MUJI – Just Enough Design by Everyone

By Shaun Abrahamson on October 23, 2008

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MUJI began life humbly, as a store brand sold in Japan’s Seiyu LTD stores in the early 80s. In 1989 it was spun off as its own company. The idea, still embraced today was simply to make what is necessary, nothing less and nothing more.  

MUJI was conceived to be different from the start. The complete name MUJIrushi Ryohin means “No Label. Good Products”, which is at the core of what the business is about.  MUJI was conceived to be different from the start. It was one of the first brands to spell out a Japanese word in English (English characters are not uncommon in Japan, but usually they are used to spell English words).

Beyond the name, the process of creating products was different. MUJI product developers would survey 1000s of customers to understand what they needed. And then they would try to meet these needs in the simplest, cheapest ways possible. The slogan for “R&D” was to “make what you want, as a customer”. 

The approach proved very successful. During Japan’s recession, MUJI flourished while other floundered. But between  1999 and 2001, the company suffered through a spectacular financial crisis. The company had expanded quickly into new lines and abandoned much of the focus on customers. Towards the end of the decline and just before their remarkable comeback, the product development team was ordered to oversee the dumping  of their unsold  product inventory as a sign that they would be starting again to refocus on what customers wanted. 

Today, the focus on the product development is evident in a number of ways, from Investor messages to the unbranded products which are increasingly recognizable by their simple forms and deliberately absent logos. Beyond the products themselves is a focus on the experience of buying these products. 

MUJI is not just a creator of products, they also take great pains to provide the right environment to show and sell their products. Many people who visit the stores, have commented on the sense of calm they feel when entering and walking around the stores. Try visiting MUJI online – its an experience unlike any online retailer, conveying the same peaceful this-is-enough-not-too-much philosophy of its products and stores. 

Perhaps most interesting, is what evokes the fanatical following they have developed, which caused much chatter and celebration in NYC when they finally launched their store here. Although not everyone believes MUJI’s approach will work in the US against the likes of Target and Walmart. We’ll see – MUJI’s prices are higher since they dont have much footprint in the US yet. Companies like Zara have had similar market entry economics issues. 

Perhaps most interesting is that MUJI shares openly their design philosophy at their core of their success. And they encourage others to help them create according to these rules. They actively seek out ideas from anyone who touches their business and then work hard, with employees and partners alike to design products to instantiate these ideas. 

The Best Ideas from Everyone

MUJI has a systematic way to constantly harvest the best ideas and present them, ultimately to the design team, for he creation of new products. The process makes use of all touch points. In stores, employees are encouraged to make and collect notes. MUJI.net has almost 500,000 members and is used as another source of ideas. And then anthropological opportunities are presented when people go to MUJI camps where people can be observed using products so that additional insights might be gained. 

Enough Design

At the core of the MUJI culture, is simple design – or more specifically, just what is necessary, simultaneously creating beautiful, simpler to manufacture and therefore cheaper, products. The cutting board example, explains nicely how MUJI approaches design to reduce products to their essential functions. 

Can you spot the difference? Its still a cutting board, just more so, or less so, depending on your perspective, but for sure it is likely cheaper, or for the same price, it can use better materials. 

I see some parallels with some of Apple’s recent work, as they talk about their latest Macbook in terms of simplifying, reducing the unnecessary and the focus on materials. Unlike Apple, MUJI will not allow disclosure of their designers, in keeping with the strong no-branding policy. But there is much speculation that many of its items are designed by some of the best desigers in the world. 

Finally, to get even more ideas, the Muji Award has been running for 3 years (although MUI ran prior competitions, I believe). The entries are solicited globally and has resulted in a number of products that have found their way into stores. 

If We Build It, Will You Come?

MUJI takes advantage of many opportunities to figure out what people want. But it goes a step further. Even when MUJI has a design, it takes the final step of checking who will by it, before it is produced. Easy way to avoid a complete flop.

In 2006, business week covered how MUJI.net, is used to solicity and select new product and design ideas.  And then:

MUJI then tests the market by soliciting customer pre-orders rather than conducting a focus group or survey, or using other traditional market research methodology. Simply put, if 300 customers pre-order an item online, it goes into production.

As the MIT Sloan researchers point out. MUJI in effect collaborates with customers to plan their products. By getting commitments upfront to buy, MUJI gets a definitive commitment beyond anything they might get through surveys and estimation. One might suspect that these initial commitments might correlate with lifetime value much like opening box office weekends can be good predictors of the lifetime value of movies. 

So enough with the boring analysis, lets just see what all the fuss is about. Buinessweek has a good slide show featuring some of the better known products. 

Special thanks to Makoto Arai (fellow Berlin School participant) for his help in researching, analyzing and translating coverage of MUJI in Japan. 

Posted in: Product Development | Tagged: collaboration, crowdsourced, design, MIT, muji, Product Development | 1 Comment