RR04

It has always been common belief to me that a companies success largely depended on public perception of them, through the quality of their product or service and above all, their identity. What I found most surprising from this reading is a quote from the end of the chapter "A good product or service, however, does not necessarily require an expensively contrived image," which seems like common sense, but is often trumped by the social norm that society has placed on the business world. Though an image is just that, and a company cannot think to survive based on it, the power of a graphic is astounding, if lacks a compliance to the identity of the product or the company, it's contradiction can have adverse effects on the company's success much like British Airlines' multi cultural tail fin graphics. On the note of Britain I found how revamping an image is not always the best course of action, as tradition or precedent can go stand as a staple in a society, seen in the telephone kiosks replaced at the expense of public support and national image. Identity is a complicated essence though, as it not only about the product or a fancy logo, it can come down to how a company is run from it's dress code to efficiency in design of space/environment to the box in which it comes in, but is solely dependent on the company as each requires something different in order to continue success and expansion (IBM v Macintosh). I found the chapter on systems a bit confusing, mostly because of it's lack of definition and broad scale that it can be found. From the overall design of road way signs (multi colored, and using a universal code to create a simplistic set of guidelines) and metros or the Underground's map designs to the utilization of modular design to create many different variants of a single product that can be completed simply upon demand by the consumer, built when bought and quickly turned out and delivered. On a side note, I found the Japanese metro station design to be very interesting, making it completely accessible to all, as it created the easiest possible guidance from route to route as well as to the blind using braille as well as special floor tiles to guide those without sight even to the closest kiosk to buy a ticket for the train. It seems though, that design in systems is meant to decrease costs at all costs, with modularity or interchangeable parts first seen from the innovation by Eli Whitney, companies can make the same product cheap from the beginning or make themselves globally accessible by create changes at the last possible moment adjusting for regional differences as seen by Hewlett Packard. Designing to user specifications and creating something with interchangeable parts seems to be the most efficient way in which to make a product as versatile and widely accepted as possible.