This is the Safari online edition of the printed book.

“Definitely, a game changer! Design experience is the power shift to our era what mass marketing was to the last century.”

John Sculley  former CEO, Pepsi and Apple

“Great design is about creating a deep relationship with your customers. If you don’t, you’re roadkill. This book shows you how and much, much more. Be prepared to have your mind blown.”

Bill Burnett  Executive Director, Design Program, Stanford University

“Design is the last great differentiator, and yet so few really understand it. Do You Matter? offers a marvelous series of direct, in-your-face observations and drives home the means to an absolutely integrated design strategy.”

Ray Riley  Design GM, Entertainment and Devices, Microsoft

“This book will challenge you to ask and answer what arguably are the most important questions an executive can ponder today. So open up.” 

Noah Kerner  CEO, Noise and coauthor, Chasing Cool

More and more companies are coming to understand the competitive advantage offered by outstanding design. With this, you can create products, services, and experiences that truly matter to your customers' lives and thereby drive powerful, sustainable improvements in business performance. But delivering great designs is not easy. Many companies accomplish it once, or twice; few do it consistently. The secret: building a truly design-driven business, in which design is central to everything you do. Do You Matter? shows how to do precisely that. Legendary industrial designer Robert Brunner (who laid the groundwork for Apple's brilliant design language) and Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) begin by making an incontrovertible case for the power of design in making emotional connections, deepening relationships, and strengthening brands. You'll learn what it really means to be "design-driven" and how that translates into action at Nike, Apple, BMW and IKEA. You'll learn design-driven techniques for managing your entire experience chain; define effective design strategies and languages; and learn how to manage design from the top, encouraging "risky" design innovations that lead to entirely new markets. The authors show how (and how not) to use research; how to extend design values into marketing, manufacturing, and beyond; and how to keep building on your progress, truly "baking" design into all your processes and culture.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 102 Ratings

The latest word on why good design sells - 2009-07-29
Reviewer Rating:
To create a company that really matters to other people, design a unique, positive customer experience into every aspect of your product or service. That requires becoming a "design-driven" firm, with leaders who understand that great design is the only thing that saves a product from becoming a commodity. Inspirational design turns your product into something bigger than the sum of its parts. To demonstrate this desirable design experience, authors Robert Brunner and Stewart Emery (writing with Russ Hall) point to iconic products, such as iPods and Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Their passion for corporate devotion to design permeates every page, becoming, alas, weaker with repetition, and then getting refortified in chapter eight, which offers a solid method for achieving successful design. getAbstract recommends this book to managers since most designers already agree that superior, comprehensive design is good for business.

Finally - Someone Gets It! - 2009-10-03
Reviewer Rating:
This book is absolutely amazing. Everything exudes great design to include the book cover, page layouts, writing style, and the thick card stock for all pages. I would expect nothing less from a book written about great design practices and branding, however one would be surprised at how many books miss the mark. I highly recommend this book to individuals and businesses who are interested in design and how it can improve your image as an individual and business. I cannot say enough good things about this book, I wish every book was as elegant, easy to read, and offered as much value.

They should really take their own advice - 2009-09-01
Reviewer Rating:
I have to be honest here - I didn't finish reading the book. I'm only 60 pages into the book when I gave up. It's not my job to finish reading before judging it. It's the authors job to hook me in, at most in the first 10 pages.

The book is just too repetitive. Yes, great design makes good company but there are no specifics as to the HOW. Read the negative reviews and you'll see most of them would agree that this book lacks in content.

Plus they should really take their own advice. Yes, the hardcover makes the book looks good - but it's a pain for the readers because you can't open the damn book properly. (And they said design isn't just about making things look good...) You have to try it to know what I mean here.

Marketing to Your Customers Through Design - 2009-06-15
Reviewer Rating:
Going into this book I was expecting an innovative read on how design can make a good company great -- what I got was a marketing book that talks about how design can work in a companies favor. No big break through, and nothing really any other marketing book wouldn't tell you.

The book looks at what makes people become evangelists for your company. Think of Apple and the iPod -- overnight Apple was able to design a product that revolutionized the portable music player industry. The book owes a lot of the success here to the design of the product, when some might argue that it was a combination of design plus a marketplace that was ready for such a product.

It's a decent read, and if you are into marketing something that might get you thinking more about design and presentation than most marketing books. However, it's not a revolutionary read -- merely an evolutionary read.

Apple! (and some other companies) - 2009-05-29
Reviewer Rating:
"Do you matter? How great design will make people love your company" is a book that deserves attention first based upon the credentials of the authors. Robert Brunner, is a former Director of Industrial Design at (as will come as no surprise to those who read the book) Apple Computer. Since that time he has been a notably successful consultant with his firm Pentagram, which not coincidentally did the cover design of the book which is very distinctive. Steward Emery is a know factor as well. His former efforts include successful books as well as a strong academic and coaching background that emphasized executive team building and motivational techniques. Russ Hall appears to be involved in this project primarily to lend his writing skills which have been used to good effect in past writing projects many of which are outside this genre of business writing.

Based upon the collaborative efforts of these authors and their past successes, you would expect this book to draw primarily upon the design experience of Brunner, the leadership and management input of Emery and the polishing efforts of Russ Hall to help make the book understandable for the average reader, including perhaps the reader who isn't necessarily a business academic or design related executive.

In fact, that is pretty much what this book delivers. The title however, isn't completely accurate. Certainly the primary focus is upon product or service design and how it can either be just a component of the traditional product development, introduction and other lifecycle elements, or it can be part of what the authors term as "design driven". When the term "design driven" is used however, it means something more than just what you might presume. Certainly design of the product or service is the driving force, but more than that what is being referenced is a holistic, all encompassing approach that includes branding, marketing and making an emotional connection with your target audience.
Not surprisingly, given the background of Robert Brunner, there is an inordinate focus upon the electronics industry in general and Apple computer in particular. In fact, a quick glance at the index reveals that of the roughly 200 pages in the book, about 20% of the pages contain some level of reference to Apple. In some places the references almost feel like a mantra repeating and driving home the tie between the design process and the promotion of innovative and cutting edge products and services. Tied into this as well is what is more popularly being referred to as EQ, or emotional quotient elements in the marketing, branding and target population selection. Relevant information is given on all these areas.

This is not a "how-to" book however by any means. Guidelines are laid out certainly, but by definition, much falls into the category of the somewhat intangible. In fact, I was reminded in places of the sage advice of John Paul Getty to "rise early, work hard and strike oil." While not quite that trite, this book is going to be valuable to those looking for some inspiration to break out of traditional thinking. The contribution of Stewart Emery in this regard, is evident and it broadens the target audience beyond the CEO or Chief Design Officer of a multi-national electronics firms to include entrepreneurs of all bents.

For all that it has going for it however, some of the advice may well prove frustrating to those reading this book looking for things they can latch onto for their small or mid-size company. Sometimes the advice is as broad as just to hire outside consultants to get an outside perspective. Good advice, but hardly necessary in a book that some may have picked up looking for a little more specificity and yes, maybe even some step by step guidance. The closest the book gets to that is the advice (good as far as it goes) to build a culture within your company or organization to understand and move at all levels in accordance with the philosophy being projected here. Many reading that however are inevitably going to want just a little more direction than what is provided. Emery's guidance comes through in that context but the discerning reader is probably going to sense two sets of messages coming through and see some good general advice on the one hand coupled with some good cheerleading but then walk away from the experience wondering where to go from here.

A few side notes are worth examining. The book design and layout itself is a good argument for the message being presented. The use of bright colors, presumably expensive inset lettering on the cover and the high grade paper used along with the sturdy binding mirrors in a very subtle yet strong way the message of the book. Sweat the details. Over-think and do all you can to enhance the consumers experience. What would it say about the convictions of the author if their message about quality did not impact their choices and selections? This is a book physically designed to last and remain in your professional library for future reference.

It's a tall order to cover all that can be said on this topic. There's certainly a lot of value to this book and it's worth reading. Whether it will live up to the needs of those reading it, particularly those outside of the large scale electronics firms and service companies that are primarily focused upon, isn't completely clear to this reviewer. If nothing else, it's a good start to the conversation.

4 stars.

Bart Breen

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