Following last month's successful DMI Conference: Designing the Next Economy in Madrid, the Design Management Institute's flagship event will make its way its stateside next month in Santa Monica, California, from June 17–19. In anticipation of three-day event, we had the chance to catch up with Javier Verdura, Director of Product Design & Project Management at Tesla Motors, who will be conversing with Laurenz Schaeffer, President of BMW Designworks, on the Convergence of Transportation, Technology and Tools for Living. Check out his thoughts and insight into working with Elon Musk, autonomous cars, his goals at Tesla and the future of the company as a whole.
Tesla made headlines last week for paying off a $465m government loan ten years ahead of schedule. Obviously, the company's success is attributable to any number of factors, but to what degree was this an investment in design or, more broadly, innovation? Or alternately, do you think that good design is a worthy investment (whether the funding is public or private)?
'Good design' has been proven to be one of the smartest investments a company can make. Companies that invest in design as a core function and as a fundamental business strategy experience undisputed ROI (Return on Innovation). Companies like Apple, P&G, Nike, Target and Tesla to name a few, use design as the foundation of their business strategy. Design is what differentiates their products from the competition; well-designed products make customers' lives better, and it keeps them coming back to the brand (i.e. brand loyalty). Good design can be directly responsible for increased market share, in many cases proving to be a better investment over ad spend.
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