Design Week set the question: what is the definition of design? To me, it is very simple — design is about making things better.
And with all the traditional barriers between commercial creative disciplines breaking down, it remains the clearest differentiation between design and advertising. Advertising is about doing whatever it takes to sell stuff. Design is about making things better first, in the belief that when that is put in a commercial context, it will naturally help sell stuff.
"If there was any debate as to the value of this, you need only mention one word: Apple."
Apple didn't have the first touchscreen phones, the first GPS, and there have always been more powerful and cheaper alternatives to their products. What Apple has done brilliantly is design — making things better. And doing this has helped it go from a niche player to one of the most valuable companies in the world, with an almost fanatical following.
Design is also about having a client. Design without a client is fine art — which is very worthy in its own right, but it is not design. The discipline exists in the service of something.
It's also about creating a new vision — literally changing how people see things — and therefore it is one of the most powerful ways of achieving anything. People know this deep down and are naturally attracted to it. Hence the great emphasis we place as a culture on visionary leaders.
Good clients will know this too — they appreciate the power of a new vision. They will also know that a vision in harmony with a natural human order is even more powerful, because it taps into billions of people's natural desire and need for positive change.
Design at its best doesn't just make things look better. It makes things work better. It makes life better. That's the whole point.