Design for marketing technical businesses is complicated, because the product is complicated, but the consumers are ill-suited to evaluate it. Simplicity and good design are essential to successfully marketing technical products and services.

1. “Good Design is Good Business”
—Thomas Watson Jr.
Founder of IBM
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2. 1. Good design is a mark of quality.
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3. 2. Good design forms an emotional
connection with the user.
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4. 2.1 People love to use well
designed objects.
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5. 2.1.1 Well designed objects
wear in, not out.
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7. 2.1.2 Well designed objects are
easier to use.
(Good design illuminates function.)
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9. 2.1.3 Well designed objects consider
the user first…
…and last.
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11. 2.2 People hate to use poorly
designed objects.
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12. 2.2.1 Poorly designed objects must
be replaced often.
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Because they are used incorrectly
Because they are built badly
Because they are trendy

13. 2.2.2 Poorly designed objects
obfuscate function.
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Guitar Pedal—
Too Many buttons and dials?
Too few? Complicated to use?

14. 2.2.3 Poorly designed objects consider
the engineer first, production second,
and the user third…
…if ever.
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Most PCs, phones, etc (until very recently)

15. 3. Good design is a differentiating factor.
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Not only because there are so many badly designed things, therefore making them notable.
Because good design purposefully points out the differentiating factors between similar
things.

16. 4. Good design always adds more value
than it costs to create.
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Who’s ever gotten lost, frustrated, or angry in an airport?

17. Design should never say, “Look at me.”
Design should always say, “Look at this.”
—David Craib, Parable Design
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18. 1. Good design is always at the
service of the content.
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Suckerfish drop downs = Slow Automatic Doors @ the grocery store. Lists are better.

19. “Don’t confuse legibility for
communication.”
—David Carson
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20. 1. Being able to read something is a lot
different from being willing to read it.
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Only 28% of web copy gets read. That means 72% does not.

21. 2. How you say something is as
important as what you say.
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22. I Love You.
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You can say, “I love you, in Helvetica...

23. I Love You.
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...or you can say it in Helvetica Ultra Light if you want to be really fancy...

24. I Love You.
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...or you can say it in Helvetica Extra Bold if you are really passionate...” —Massimo Vignelli

25. 3. Be careful of your non-explicit
communication.
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Body Language
The clothes make the man
Your materials speak for you—They tell people what’s important to you/what you value.

26. Friday, January 7, 2011 26
Great Content
Perfect for the Audience
Not a Marketing Site

27. GO
AWAY
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This is what its design says to non-technical users.

28. “Use a unique point of view:
your client’s.”
—Earl Gee & Fani Chung, Gee+Chung Design
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29. 1. Know Your Audience
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30. 1.1 Know What Your Audience Values
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Are the people who hire you other technical people, or are they business owners, or
managers?
What do those people value beyond competence?

31. “Designers think, so people can feel.”
—Juan-Carlos Fernandez, Ideogram
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32. 1. Everyone makes decisions emotionally.
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Even extremely rational people.

34. Friday, January 7, 2011 34
Blue Pen vs. Black Pen? (Orange Pen, duh.)

35. Friday, January 7, 2011 35
How would Spock fair in the cereal isle? Is there any good reason to choose any one of these?
Is there such a thing as best?

36. “Good design is…as little design
as possible.
—Dieter Rams
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37. 1. Decision making is a reductive process.
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38. 1.1 We don’t choose the best so much as
eliminate the unsuitable.
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39. 1.1.1 Don’t give people more reasons
to eliminate you than they need.
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Keep it simple. Keep it brief. Only show the good stuff.

40. Friday, January 7, 2011 40
99¢ Songs, licensed, online marketplace
200,000 units
Too Many Buttons
Box/Ads full of Specs.

41. Friday, January 7, 2011 41
1,000 Songs in your pocket.

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Same Capacities
More Features, More Formats, More Codecs, FM Tuner...
More Buttons, Intimidating Spec-Riddled packaging...
Fewer Sales

43. Friday, January 7, 2011 43
Fewer Buttons
Fewer Features
Fewer Details...
1,000,000 Units

44. Friday, January 7, 2011 44
What’s important here? The Work!

45. Friday, January 7, 2011 45
What’s important here? The Work!

46. Friday, January 7, 2011 46
What’s important here? Comfort and Beauty. Great photo. Handsome guy, pretty plywood,
comfy chair.

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What’s important here? How thin and light the MBA is.

48. “I know that I know nothing.”
—Socrates
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49. 1. Beware the Dunning-Kruger effect.
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Know that there is no weakness in hiring someone to help you with the things you are bad at.

50. Resources
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51. Sites
AListApart.com
Webmonkey.com
43Folders.com
FastCoDesign.com
Movies
Helvetica
Objectified
Art & Copy
Books
The Brand Gap
Blink/The Tipping Point
Change by Design
Buy-ology
Idea Selling
How We Decide
Audio
WNYC’s Radiolab
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52. Thank You.
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