What Can a Urinal Say about Brand Values?
How human-centered thinking not only improves outcomes for users but can reinforce the values that make for more emotionally rich and rewarding experiences.
When we think of brand values, we often think of lofty ideals like “Do no harm”¹ or “Don’t be evil”² — ideals that help define an ethical standard or set of behavioral norms. We are also reminded of certain principles that guided the founding of a company and continue to shape the products they make and the way they go to market. For example, take inspiration as it relates to Nike or rebellious as it relates to Harley-Davidson.
Such principles, when properly nurtured, are often deeply ingrained in the R&D process and felt in the end product in ways that are signature to the brand. Brands that are highly committed to their guiding principles are also adept at translating them into communication strategies that highlight them and establish the right expectations before the customer experiences the product first-hand.
But what about a brand whose product is largely intangible? How can brand values translate into differentiating experiences that continually reinforce the ideals of the company in ways that dovetail with the wants and needs of its customers? It takes human-centered design — in a word, empathy — and sometimes it appears in the unlikeliest of places.
For most ambulatory adults who identify as male, a urinal is purely a utilitarian device that presents few challenges or surprises. Except when the only one available among several is the one that’s shorter than the rest.
In such instances, the one short urinal in the row is exactly that: the exception. Intentional or not, the inference one can make is that full-height urinals, installed for full-height, fully ambulatory people, are the norm. One might then infer further that the place in which these urinals are installed values full-height, fully-ambulatory people more than everyone else.
By contrast, the men’s room on the first floor of Children’s Hospital Colorado teaches us what opportunity lies in flipping priorities and how much such a simple change can reflect its values as a brand.
While there are only two urinals to choose from, both of them are installed lower to the ground. Why? Because everything the hospital does is designed around the needs of children. Their philosophy is that “kids aren’t just mini-adults;” they’re different. “We know how different they are, and that changes everything about how we treat them, from their growing bodies to their developing minds.”
While this may seem like a simple design decision within a normally mundane moment, it reflects a true understanding of and empathy for their primary constituents. The sheer fact that shorter urinals are the norm rather than the exception subtly reminds us where their priorities lie as an organization. Best of all, it doesn’t compromise the needs of others. Yes, folks, everything still goes down flawlessly from a few inches lower.
Organizations like Children’s Hospital Colorado and many others whose “product” is intangible — hospitality, entertainment, luxury retail, and the like — have always known that their stock and trade lies in the experiences they bring to market. Their value is measured by the outcomes produced by a better understanding of the needs of their customers.
Digital transformation and increased data sophistication are making it possible, and in many cases necessary, for other “transactional” industries such as insurance, banking, and mortgage lending to pay greater attention to the experience of doing business with them. That extra effort can accomplish more than just adding differentiated value. It lets customers truly feel what a company believes in — even when they least expect it.
Footnotes
(1) Patagonia, paraphrased from “Cause no unnecessary harm” in its public mission statement.
(2) Google, revised to “You can make money without doing evil.” WikiPedia has the unofficial back story on Google’s much-debated “don’t be evil’ motto which dates back to 2000 or 2001 and was incorporated into its corporate code of conduct in 2004 as part of its IPO filing.
