Design and customer insight are not mutually incompatible

British industrial designer Sir James Dyson, inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, was recently quoted as saying: “Steve Jobs has shown you ignore good design at your peril and that breakthrough products come from taking intuitive risks, not from listening to focus groups.”

On first glance this may sound like an obvious statement, that good design emerges from the maverick, creative mind and that research in the market place serves only to stifle that creativity and genius. However, on second reading, it also looks not only a little elitist, but also that the designer or the brand (and in Dyson’s case the two are, of course, inextricably linked) either doesn’t trust or isn’t interested in the judgment of its potential customers.

It will come as no surprise that I don’t agree with this approach. Ultimately research tells you what you set it up to do. You have to ask a question and create sound and effective research to deliver the answer . Framing research properly is key to getting the right result.

But, of course, focus groups are not the only available research tool. An experienced researcher, like my colleagues at Engage Research, will be able to point clients in the right direction. Effective research can either improve or kill off an idea, perhaps saving the brand thousands in development costs. Research will highlight broader market issues maybe can or can’t be addressed but which, either way, would be crucial to success in market. We have all tested a few brilliant products that people really liked, but that quantitative research has showed could not succeed in market and saved their manufacturers a fortune by not launching it as planned.

My colleague saw this in evidence most recently when working on a particular product, where a sample of 800 respondents liked the idea but just wouldn’t buy it due to perceived credibility and price issues. The research was showing that it was a high risk, niche product launch at this time, whilst the manufacturers were arguing it should be launched because one guy in one focus group said he would buy the product.

As well as classic research tools that “test” ideas, we also use techniques and approaches which engage with consumers in the nurturing, development and co-creation of ideas. Consumers, treated with respect and given the appropriate tools, can be just as intuitive as contemporary boffins like James Dyson.

So the message is the focus groups are certainly not the panacea for all evils. However, to go to the opposite extreme and ditch the many sophisticated and subtle customer insight tools now available to brands, is to wander into a market place blind. And who has the available cash to do that in the current economic climate?