Graphic Designer: Yang Kim

A Carnegie Mellon University graduate and Herman Miller alum, Yang Kim is executive creative director of People Design Inc., a Grand Rapids-based design firm she launched with Kevin Budelmann in 2007. The 25-person firm, which just made the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies, helps clients discover customers’ “needs” instead of “wants.” She talks about the difference and why it’s important.

How has the graphic design industry changed in the past decade?

Graphic arts are very old, old, blue-collar work. You could even say as old as Gutenberg laying out pages. It used to be that graphic designers just focused on graphic identity and layout. Previously, it was making a brochure or a postcard, making things pretty. Now people have to differentiate because there’s so much out there.

How do you accomplish that?

Your thinking is more important than your doing. IDEO used to be a product design firm. Now they envision the future. I don’t think they produce anything. It’s all future-focused. What we do is kind of like business consulting. We do a lot of research where we find out what the customer needs—needs, not wants.

Give me an example.

You know Swiffer? When Proctor & Gamble wanted a new broom, they hired Continuum [a consulting firm]. Continuum didn’t ask customers what they wanted in a broom. They watched people clean. They saw that people were using paper towels. They wouldn’t have found that out if they’d asked people what they wanted. Swiffer was a game-changer. That’s what we try to do.

What’s the difference between art and design?

Design is communication for a lot of people. Art is one-to-one. When you’re communicating to a group of people, they all have to have the same interpretation or we as designers have failed.

People Design’s method has three elements: empathy, strategy and realization. Is this more about design process or just good business strategy?

It’s the latter.

How did this method develop over time?

Carnegie Mellon designers are kind of “thinky” designers. We’d always ask the most annoying questions: What’s the purpose? Who’s the audience? [That] evolved into this process. There’s a lot of noise out there; there’s no need to add to the clutter. People want simple. This creates better solutions.

But don’t some clients just want a new logo or brochure?

Designers are all about metaphor. We don’t separate visual and verbal. Our job is to craft, to present the vision. You never see the logo by itself. It’s always in context. You’re interacting with the logo in context. That’s the whole logo versus brand thing. But there’s still an intellectual jump. So if you don’t get that, you don’t get that.

What advice can you give to business leaders who don’t have a design background, but who have to make decisions about brand and identity?

Discover your customers’ needs. People always think they know their customers’ needs. They don’t. Do the research to find out your customers’ needs, not wants. Have a partner [that is] a professional designer. Then trust the team. Trust the different skill sets. Keep in mind that designers have expertise, that they have skills. We use the analogy of the doctor. You don’t go to the doctor and say, “I broke my arm and I need to do X” because doctors know what they’re talking about. It’s the same with us. Third: Know that it takes time. Good things take time.

INTERVIEW BY: RUTH TERRY

PHOTO BY: ADAM BIRD

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