Competitive Benchmarking, A Critical Design Tool Or An Innovation Blunting Exercise That Will Doom Your Product?

Competitive benchmarking: a critical part of the design process that enables your product to exceed customer expectations? Or an innovation-blunting exercise that ensures your product will be derivative, doing little to surprise or delight your customer?

Well, it’s a bit of both actually. Having worked in the product design arena for almost two decades, I’ve seen various approaches to competitive benchmarking, how it has supported the development of some world-class products, and how it has been a devastating impairment to others.

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Marcus Roffey
Review: Mujjo Leather Wallet Case

Phone cases can be a love or hate affair. They’re a useful tool to protect fragile screens, or they’re a cumbersome distraction from the industrial design masterpieces that are most modern phones. I ditched mine a few years back, choosing to take the risk of a cracked screen in order to slim things down a bit in the trouser pockets. Resigned to being ultra-careful when whipping out my phone to send a text, and several near-misses later, I’m still case and cracked screen-free.

Enter Mujjo, the Netherlands-based company responsible for creating some of most beautifully crafted phone and laptop cases that I have encountered. Could the appeal of fine craftsmanship and attention to detail convert me?

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Marcus Roffey
Classic Cars - Yesterday's News or Lessons for the Car Designs of Tomorrow?

What is it about some classic cars that makes them so endearing? No car made 50 years ago is able to compete with its modern day equivalent in terms of performance, practicality, comfort, ride, handling, reliability, or safety, and yet, classic Jaguars, Mercedes-Benz, Ferraris, Porsches etc. regularly sell for many times the value of their brand new (and technically much better) descendants. Why is this?

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Marcus Roffey