Design Really Does Matter: The Rest of the Story

A while back Jason posted about the radical redesign of Tropicana Orange Juice, and the negative effects it had on sales.

Interesting to note this morning that Fortune magazine has the Tropicana redesign ranked #2 on their list of “Dumbest Moments in Business 2009 Midyear Edition.” They said,

Tropicana fans said the simplicity of the new design reminded them of store-brand generics. And who wants to be mistaken for a generic consumer? Within a month, the public’s flogging by e-mail, phone, and blogs forced PepsiCo to bring back the old straw-in-an-orange cartons. Other parts of the campaign remain, but PepsiCo will probably think twice before it tries updating this icon again.

Maybe you consider yourself sophisticated and not susceptible to the packaging of a product. The reality is, you are. Everyone is. The content, and how the content is presented, are intertwined. The old saw is, “the medium is the message.” In other words, design and presentation creates meaning. How is your design and presentation of the Gospel impacting its meaning to those who are listening?

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In the graduate class we teach on Communicating Visually, one of primary theses is the idea that every medium has its own unique language, and that changing communication systems alter our perceptions of reality and truth and ultimately change the way we think.

A recent issue of Wired magazine is all over this idea. First there was an article by Clive Thompson, “This is Your Brain on Video: How the new language of YouTube is changing the way we think”. Thompson points out that the proliferation of DIY ["Do-It-Yourself"] tools for making video are not just changing who uses the medium, but how it is used. And gives some cool examples, too. He says, “Video used to be a way we communicate with others. It’s becoming a way we communicate with ourselves.” Chew on that for a bit.

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