Designing Perceptions Instead of Solutions

Why a solution to a problem in the 21st century may not be the answer

Henry Ford’s reaction to a consultant who questioned why he paid $50,000 a year to someone who spent most of his time with his feet on his desk. “Because a few years ago that man came up with something that saved me $2,000,000,” he replied. “And when he had that idea his feet were exactly where they are now.”

What if we switched the food that is served in a restaurant with a Michelin star with one that does not have one, and vice-versa? Chances are you wouldn’t notice a difference. What if I told you that travelling faster by train from point A to point B and saving one hour of time difference would cost you 6 billion in renovations and constructions, but if you just installed a high-speed internet nobody would give a cent about that 1-hour difference?

Engineers, medical people, scientific people, have an obsession with solving the problems of reality, when actually … once you reach a basic level of wealth in society, most problems are actually problems of perception― Rory Sutherland

As a designer, I tended to fall into the pitfall that we must always be looking to design solutions. We have to improve our product, make it faster, better looking, better performing and overall better than our competitors. But if all of us are doing these things, why there are so many average products? And after giving it a proper thought I realised that it has less to do with what you design or build, whether it is excellent or best invention of all times, and more with, how people perceive it. Perception is one of key components of the succes of a product.