Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope everyone is easing back into the work grind with fond memories of the holiday season! I can personally say that I am truly looking forward to 2011!! We haven’t heard from Alan Lugo who a designer for Hush Puppies for a little while, but I absolutely love this article! The design process is very fascinating to me and I have so much respect for designers since as an artist, I understand how attached we become to our creations. As a designer, you must have thick skin and understand that your vision is not going to be accepted or liked by everyone. It seems Alan gets this, which is why I have no doubts he will be successful in his career! Thanks for the article Alan and I wish many good things come to you this year!! -Julia

One in a Million

Once upon a time when I was just a ‘consumer’ of the footwear industry and put little thought into what went into process of making the product (which has since become my livelihood),  I would walk into a store where there would be a wall full of shoes from every brand with plenty of choices. I usually only had an idea of what I was looking for and would hope one of the brands would hit that bulls-eye.

While I was in college studying design, this scenario carried over to my still underdeveloped knowledge of the product process.  My focus was on the consumer and simply designing something that they would like.  My understanding of the process at that point went something like this:  Designer designs shoe for consumer, consumer sees shoe at store and buys (hopefully).  Kind of like a gift from the designer to the consumer, “here you go sir or ma’am, I spent lots of time creating this just for you, hope you enjoy it”.  Ah, if it were only that simple.        

I think most young design students share this same vision of a product design utopia, free of (or maybe at least without understanding of) salespeople, buyers, merchandisers, finance guys, etc.  But this story is not about how naïve young designers are in relation to how the shoe industry works, that’s kind of what’s great about young designers in the first place.  It’s about how truly special the products are, and how designers are their own salespeople.

As ironic as it may seem, these days the “sale” to the consumer is the least of my worries (but still in the picture), it’s just too many stages out of my control.  From the concept phase I have to sell myself on the design, first on a general design direction, that will take cues from some inspirational images, perhaps some fashion items, previous product, etc.  From a few possible directions a choice can be made then designs get tweaked and changed, this is where a lot of erasing and small adjustments are made until the design ‘looks right’.  Many times at this point anywhere from 10-30 designs can be explored (maybe less, maybe more, depending on the project).  So for a design to even come out of this phase is pretty lucky.

Once I personally have chosen a design it then has to get ‘sold’ to my boss, more often than not we are on the same page and its pretty smooth, but at times it back to the drawing board, (repeat step 1).  After that it has to be sold to my boss’ boss, at this point the shoe is usually in prototype form.  If he or she buys into it then it can usually be made into an actual shoe, not just a mock up prototype… so that it can be sold, to the rest of the business units (sales, marketing, etc).  This is where the rubber really meets the road, at this point it is no longer being sold to people that have been there since day 1, it’s no longer a sale of a concept or idea, it becomes more of a sale of an actual shoe.  For many valid reasons things will have to be changed at this point, one shoe will be chosen over another, an entire group may be dropped, etc, etc.  Casualties.

So finally a design gets put into “the line”, this is where the designer cuts ties and relinquishes control of their creations, they have to be trusted to someone else to see that these adolescent products go into the wild and live a happy product life.  The story that is the product, that was experienced and created over time, now has to be told to others who may or may not be interested. 

The design has been sold 3 times now and still not yet to the consumer.  Now it’s the retailers, the buyers… the outsiders.  At least sales and marketing were part of the company, and share the same end goal as the design team (hopefully).   Now it’s out in the cutthroat world of retail, a very dangerous place for a new design.  The buyers are like the final gatekeepers to the consumer.  They get shown hundreds of shoes each year, some get picked up, some are only given a chance, and some are again shown to bosses.  Out of an entire line of shoes from a brand, many times only a retailer will pick up 1 or 2, but now it has a chance, a chance to have a real life as a product.  Much like the toys in toy story that yearn to be played with by their kid, the shoe years to be picked up from that wall in the store, looked at, felt, caressed, tried on and then maybe someone will utter those magical words… “These are great”, “I love these”, “I’ll take them”.

            Not to get too esoteric from a design perspective, but for me, that’s what it’s all about.  Giving someone that great feeling of finding what he or she is (or maybe isn’t) looking for.  Creating that product that they will build a relationship with over time, the pair of shoes that they like so much that they will hang onto them way longer than they should.

The real moral of the story is how special it is for a shoe to even have a chance to be bought by a consumer (or maybe it’s only special to me).  By the time you add up all the drawings, all the shoes in the line, all of the colors, then finally, all the other competing product, it really is one in a million.  As a designer you have to keep returning to that beach season after season and put in the time and effort to crank these designs out, knowing that the vast majority of them will never make it deep into the ocean.

Once in a while I will see one of my lucky designs in a store:

“How are you doing buddy?  You seem to be holding up pretty well.  I remember when you were just a sketch, it’s good to see you here; this is a pretty nice place.  Let me dust you off a bit, and straighten you out.  Oh, your outsole has signs of wear on it; looks like you have been tried on a few times.  Yea I know, I see the clearance rack over there too, don’t worry, I’m sure you won’t end up there.  Oh wait, I think I see a customer looking at you, let me put you back… take care.”

-Alan