CleisDesign

My boss and I have this great knack for talking about design in all it's business oriented and evolving properties. She's a smart, sassy industrial designer who doesn't have any "pie in the sky" ideas about design...she understands that design has to have a purpose and clean function.

Our jobs in the office are often dictated by the whims of big business and we both cringe when we see how little unity, direction and vision comes across our desks as the big "it" campaigns that will supposedly sell our companies products through the roof. We both share a sadness about the way business fragments and pulls apart design. But like most designers who care about good design in business, we brush off the dust and dirt and get back on our proverbial design horses to try and educate/persuade the misdirected masses that good design is important--really good design, when aligned with solid business objectives and consistent marketing strategies can save a business from extinction. Today my boss gave me an article to read about "the business of design"--take a read if you dare. It's dated from a Fast Company issue from April 2005 but it's message is still current.