Add value.
Design should and must add value. It’s not designing as self expression.
Key Design values — Form, Function, Cost, Sustainability & Quality.
Function.
Simple. Intuitive.
I start with the obvious: does it work? Is it intuitive? Then I look for meaning, not decoration.
01 / DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Product Design.
Understand the audience.
Empathy with the audience isn’t sentimental; it’s practical.
Customer insight gives colleagues, consumers and partners real purpose.
Consider its whole life.
The life cycle of a product ends when the consumer disposes of it.
That’s a real design challenge.
The whole has to make sense.
I see a brand through everything a business does: what it makes, how it communicates, the spaces it creates and the experience it gives people.
Strategy establishes a clear purpose and direction. Design carries that thinking through, connecting the individual decisions into something people can recognise, understand and trust.
02 / HOW I DESIGN
Brand. Strategy. Communication.
Understand.
Understand the business, audience and context.
Define.
Define the purpose, positioning and brief.
Develop.
Explore ideas and establish a coherent design language.
Apply & evolve.
Test, refine and carry that thinking through.
03 / THE WORK
The thinking, made tangible.
Strategy
Brand
Furniture
Product
Alessi.com“Theo designed the Honey Pot when he was 25 years old. If anyone were to design a honey jar again, his is the embodiment of the product, a classic.”
Alberto Alessi
