Your designs are toooooo expensive ... not just too expensive, but looking too good !
One month ago this is what we were being told multiples times in one of those hallway / kitchen / bathroom 30 seconds meetings.
But last week we got feedback from sales results... and In Russia our latest model Mivue C328 is selling like cupcakes. Not really because of it's competitive price or because its good camera sensor quality, but mostly because its iconic identity catches users attention. and yes it looks good, in comparison to what is on shelves in Russia.
Shelves are crowded with no brand China products, with no regards for product identity, branding or quality. so yes, our little Mivue C328 is having a good time.
Now our sales team in Moscow is loving it ! Good Design kicks ass !
Designers, are we cheating end users ?
Sometimes, as a designer you have to admit, you are working for the big evil marketing god.
it's not a secret that electronic and optical components are getting better and better and smaller and smaller. If you launch a camera on the market with an excellent sensor quality, if it looks small, your lovely end users, your customers, will assume, the sensor quality inside is a very low entry, and that the videos from the recorder will be real bad quality.
So yes, we and every camera, video, high tech companies visually balance component small size to meet user's expectations . BIG LENS = GOOD QUALITY
We are the ID experts ! any design related questions we can provide an answer, an opinion, a justification, an explanation, a recommendation, a decision. we don't make decisions alone. we consult the cross-function project team and we host presentations to our regional branch offices to introduce and explain new design proposal.
we learned by experience that having mockup samples on hands on both hands is the only way for non design background people to truly understand the product proposal, its functions, dimensions and its design.
Working Together is more powerful ! Developing a new product is not a sprint race, neither a marathon, it's more like a succession of short sprints. if you want to do you best you need to train and race with fellow athletes. if we want better design output we need designers to work together, so they can build on each other's ideas and always feel support from the team. Running multiple design sprints, to meet deadlines, pushing yourself to achieve your design goals is very demanding and exhausting. you need some time to recover, some ways to keep your design mind fresh and aware for what's coming next ! Zhijuan has been teaming up with Matthieu and Jana to work in the early stages of the product, supporting her to solve a few design questions.
Keeping eyes on every details, but without loosing sight of targets.
It takes weeks & months of efforts, to co-work with engineering team to ensure quality production. Now when you put into the mix, different geographic locations, different countries, the communication is getting more complex. Line, Phone calls, F2F face to face meetings. Sometimes it can be discouraging. it takes more than a good design to become a good product. We need believers ! Designers who truly want to achieve something great, and designers ready to inspire, influence and also ready to stand for their ideas... Zhijuan is not easy to give up and she has this power to take with her PM and Engineers to follow her. if you know how she does, you will have to ask her !
But to be honest, we did not think that such design quality would bring problems to Mio premium. Now that we have outstanding entry product, we only have to keep our efforts to realign our premium products to a better standard !
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