Cutline Speaks
Just Say No to “Shrink It and Pink It”
posted by Rachael on September 29, 2009
I am loving this article in Fast Company that profiles an internal group at Smart Design that calls themselves the Femme Den. The Den came about when Nike hired the firm to figure out why the athletic retailer's women's watches weren't selling well. The Den did a little demographic research only to discover the watches for women didn't have as many athletic features as the men's watches.
The lesson learned: companies can no longer default to "shrink it and pink it" product design strategies aimed at women. Not surprisingly, it turns out there's more to what women want than just making everything little and pink. OK a little sarcasm there but it's amazing what a difficult time companies have had trying to figure out how to reach women, who they recognize are a very powerful purchasing demographic.
For me the most illuminating part of the article is a consumer tech case study that details what happened when the Femme Den applied research to what women want in their consumer technology products, and it is intuitiveness. A recent Yale University study found that women are "less tolerant of complicated interfaces -- more willing to skip new tech than slog through manuals" than men. Boy is that true in my case, but I digress. Pure Digital Technologies hired the Den to design a camcorder and, at the Den's urging, put ease-of-use at the top of the design priority list. What did it result in?: Just a little blockbuster gadget called The Flip camera that both women and men happen to love.
I think this article is a must-read for marketing and PR professionals. Beyond the initial design process, this piece reminded me of what I should highlight when promoting a product with women in mind. How functional is it? What features are the most intuitive? How will this product fit into a woman's life? How will it make it better?
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