Value by Design
We work with smart people to design things that make a difference. These ideas and opinions are inspired by the work we do and the people we connect with.
Des Kennedy
Founder and MD
Universities need unique stories if they’re to compete in the race for recognition, recruitment and research funding
The UK is recognised the world over for the quality of its universities. Drivers of economic growth they develop skills, fuel innovation and together contribute some £73 billion per year to the UK economy. But the Higher Education (HE) landscape is changing. Increases...
Use the channel funnel and get better results from your marketing
I was speaking about marketing and sales to the owner of a large professional services company recently when the conversation came around to social media. Her business engages an external agency to handle social activity but she was not convinced this was money well...
What is value?
When asked – what do you value? Certain things spring immediately to mind. Time with our family, our home, friendships or perhaps even particularly meaningful possessions. It’s fair to say that, from a personal perspective, most of us find it easy to separate the...
Just because I like you doesn’t mean I care
You’ve posted something to social media. And after a while you get a notification... Someone liked what you did or better still commented on it! You feel good. You’ve just received a little bit of what psychologists call social validation. (The thoughtful effort of...
7 things brand managers can learn from buskers
Every Summer our city streets come alive with entertainers and performers of every kind. From the obligatory stationary man, a myriad of musicians to the unicycling escapologists with their acts of daring do! Each one vying for our attention and loose change. Busking,...
Who likes numbers? – making measuring improvement easier
Perhaps I’m a little strange. As a mathematician and professional analyst with over 20 years of experience, the use of data and statistics to monitor and measure change has always been within my comfort zone. Many in healthcare however can find such numerical...
Growing charity income with cross-channel digital campaigns
Charities have seen their incomes reduced over the last few years. Increasing pressure on fundraisers to grow donations and make up the short fall. It’s difficult to overstate the role mobile devices now play in our daily lives. Research shows that we check our...
Further education – a tale of two audiences
Further Education colleges deliver education and vocational training for 16 to 24 year olds. As well as adult learning both on a full and part-time basis. Colleges have invested heavily in ambitious capital redevelopment programmes in the last few years. To improve...
My friend the dinosaur
My friend the dinosaur knows what he knows and is happy to keep it that way. My friend the dinosaur doesn’t like change and wants it like this every day. My friend the dinosaur keeps his head down preferring to hide in plain sight. My friend the dinosaur is a cook not...
Can mHealth transform the NHS?
The take-up of mobile technology grows year-on-year. Now more people in the world have access to a mobile than clean drinking water, a bank account or television. According to the Office for National Statistics. In the UK access to the Internet using a mobile device...
Why your business must be digital by default
“Wow it's unbelievable.” “This is going to transform our business.” “We’re going to be able to work so much quicker.” These were the sentiments, if not the exact words, we uttered on that fateful day back in 1988. The day we first became a digital business with the...
How bad ideas make for better solutions
Most of my ideas are rejected. I’ve done this job for while now (you can tell by the gray beard and hangdog expression). Originally training as a graphic designer. I have designed for print, brands, exhibitions and latterly UX for web and mobile. I now manage design...
Think more about brand ‘value’ than ‘values’
I recently worked with a large organisation helping them create a series of core messages. They had previously engaged a brand consultancy. Who undertook stakeholder interviews and brainstormed ideas. Discussing in detail what it was the organisation did and what it...
Walking in the fog
Eddie Obeng, A leading authority on project management and Director of Pentacle (The Virtual Business School) categorises projects into four types. Painting by numbers A project where you know what to do and know how to do it. Making a movie A project where you don’t...
A Mobile App to drive improvements in the NHS
A specialist team within the North East NHS is using the latest mobile technology to help healthcare professionals cut waste and improve patient experience. The North East Transformation System (NETS) has embraced management approaches from Japan’s automotive industry...
Using Lean principles to develop a Lean App
“We’d like a mobile App and this is how we’d like it to work.” said our client as he pointed to a series of indecipherable sketches. “It’s called ‘Kaizen’ and these are ‘Gemba’ Tools.” For the uninitiated Lean terminology can seem a little strange to begin with. With...
Rapid prototyping proves the business case for NETS app
Infinite are currently developing a LEAN Project Toolkit iPad app in partnership with the North East Transformation System (NETS). NETS is a coalition comprising of foundation trusts, health commissioners and improvement networks in the North East of England. Its...
Why we ALL now need to be T-shaped
The concept of T-shaped people has been around for some time. It was first used by management consultants McKinsey & Company to describe the type of people they wished to hire. The term has since been embraced by Tim Brown, CEO and president of global design...
The four line marketing strategy that guarantees success
Sales and marketing are intrinsically linked but they are of course two very different things. If sales is about “doing the deal” and marketing, put simply, is “telling the story”. I am going to reveal a guaranteed way to get the most from your marketing spend and...
Infinite attend NETS Share and Spread Conference
The objective of LEAN is to maximise customer value while minimising waste. A LEAN organisation places customer value at its heart and continuously analyses and optimises its processes in order to increase it. LEAN thinking changes the focus of management from...
Techies must learn to speak Newbie
I have lost count how many times in a client meeting I have come across this. The project team have discussed the business case, outlined the objectives, the desired outcomes and timings and it seems everyone is on the same page. Then the development team stand up and...
Standing out from the rest of the herd
Positioning is about creating clear space between you and your competitors. It's about understanding the truths of what makes your brand different. It's having a clear strategy and a set of tactics that will constantly reiterate these truths and build brand loyalty in...
Ready, steady, show me the pictures!
I have lost count of the number of times when either pitching for new business or meeting a prospective new client we are asked "Show me the pictures!" or, to put in another way, "Let's see your creative solutions now." Whatever my professional opinion on the subject...
Get off the stage and into the crowd
There has been a fundamental shift in marketing. We are all watching less television and reading fewer newspapers; combine this with the fact that as consumers we have become less trusting of advertising, direct mail and PR and its easy to see why traditional channels...
How much is your brand worth?
Have you ever thought how much your brand is actually worth? Just because it is not listed on your balance sheet along with your building, stock, cash and fixtures and fittings doesn't mean that it isn't one of your organisations most valuable assets. But how can you...
I am not normal – neither are you
Brands are such a part of the fabric of our world that it is difficult imagine our lives without them. Major products and services have embedded themselves into our phsyche fashioning and communicating their values and connecting with us the audience. But a sea change...
The pressure to be ‘business-like’
These days the pressures on the not-for-profit sector are enormous. In the current economic climate income from voluntary donations are dropping as levels of individual incomes fall. The coalition government are tightening the purse strings while looking to charities...
90% of design companies are cr*p
Theodore Sturgeon, an American science fiction author, coined a phrase that became known as ‘Sturgeon’s law’. It states that ‘90% of everything is cr*p’. If this is true then it follows that 90% of design companies are cr*p too. Without casting (too many) aspersions...
DIY – the end of the expert?
It is tempting in these tough economic times for marketing managers to reduce their reliance on external expertise when developing communications. Advances in technology mean the power to create is now in the hands of everyone. So why go to the expense of engaging...
Everyone’s a designer these days
In a recent article published in the Harvard review. Tim Brown, CEO of the global design company IDEO, argues that in order to succeed today businesses must embrace innovation and the best way to do this is to think like a designer. Design thinking is not the product...