The Contemporary Job Of A Design Thinker

Nike may be typically known for focusing a lot of gear solely on athletes; yet, it is not just for them. Nike’s objective

Nike is one of the biggest footwear and apparel manufacturing companies in the word. The company came into existence in 1964 by Bill Boweman and Phil Knight and named it as the Blue Ribbon Sports. The company changed the name to Nike, which is Greek word meaning victory, in 1972 after producing a good brand of shoes that became popular among the athletes (NIKE, Inc., 2001). Since then, the company has been successful, dominating the world market of athletic shoes. The company’s products are sold in more than 170 countries across the world. The company also sponsors various sports events at national and international levels. The company slogan “just do it” is catchy and attract many people tom

In 2014, Nike was valued at $19 billion dollars, making it one of the top valued sports business of all time. Their presence of slogans and successful athlete endorsements, such as “Just Do It,” are known antics that have allowed Nike to develop a brand reputation of success. Additionally, the Nike brand has become so popular that it has become a fashion statement. A key driver of Nike’s influencing power in the athletic market is their methods for implementing lean thinking strategies. Two main objectives Nike sets out to achieve within their lean thinking plan is to “make today better” and “design for the future.” In order to achieve both of those goals, Nike encourages their employees to better themselves each day by learning new skills that will enhance their ability to work more productively.

Innovation: In such a mature and competitive industry, continuous innovation is crucial to the success of the company as it gives a unique selling point that rivals do not have. Both product and process innovation are Nike’s

6). This strategy is a major component of Nike’s business strategic level plan. In applying this strategy, Nike has attained a great deal of consumer insight, which it uses to offer uniquely designed premium products to the athletes. Still on product differentiation, Nike focuses more on research and development at a greater level. These unique features to Nike, have transformed the competition levels in this competitive industry, leading to a trend of a paradigm shift in the market. Most consumers opt for Nike branded sports products and apparels, at the expense of the other brand names.

Understanding customer needs will help Nike to define new market opportunities and drive innovation and revenue growth in every aspect of its organisation. The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs. Human needs are states of felt deprivation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006). Customer logic is derived from evaluation of a company and its product based upon customer needs, customer benefits, and product features. For branded athletic shoes, Nike has to understand customer needs on a global level as the products are sold

Through market research, Nike found the most impressionable consumers were these Football Obsessed Teens. Generally, these teens were around 17 years in age, Nike’s target age. Nike felt that the “17-year-od consumers were more independent, more driven in their football goals, could choose their own brand, buy their own products and form brand loyalty.” However, Nike recognized that this change would require an adjustment in their marketing efforts. Primarily, these consumers were not just “aspirational” but rather “inspirational,” a type of consumer that will want the tools to become the best possible player.

Nike has attained a leading role in almost every one of the upcoming world wide sporting events, such as the 2012 Olympics, the 2012 Soccer Euro Cup, the NFL Superbowl, the 2014 Soccer World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Therefore the time is now for Nike to embed their customers and the fans of these major sporting events in the experience through their new technology.

Before the Internet era, Nike had already established itself. It had done well though TV ads and celebrities getting on board like Bo Jackson. However, when the new era came, it changed everything for Nike. They needed to be able to change with the new era. If millions of people use Facebook, IG, and Twitter, Nike needed to expose themselves in those areas as well. Therefore, they became more up-to-date, and gained more attention that way with the millennial crowd. This allowed Nike to become more holistic in the modern world. This new community created insane amounts of data, which Nike used to track behaviors, creates online groups of Nike fans, and builds meaningful relationships between the brand and its customers. Nike adopted a range of digital exercises such as a strong emphasis on storytelling, being an authentic brand, understanding and communication with customers on their terms, being extraordinary and shareable, and allowing complete customization.

Nike’s organizational Form reflects a conglomeration of resources, processes and people around the activities most critical to their target customers in terms of its Value Proposition. It decided therefore to concentrate in depth on the critical activities and competencies rather than increasing the breadth of its

Nike must cater to a large portion of the new generation that demands the latest trends and styles. Nike should take into account the changing US demographics due to the rising proportion of Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans. These groups have different preferences that Nike should be able to satisfy. Nike should identify the next generation of loyal customers and provide for their needs.

Empathy is a significant characteristic of a design thinker and leads to ultimate success in the business environment. Empathy allows an entrepreneur such as Steve Jobs to gain an understanding of the human experience and develop Apple products that adhere to the desirability of customers. This human centred methodology and culture of innovation allows a design thinker to examine and understand perspectives of others both imaginatively and affectively. By utilising empathy in design thinking Steve Jobs was able to develop and build Apple’s future products in an innovative and successful manner as to emerge from any previous product failure or impediment.

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

I have chosen these questions to ask my Interviewee Neville Brody who is a very famous Graphic Designer who is well respected in his field and internationally known because I feel it is very important to understand the thought process that goes into designing some of the worlds best pieces of work ever created. I would like first hand knowledge coming from Brody himself and not any online articles or journals that I might have read up on. The thought process of design thinking is a very independent thing, you can only learn by repeatedly attempting day after day of new methods of research and how you apply them to your idea. I feel that a lot of people such as fresh students who seek guidance, also young graduates and even sometimes professional graphic designers who have been seen as an ‘expert’ in their field lack the knowledge of understanding a great design thinking strategy or need aide in this domain.

Nike also supports athletes by offering them communities of support that links Nike+ users to an entire community and encourages people to break their limits, and excel on their workouts. Nike gives people challenges, and also coaching program on their software, or making custom training and challengers between friends. Nike also popularized its’ own softwares by making them very social, which is a very liked feature of Nike+, considering people are actually trying to socialize on online social media network, such as linking their runs to their twitter account, post pictures on Instagram or making moments on