Unleashing the Power of Design Strategy
Challenge
Ravi Sawhney, Founder and CEO of RKS, and Deepa Prahalad, business strategist, decided to co-author a book that would guide thought leaders, businesses, MBA students, entrepreneurs, designers and strategists through the process of creating successful designs and innovations. Their challenge was to encapsulate RKS’ design thinking methodology, Psycho-Aesthetics, into a step by step framework that would be able to be digested by the reader during a 6 hour flight from LA to New York.
Process
Condensing the design thinking methodology into the book Predictable Magic was a process that lasted several years. Ravi and Deepa developed the narrative, table of contents and general story line with help of intensive collaborations with thought leaders, such as C.K. Prahalad, as well as RKS clients and RKS strategy and design teams.
Solution
Introducing the design thinking methodology, Psycho-Aesthetics, a breakthrough approach for systematically creating deep emotional connections between consumers and brands, Predictable Magic presents the complete design process for making the “magic” of seamlessly integrating corporate strategy with design happen — over and over again. Covering everything from research to strategy, implementation to consumer experience, Predictable Magic distills the process into distinct phases that can be easily remembered with the acronym EMPOWER (Enable Your Stakeholders, Map the Future, Personify Your Consumer, Own the Opportunity, Work the Design Process, Engage Emotionally and Rewards Your Consumer). The Psycho-Aesthetics process is a powerful catalyst in empowering clients and design professionals to innovate. Not coincidentally, EMPOWER also describes the experience that we aim to create for consumers. Predictable Magic explains how Psycho-Aesthetics goes beyond the utilitarian (or even the merely “beautiful”) design, to innovate products that powerfully connect with people, touch them and move them, time and time again.
Learn more about Psycho-Aesthetics here.
“In Predictable Magic, Deepa Prahalad and Ravi Sawhney lay out a simple but powerful methodology for turning deep consumer insights into attention-grabbing, expectation-defying designs .”
Gary Hamel, Author of The Future of Management
“Predictable Magic starts with an unassailable and potentially discouraging premise: the relationship between what catches our attention and what wins our hearts is mysterious and complex. For companies hoping to use mountains of market research and spreadsheets of demographic data to create heart-fluttering projects, that’s a grim bit of news. But not to fear! In this book, Prahalad and Sawhney divulge the alchemy behind some recent monster marketplace success stories. What’s more, they promise that by following a few clear, concrete guidelines, any company can do the same. And then do it again. What they offer, in short, is a sort of Holy Grail: a handbook for replicable innovation. Predictable Magic is invaluable for anyone seeking to use design to create products that are both highly successful—and greatly loved. And that’s magic, indeed.”
Linda Tischler, Senior Editor, Fast Company
