A Fine Line: How Design Strategies Are Shaping the Future of Business (Hardcover)

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"Esslinger's work shows that taste can triumph, design and production can be soul mates, and the eye of an individual can shape a product and a company." —From the Foreword by Michael Moritz, partner, Sequoia Capital

For the first time, Hartmut Esslinger, internationally acclaimed designer and founder of frog design, inc., reveals the secrets to better business through better design. Having spent forty years helping build the world's most recognizable brands, Esslinger shows how business leaders and designers can join forces to build creative strategies that will ensure a more profitable and sustainable future.

A Fine Line shares the amazing story of Esslinger's transformation from industrial design wunderkind to a global innovation powerhouse, while detailing the very real challenges facing businesses in the new global economy. Offering companies far more than a temporary innovation booster, Esslinger shows how he and frog build creative design into the framework of an organization's competitive strategy, the same approach that has worked so well for leading edge companies such as Sony, Louis Vuitton, Lufthansa, Disney, Hewlett-Packard, SAP, Microsoft, and Apple.

Offering a step-by-step overview of the innovation process—from targeting goals to shepherding new products and services to the marketplace—Esslinger reveals how to arrive at a design that reflects an intensely human experience and will connect strongly with consumers. With Esslinger's unique perspective, rich stories, and global mindset, A Fine Line explores business solutions that are environmentally sustainable and contribute to the future of a thriving and lasting global economy.

The blending of design and business intelligence holds the key for shaping a sustainable competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving creative economy. A Fine Line equips business leaders with the necessary tools to thrive in tomorrow's world.

Design Strategy Examples from Frog Design, Inc.

Apple's Brand and Design DNA Frog Design collaborated on Apple’s “Snow-White” design language in the early 1980s. We worked closely with Steve Jobs and Apple’s developers to innovate computer usability and appearance, resulting in iconic products with no historic precedent.

Disney Cruise Lines Frog Design's retro-futuristic designs for the Disney Magic® and Disney Wonder® combine classic maritime elegance with starship swagger – and appeal to parents and children, alike.

Lufthansa Airlines In the 1990s, Lufthansa’s Executive Board asked Frog Design to create a new and more emotionally engaging image for the airline and its base at the Frankfurt am Main Airport. From check-in gates to plane interiors, our designs helped redefine the modern air travel experience.

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praise for a fine line

"A breath of turbo-charged fresh air that doesn't regurgitate the ego-maniac CEO's selective memory or an outside expert's misinterpretations. Hartmut explains innovation through the lens of design, and it's about time we gained his valuable perspective." —Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist, Apple and co-founder of Alltop.com

"At Flextronics, we fell in love with Hartmut and frog, and their passion for bringing crazy great designs and design processes into the forefront of great product companies. We used their expertise to help our customers, many of the greatest product companies in the world, including Apple, HP, Cisco, Microsoft and others. It is a credit to Hartmut that in the midst of a shocking global recession, frog still sets quarterly revenue records. Theirs is a unique and fascinating story." —Michael Marks, partner, Riverwood Capital LLC and former CEO, Flextronics

"Hartmut's new approach to design is felt in every room in every house in every country and in every business around the world. He proved that thoughtful design is not only good for people but is good for business—and that both are interlinked. I have been fortunate to have observed first hand his impact at Sony, Apple, and HP?and have learned so much from him. He is an unsung hero of our times! A Fine Line is a must-read for designers and business people alike." —Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president, Hewlett-Packard

"A fascinating, breathtaking, and exemplary insight into a success story that never had so much topicality, and so much informative potential as just now. Esslinger offers an honest and encouraging portrait of the incredible power of the business and design alliance. A Fine Line is a handbook of design expertise and the art of business at its best, showing a variety of radical solutions and fresh new ideas." —Professor Dr Peter Zec, president, ICSID and founder, red dot awards

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (June 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470451025
• ISBN-13: 978-0470451021
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,537 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man Behind the Innovation Curtain, July 8, 2009

By	Daniel T. Edmundson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In A Fine Line Hartmut Esslinger gives forward-thinking insight into building a company's creative culture. The book allows you to crawl inside the mind of frog design's founder who held the fate of major brands like Disney and Sony in his hands. It effectively reveals Hartmut's approach to unique business solutions and the influence of design on corporate strategy. What I enjoyed most about the book's revelations, aside from providing key design and innovation wisdom, are the honest and humanistic anecdotes that Hartmut offers about his experiences working with Apple, cultivating a growing design firm, and pushing brands to take risks and move beyond the "norm."

Inspiring to say the least.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ingenious, July 7, 2009

By	C. Rossi (USA) - See all my reviews

Finally a book on innovation that doesn't come from the "Ivory Tower" of business but is based on experience.
Hartmut Esslinger's book "A Fine Line" is his story on how he has defended creativity in his personal life and in the Board Rooms of major corporations around the world . A great read with new insights on working with Steve Jobs at apple and executives at Sony on their path to become recognized innovation brands.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Any business library needs this, September 18, 2009

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

A FINE LINE: HOW DESIGN STRATEGIES ARE SHAPING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS comes from a designer and founder of Frog Design Inc. and provides a series of tips of better business through better branding designs. This tells of the author's change from an industrial design genius to a global innovation powerhouse in the new global economy, telling how he and Frog blend creative design into company competitive strategies for maximum effect. A fine, and rare, step-by-step overview of the entire innovation process, from setting goals to designing to reflect the marketplace and connect with consumers. Any business library needs this.