WestmorelandFlint Creative Director Ken Zakovich is showcasing Art Director David Sadowski. (We asked them to pose for a picture, but they were too "creative" to just smile for the camera.)

When my colleague Dave Sadowski and I recently spoke to an advertising/marketing strategy class at the College of St. Scholastica, we wanted to emphasize one point: There is a difference between design and good design.

So where does good design come from? It comes from conversation and personal experience, from balancing intuition and facts. It comes from knowing the ‘thing’ you are trying to sell and falling in love with it. It’s knowing the client, their customers and their values—each producing valuable information.

The designer collects information much like a squirrel gathers nuts and uses it to create something that resonates with the customer. We think of the whole customer experience—good design branches out and touches customers in ways you may never have imagined. These are techniques we use every day.

We helped these college students realize how powerful good design is and that it will ultimately:
• Sell more product,
• Create more value, or
• Improve the customer’s experience

These students—these future account managers at advertising agencies, directors of marketing in nonprofit organizations, or public relations professionals in large corporations—went away with a working understanding of the facilitating, collection of data and the listening that good design requires.

Yes, lightning bolts happen. They are real and they are extraordinary. But delivering consistent, timely and relevant creative starts with informed individuals, combined with hard work and ends with a design solution that supports marketing strategy.

What’s your experience with good design?