Stefan Tilkov wonders why so many companies fail at product design. It's much the same reason most software companies fail at usability - they don't even try. Good design is sufficiently intangible as to be regarded as surplus to selling something. It's not obvious to many people that good design contributes to the bottom line. Thus, it's considered fluff for the most part, unless you're from one of a handful of cultures or disciplines where good design is an unquestioned good and not waste. Most of the expenditure that could possibly go into design is usually channeled into marketing. Marketing has two distinct advantages over design: An abuse of statistics that is second to none. Stats and charts are the crack cocaine of business people the world over. An inherently cynical view of people (most designers are Panglossian in comparison, fashion designers coming to mind as the sole exception). One designer with a good retort to the charms of marketing is Lord Conran. e has always taken the view that most people don't really know what they want until you show it to them, which neatly invalidates 90% of all marketing. One way to improve matters is to decide to buy and use beautiful things. Most people don't and our markets are not oriented to value non-disposables. But to some degree I think it's true that most people do not look for some measure of quality, they look for some measure of value....
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