The Value Creators Podcast Episode #25. Jacqueline Porter on The Power of Visual Design

Shownotes:

0:00 | Intro

02:28 | Jacqueline’s Defines Visual Design: Inclusions, Exclusions and Importance

03:54 | Nike Example: What Represents a Good Design?

05:32 | Jacqueline on Branding: Advertising’s Impact

06:54 | Professional Approach: Visual and Wood Synergy in Business

09:28 | Clients Don’t Know What They Want: Process VS magic

11:02 | Lum Spirits Story

15:51 | Color Palette: First Step for Visual Representation of Lum Brand

20:09 | Visual Design Mastery: Empathy, Psychology and Branding

21:23 | History of Rules VS No Rules

22:54 | Newtonian Economic Thinking and Bauhaus Analogies

24:42 | Steve Jobs Simplicity is a Transitional Example

26:27 | Designer Examples: Getting Outside of the Box

29:05 | Crack is Wack

32:22 | Implementation of Design

34:50 | Wrap Up: Fixed and Flexible Idea

We can all think of excellent elements of great visual design:

• They become an important part of our lives, our thinking, and our engagement with the world.
• Jacqueline chose the Nike swoosh to illustrate.

Subjectivity in Design:

• Design is a field where the subjectivism we advocate in value creation is uniquely valuable.
• Every customer will respond personally and idiosyncratically to visual design stimulus. It will mean something different to different people.
• Understanding the psychology of subjective value is a skill for designers.
• Breaking traditional rules can generate more acute emotional responses..

There was a 20th century movement to make design obey objective rules: “good design”.

• Bauhaus is associated with the “good design” concept, with prescriptive rules about function, simplicity and order.
• When these rules were taught in design schools, it raised concerns about students becoming replaceable, like interchangeable parts, due to strict design boundaries.
• New approaches like the Stanford D School approach left these rigidities behind, introducing the same empathic process for design as we use for value creation: understanding customer emotions, preferences and contexts comes first.

Steve Jobs as a Transitional Example:

• Steve Jobs, despite being rules-oriented, broke conventions creatively.
• Achieving simplicity in design while incorporating complexity in technology.

Examples of Breaking Design Rules:

• David Carson’s defiance of good design ideals led to influential graphic design in Ray Gun.
• Exploration of unconventional layouts, upside-down pages, layered typography, reflecting punk culture.

Great design can have huge social impact:

• “Crack is Wack” : Keith Haring’s appeal from the heart about the crack cocaine epidemic..
• The powerful impact of design in raising awareness and creating a call to action.

Empathy and Emotional Storytelling:

• Hunter and Jacqueline discuss the recurring theme of empathy in effective design.
• Emotional storytelling through research and understanding user experiences.
• Jacqueline described the storytelling journey of Lum vodka seltzer from “illuminating the night” to “illuminating life” led to a major visual rebranding.

Brand Design and Implementation:

• Discussion on the balance between fixed and flexible elements in branding.
• The need for consistency in brand recognition while allowing for creative evolution.
• Embracing constant change and evolution in design.
• The balance between exploration and exploitation for sustained brand success.

Visual design parallels value creation in its leverage of creativity, rule-breaking, empathy, and constant evolution in the field of design and branding.