Products' Friendly Front End

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Then, with all that in place, these innovative companies are using design as a way to capture attention and inspire new behaviors -- most often through an attractive new artifact with which ordinary people on the street can interact. Indeed, design is often most powerful when it serves as the "friendly front end" for a whole lot of significant changes in a company's business systems.

Indeed, some companies, such as Virgin, have built their entire business around assembling the capabilities of upstream partners and then designing a front-end experience that's well-differentiated. Without partners like Singapore Airlines, Greenwich Reinsurance, Sprint PCS, and Cott, the world might never have known Virgin Atlantic Airways, Virgin Insurance, Virgin Mobile, and Virgin Cola.

INNER STRENGTH.

Failing to understand this dynamic, both United and Delta slavishly copied JetBlue's hip aesthetic, oblivious to the fact that low fares and pretty logos aren't enough. Indeed, underlying JetBlue's wonderful experience is a meticulously constructed back-end operations system that was designed fresh from the ground up.

JetBlue founder David Neeleman shrewdly recruited execs from Virgin to help create a winning customer experience, but he matched that team with a cadre of Southwest Airlines (LUV) veterans who know how to run a low-cost carrier effectively. Those 40 channels of free cable TV on JetBlue might not be financially viable without the lower labor costs, low-maintenance planes, and point-to-point network that Neeleman's team put in place from the get go.

Infrastructure Alone Won't Do It, Either

Of course, the reverse is also true. A comprehensive back-end system can fail to live up to its promise without a compelling front-end design. Some companies invest a king's ransom in back-end infrastructure. They develop a business model that seems sound and identify the demand drivers and alliances that will make the whole thing work. But then they fail to realize their dream because they lack the kind of compelling front end that great design can provide.

That's where XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) has stumbled. None of the actual radios are anything to write home about. XM's effort to emulate the iPod seems too complicated to attract anyone but technophiles. And most importantly, none of the devices seem to effectively highlight one of the most compelling aspects of XM's back-end system -- its strategic alliance with Major League Baseball. Given the amount of effort that XM has expended to sign a league-wide exclusive, you would think it would bring out a satellite-radio device designed to make baseball fans drool, but so far, nothing doing.

BLACKBERRY PLUCKED?

From pill bottles to music players to airlines, companies are beginning to use design for maximum effect. Often, those designs are a physical embodiment of more intangible business decisions. They allow end users to benefit from a web of alliances and partnerships, making an otherwise complex infrastructure simple and pleasurable to use. More and more, design is at its best when it acts as that kind of friendly front-end.

Recently, Waterloo (Ontario)-based Research In Motion (RIMM) has been the target of aggressive litigation. The plaintiffs allege that RIM violated several patents relating to the technology that helps its software navigate through corporate firewalls. And while many folks may not recognize Research In Motion, most of us are familiar with their e-mail device, the now ubiquitous BlackBerry.

As of this writing, it's unclear whether RIM will prevail (or even if it should). Service providers may be required to cut off service, rendering thousands of BlackBerries useless. The prospect is ominous for anyone who depends on one for communicating on the road. But the situation highlights what's most valuable about a great design -- often, it's the stuff we can't see.

Dev Patnaik is the Managing Associate of Jump Associates. Jump helps companies build new businesses, define new products and services, and create cultures of innovation.