Progress Through Creative Design

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Progress Through Creative Design

A few weeks ago I met with Craig Vogel, the Associate Dean of Research and Innovation at UC’s College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning (DAAP). He is also President of the Live Well Collaborative. This organization, located at UC, uses interdisciplinary problem solving and collaboration between corporations and universities to research and develop products for the over 50 age group.

During the product development process, Vogel explained, a company’s commitment, research, innovation and creative design can create enormous benefits to us as consumers as well as to that company. He told me how one company took a simple tool, the vegetable peeler, and transformed the product by adding a quality, attractive handle which could be used more easily by the elderly and arthritic. It's not that the generic peeler wasn't any good. It was simple, durable, effective and cheap. But through observation, experimentation and persistence, the company developed a new product that met the needs of an emerging market of homeowners. The success resulted in increased profit per item, launching OXO Good Grips as a new company in the kitchen hand-held product market. The approach of developing a good grip has resulted in the design of over 400 different products.

Another product transformed by a design team was P&G’s shampoo, Herbal Essences. Sales had plummeted for this product and many from P&G described it as being in a “death spiral.” Then P&G assembled a team to study the customer and recreate a product that would specifically appeal to young women. Within 18 months, they had a new Herbal Essences on the shelf that was visually appealing and designed to meet the personality of their target consumer. It soon became another P&G billion dollar seller.

Innovation and creative design revitalized these products and are the new fundamentals of economic growth. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business recently released a report of how business schools can and should develop programs that focus on innovation. This message is reverberating in business schools throughout the world.

Cincinnati has good reason to be very optimistic. On a per capita basis, our metropolitan area has 25% more people employed in innovation and design industries than the nation as a whole. In part, some of our great consumer product institutions such as P&G and Kroger have spurred the demand. To service their needs, many design and branding firms have been attracted to this area. This concentration of creative and innovative design and branding firms, in turn, gives Cincinnati a clear advantage when other businesses are making location choices. A healthy supply of creative firms is clearly a strong economic development draw. Importantly, UC’s DAAP College, ranked among the world’s best, is both generating and complimenting Cincinnati’s amazing source of strategic and innovative designers.

If innovation and creative design are truly fundamentals of today’s economy, Cincinnati stands poised to take advantage of this concentration of talent and economic activity. As often happens, what benefits one company, firm or employee often increases the benefits to other similar companies, firms or employees.
We know our region has developed a special resource. It makes sense to continue to capitalize on this jewel as we seek to generate more economic growth.

George Vredeveld, Economics Center Director