Scan Magazine | Design Business Profile | design-people aps
New Nordic design – inspired by women Winning the competition of tomorrow is not only about embracing new technology trends. For design-people, it is about doing it in a way that makes an impact on people by providing real user benefits. By Nicolai Lisberg | Photos: Vifa
Meaningful benefits, ease of use and desirability – those are the three core ingredients in the recipe for success for the Danish design company design-people. So, although they are a company primarily designing technological solutions for their clients, technology is not the main focus. “When we take on a project, we spend about 20-25 per cent of the time on research and finding out what the users would really benefit from. The main focus is on people and user experiences, because knowing the users’ preferences allows us to create the ultimate 16 | Issue 98 | March 2017
user journey, which is so important for the final product to be a success,” explains Henrik Mathiassen, design and creative director as well as partner at design-people. One of the projects where design-people spent a great deal of time figuring out the target audience and their needs and intuitive preferences was when they were hired to design lifestyle speakers for Vifa. Design-people was given the freedom not only to design the end product, but also to help with a marketing strategy.
“Vifa wanted to change from a component manufacturer to a product lifestyle brand. We spent a lot of time on research and came up with the idea of creating a visible differentiation from the designs on the market in order to attract women, without offending male buyers,” says Mathiassen. “We developed an interiorfriendly design, and we suggested that Vifa would launch the new speakers at the furniture exhibition in Stockholm. Usually, you launch products like this at an electronic appliance fair, but we wanted to target a different audience and market. The result was stunning – during the brand premiere at Stockholm Furniture Fair in 2014, people, mainly women, blogged about it and uploaded pictures to Facebook and Instagram about the speakers, and Vifa got instant