Art and Enterprise : A Passing Encounter or a Lasting Conjunction
By Omar Blibech, Designer

Speaking of the twin Art & Enterprise within the same register belongs in a contemporary academic logic that refers back to our socio-economic reality (opening up of markets, fierce competition between brand names, domination by the media and by advertising, …). The question that has to be asked, then, is how to reconcile between such two topics whose subjects have been separated over a long period by, on the one hand, the search for pure aesthetics and, on the other hand, excessive automatisation.

The communication requirements in our Tunisian society, a society that has quite recently become a « consumer society », have made the connection between Art and Enterprise a major preoccupation, if not a vital need, not only for production enterprises, but also distribution enterprises. The bond between these two realms, the artistic and the economic, is borne out by one of the professions of Art, namely « Design ».

Design presides over the commercial success of a given product, by covering at once the areas of aesthetics, ergonomics, value analysis and marketing. It thus constitutes by itself and of itself a competitive advantage for the enterprise. Indeed, design is a creative activity which embodies an artistic and a technical know-how applied to the development and production of goods, their packaging, their communication supports and, increasingly, their sale environments.

The creation of the visual identity of the enterprise thus resorts more and more to design. Let us recall, here, that the enterprise is considered as the implementation of the various resources, both material and immaterial, with a view to providing value to the customers. It is in process of evolving towards a new logic which we may phrase as follows: from now onwards, the enterprise will have to produce and carry forth not only value (products, services, intellect), but also sense related symbols (affect, emotion, taste, ideology) which bring a lasting satisfaction to the final customer!

In Tunisia, design is increasingly called upon to play its role as an economic driving force. It makes it possible to conquer new markets and to reduce production costs; it leads to the emerging of new, consistent products ranges; it creates a sound corporate brand image. Indeed, by creating concepts through forms, objects, visual worlds, then by making them concretely present, design generates the necessary creativity which fosters competitiveness.

Design elicits competencies proper to it so as to bring together the ‘symbols' and ‘values' conveyed by the enterprise. The risk, however, is that an enterprise may launch a project of creation or of revision of its system of production of « symbols » without a rigorous methodology of development of its system of production of « values ». The success of any project depends in the first place on the competencies lined up for its management.

The designer is entrusted, depending on the case under consideration, with the design of products, the ergonomics of the work stations, the architecture of trade, the set up of shelf-spaces, the organisation of events, … etc. The designer thus becomes the visionary lead, the facilitator of projects and, above all, the catalyst of the new technological potential and the new trends. The task is not only to satisfy the customers, but also to delight and fascinate them and build their loyalty through a theatrical set up of the sales act, or again through the rally « symbols ». This is, indeed, strategic repositioning through design.

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