Ideas have no value.
The true value of an idea lies in its translation to reality. It requires vision and execution to make an idea concrete and tangible. Finding a new and unique idea can be difficult but the execution of an idea is what separates a dream from reality. It requires knowing the destination and the steps it takes to get there. Rarely if ever does an idea become a finished product or service without input, changes or developments.
From conceptualization to realization there are numerous elements that threaten to destroy or dilute a great idea. Knowledgeable design teams navigate through these issues to offer solutions that maintain or enhance the ideas integrity. Too often a client assumes they can take a sketch or rendering and run with it, skipping the development phase altogether with the design firm. Having a great idea outlined in sketch or rendering form is only a small part of the process towards creating a successful product or service. Ideas as a static concept have little to do with great design if you cannot implement it so that people experience it as envisioned.
Steve Jobs once said in an interview with Robert Cringely, “One of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left, John Scully got a very serious disease…….it’s the disease of thinking that really great idea is 90% of the work. And that if you just tell all these other people, ‘Here’s this great idea,’ then of course they can go off and make it happen. And the problem with that is, is that there is just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product. And as you evolve that great idea, it changes and grows. It never comes out like it starts, because you learn a lot more as you get into the subtleties of it and you also find there is tremendous trade-offs that you have to make. And as you get into all these things, designing a product is keeping 5000 things in your brain – these concepts – and fitting them all together and kind of continuing to push to fit them together in new and different ways to get what you want. And every day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently. And it’s that process that is the magic.”
Entrepreneur and Investor Chris Dixon adds, “This is why almost all successful startups have founders who understand business, design, and technology. Product development is the process of navigating a maze — not three separate mazes, but a single maze that intersects all these functions.”
An idea needs to grow and be cultivated through knowledgeable action and execution. At Ashcraft Design we understand how business, design, and technology come together in order to execute an idea so that clients and consumers can have complete confidence in the final result.