Good design is...
A meaningful experience. A functional product. A relevant piece of content. A beautiful object.
Culture
Good Design Is...
Good design is all about people.
Design can be fun, can be convenient, can be precious, can be accessible, but good design is always an act of respect, an act of empathy, an act of love.
Good design is in the boldness of the vision and the nuances of its execution.
Good design is sustainable, from an ecological standpoint (eco-friendly), from an aesthetic standpoint (beautiful and against visual pollution), from a functional standpoint (practical), from an intellectual standpoint (user friendly and accessible), from an emotional standpoint (relevant and engaging), from a social standpoint (diverse and respectful) and from a financial standpoint (people buy it).
There is not “the absolute” good design. Good design is “all relative” to the specific needs and wants of people. What’s good for one may be less good for the other.
Design can be fun, can be convenient, can be precious, can be accessible, but good design is always an act of respect, an act of empathy, an act of love.
Design is all of this, and more appropriately blended, in perfect balance, to serve people’s needs and wants. We can, and we should dial-up and down each attribute, each element, each variable, always aiming to reach the perfect balance to serve our user.
That’s why design for us at PepsiCo can take so many different shapes.
It’s the colorful limited edition of a Pepsi can or a Lay’s bag celebrating the world's cultures.
It’s a smart and sustainable fountain with a floating screen that can touchlessly recognize you and your reusable bottle through an app or a QR code and serve you your customized healthy drink while collecting data to improve itself, your experience and our innovation pipeline. We call it SodaStream Professional.
It’s a collaboration between our pop culture food and beverage brands on one side and dozens of trending apparel, fashion and tech brands on the other, from Dsquared2 to Puma, from Bang & Olufsen to Fila, all the way to Nike, Zara, H&M and Forever 21, as a catalyst for user-generated content, the most authentic form of content, to build and support our brands in the modern social media-driven world.
It’s an experience with customized drinks, in a customized spherical glass, in the most unexpected and creative environment, in the heart of the Disney resort in Shanghai. We call it Bublz.
It’s new eco-friendly packaging, in the shape of a triangular canister, celebrating the iconic shape of Doritos.
It’s a special edition Quaker Oats packaging to celebrate the birthday of the brand.
It’s a smart tech patch to apply to your skin to monitor your sweat and its composition and customize your perfect Gatorade formulation. And it’s an app and a smart bottle with a chip that can help you and your physician track your intake and needs.
And it’s so much more...
Design for us is all about celebrating the diverse moments of our everyday lives, through our iconic existing brands and through new products that are iconic-in-the-make, through special moments of fun and indulgence (because life is that too!) and through daily moments that are meaningful, safe, healthy and good for you.
With Design at PepsiCo, through our food and beverage platforms, we want to celebrate life in its several forms, in its colorful manifestations, in its diverse shapes.
“The designers of the world put people before business and technology.”
For the good designers of the world, “business revenue” is not a goal, it’s the result of a product well done.
For the good designers of the world, “technology” is not the goal of the innovation process, it’s just the enabler and the amplifier of a meaningful solution to a human issue.
The good designers of the world understand and respect the tech and business communities. They understand how to work in perfect synergy with them to create products, brands, experiences and services that are desirable, viable and feasible. To create solutions that add value to our lives and the entire planet.
The good designers don’t care about “customer satisfaction”: that’s not enough. They want to love their users, and they want to delight them, engage them and surprise them, as they would do with their husbands and wives, with their kids and parents. Their designs are their gift of love to humanity.
The good designers of the world are people in love with people.
Cheers to good design! Cheers to the good designers of the world!
Sincerely,
Mauro