| In Other Words |
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With Gordon Segal
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Gordon Segal is the Chairman of Crate and
Barrel. He and his wife, Carole, founded the
home furnishing and housewares retailer in
1962, and since then, the business has
grown to 160 stores with more than 7,500
employees. Segal is a member of the Board
of Trustees at Northwestern University in
Evanston, Ill., and a 1960 graduate of its
Kellogg School of Management. In 2007, with
Carole, he endowed The Segal Design
Institute at Northwestern to emphasize the
importance of human-centered design to students
in the university’s McCormick School of
Engineering and Kellogg School of
Management. In 2008, Segal received IIDA’s
Star Award, which recognizes exemplary
contributions to the interior design profession. |
Perspective: What was the need for the Segal Design Institute at
Northwestern University?
Gordon Segal: Northwestern has one of the finest engineering schools
and business schools in the country. It was evident to me, as a member
of the Board of Trustees for a number of years, that very little was being
said of design. We were teaching engineers how to create products
without an in-depth thought process about how design must play a
much more important role in American industry if we want to be worldclass
competitive.
We want to teach our students that everything should have a design orientation.
The Italians, the Finns, the Germans, they all knew this many years
before we did. They had an advanced sensitivity to good design in products,
and a lot of good design came out of Europe. Americans, in the ’60s, ’70s
and ’80s, came out with very little high-quality, inspirational design.
Good design sells better in the world at large. Apple is the prime example
we hold up to students. They not only have very good technology, but
their products are customer-friendly and are simply beautiful. Everyone is
wowed by them.
Perspective: The Institute emphasizes human-centered design. Why is
this important?
Segal: I teach our buyers at Crate and Barrel, “Look at a product if it’s really
beautiful, get interested in it and understand the price. But at the end of the day, make sure it functions.” Products should be
able to improve the human condition.
A group of students from the McCormick engineering school, working alongside students from the Kellogg School of
Management, recently made a small modification to some standard surgical tools. They added a little curve to these instruments
to be much more stable in surgeons’ hands. They took a 200-year-old product and updated it to be much more comfortable
to use. That’s a prime example of what can be done with human-centered design and a multi-disciplinary approach.
Universities across the country are focusing on more multi-disciplinary efforts — biologists are working with chemists, who
work with nanotechnologists. To develop ideas and products, you must work across disciplines.
Perspective: Why should business students learn the value of design?
Segal: Someday, our Kellogg students may well be senior executives in a firm and someone in their company may come to
them and say, “We could do this for little money and design this product ourselves. Or we can hire someone to make a beautiful
product, but it will cost more.” They must understand enough about design to know where to invest. They will have to sit
back and think, “Is design important? Is it worth the added expense?” We’re going to teach why it is important.
Everything from industrial products to surgical instruments to home furnishings to electronic gadgets — good design can
make it all happen, and the chances of success can be much improved.
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