10 Commandments of Sneaker Design

Sneaker Freaker offers 10 witty commandments of sneaker design. For example, #5, "Thou Shalt Pay Attention To Detail":

Give the consumer a few little surprises.

A little trim that’s hard to spot here, a reference for those ‘in the know’ there. It makes a tremendous difference and rewards the heads without descending too far into cliquesville. Go ahead, contrast that stitching to set off your choice of colours, and illustrate the lining. Who cares if that’s the part that’s invisible from the outside? There’s no such thing as too much attention to detail. Don’t let it get rejected by consumers after an initial wave of excitement on seeing low res images on a hype blog turns to disdain on seeing the production model in the flesh.

My take
This is great reading whether you're in the sneaker design business or not (I'm not, but I am in the product design business). With a little imagination, it works as a playbook for product design in any lifestyle category.

If you only remember one thing from the article, make it #5 (above). With lifestyle brands, the devil really is in the details. Don't skimp, because your core consumer will notice! This is in contrast to traditional brands where the design details really aren't that important. For example, does it really matter what the graphics look like on the Kleenex box? No, because nobody cares about Kleenex. On the other hand, consider Sanrio's paper goods business. They polish every detail of all their products, because they know their consumer will scrutinize and appreciate every one of them.

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