lot…