By DITA DE BONI
Peter Geyer says an analyst once told him to avoid buying shares in any company that had a water fountain in its front foyer.
He agrees in principle, saying that self-aggrandizement is out and physical design that reflects the internal culture of an organisation is in: "The environment should be the manifestation of the organisation's business strategy. Water fountains show a company is not focused on the best interests of the shareholders."
The Melbourne and Sydney-based designer and "interior environments" technician is in Auckland to judge the best-interior category of New Zealand's Best Design Awards 2000.
A day after his judging stint, he will not reveal his choice but wonders aloud why several of Auckland's new buildings sport the multiple-office approach of bygone eras as opposed to the less structured office spaces popular offshore.
He is opposed to "hierarchical" offices, where the top brass take advantage of the view and are often separated from the teams they are hired to lead.
"We like to see people in either cellular or circular layouts, because it is our belief that osmosis of information, where people are close and can communicate face-to-face, works best."
He says clients often ask for "fewer offices and more meeting rooms" when approaching a refit, but the firm's designers like to know the business' objectives, internal culture and market position first.
"We are more than interior designers: we provide leading-edge solutions for both corporate and retail areas, encouraging businesses to adopt 'best practice.' For example, our designs often include the use of chill-out rooms, because anything that stimulates innovation is critical as that will be the differentiator in business going forward."
Mr Geyer says another classic faux pas in the average office environment is the management of records and information. Typically, around 6 per cent of office space is used to store material, but often there are few people who know how to access the organisation's "intellectual capital." When those people leave their knowledge is often lost for good.
Among Mr Geyer's clients are Ansett Australia, Deutsche Bank, Coca-Cola and Country Road and he is now working on the office environments of Bell Gully, Simpson Grierson Law and Buddle Findlay in New Zealand.
A project "under wraps" in Australia is an e-business space designed to attract 20 to 25-year-old employees: "It's a work disco, basically. It's a completely unstructured warehouse space with Jumbotron TVs and plenty of space to relax. The employees work odd hours, as they have to. Attitudinally, it reflects what the organisation does - I don't think many 40 year-olds would survive there."
With office redesign costing up to $3000 a square metre, what proof is there that the melding of company and design philosophy affects a business' bottom line?
"Fortunately, you can't measure productivity gain through proper design," he laughs. "But we have several testimonials to that effect. One real-estate firm we worked with said that although the market stayed the same, a freeing-up of communication channels and other changes we instituted led to a 5 per cent increase of its bottom line. They had no proof of that, but were convinced the refit was responsible."
New Zealand business is asleep at the switch, according to Mark Dziersk, the visiting judge of the best product design category.
Describing the great 21st century designer as the "modern day Da Vinci," Mr Dziersk says the number of entries in the competition he has come to judge in Auckland this week is shameful. While the entries are equal in quality to international standards, it is clear business here does not value highly enough the impact of design on sales and success.
"How can you put creativity into a product and think you won't sell more?" says Mr Dziersk, who is senior vice president of the Herbst Lazar Bell industrial design consultancy, based in Chicago.
"A business that depends on metrics exclusively is wrong, you would have to be blind and stupid not to see the value of good design. All the biggest companies - like Nike and Apple - have a pervasive belief in its value."
Herbst Lazar Bell employs 100 people to deal exclusively with product design - "no graphics, no packaging" and holds 50 US design and engineering patents.
It has been involved in the design of a number of high-profile products, including Motorola pagers, and in the New Zealand market, the Sunbeam steam iron. One of the firm's most prominent projects is Kodak's single-use camera.
Kodak had been selling its reusable camera in a cardboard box. Consumer feedback indicated that a common perception of the product was that it did not take good photos, was too big, not heavy enough, and that the design was not really exotic enough, says Mr Dziersk.
The firm set about producing a heavier, multicoloured plastic creation. As a result, today it generates around $US3 billion ($6.5 billion) and has become almost a substitute for a camera, says Mr Dziersk.
"The other great thing about it - and something that is happening more often now - is that Kodak recovers 95 per cent of the camera in what is called 'closed-loop manufacturing'."
"Basically the camera someone uses has had most of its parts recycled 11 or 12 times."
This market, like many others is typified by several products of a similar quality where design is the only point of difference, he says.
It is an example of the design revolution under way in the United States.
Mr Dziersk says there is no reason New Zealanders cannot compete with the rest of the world. "But where is the recreational product design, the agricultural product design, that New Zealand could really make an impact with?
"The student work I've seen here is excellent, but where does that innovation and creativity go?
" ... Every New Zealand manufacturer should rush to design because that will be what businesses will best leverage off."
New wave of design leaving us behind
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