The world’s leading businesses have one thing in common – they put the customer at the heart of everything they do.
Customer-centred businesses create more desirable products and services, passionate customers, and dynamic, purposeful company cultures. The result is faster growth and competitive advantage.
Better by Design exists to inspire and enable New Zealand businesses to take a customer-centred approach to market development, based on deep insights from their international customers.
What we do
Customer Insights to Action
An immersive, customer-centred service
for established exporters to gain a deeper understanding of customers in international markets.
CEO Summit
A two-day inspirational design conference,
hearing from some of the world’s most
successful business leaders.
Study Tour
An invitation only, four-day immersive tour
to visit some of the world's leading customer-centred organisations.
Validating the opportunity
Having successfully provided automated farming systems to the UK and Europe it was time for LICA to explore the market opportunity in North America.
Why design thinking matters
Read about how focused and disruptive design thinking can shape exceptional customer experiences and change the game for your business, forever.
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Our Advisory Group
The four-member Better by Design Advisory Group is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Better by Design programme.
Each member of the Group has been part of a global design-led business success story, and each brings a unique perspective from their experience as a business person or practising designer.
Jeremy Moon
Chair
"I believe design is the key to unlocking the future business potential of New Zealand. We've got a whole lot of design talent in New Zealand - the challenge is to plug this into businesses with good ideas and structures. The encouraging thing is that we're getting consistently positive feedback from businesses about the approach."Jeremy is the Founder of merino outdoor clothing company Icebreaker. After graduating from Otago University with a Masters of Commerce in marketing, Jeremy established Icebreaker in 1995. Icebreaker clothing is now sold in 24 countries.
Icebreaker won the 2003 Design in Business award and was listed on the Deloitte New Zealand 'Fast 50' for two years (2001, 2002).
Vaughan Schwass
“I’ve seen first-hand the power of unleashing the potential of people in our business through design thinking. The results have been powerful and enabled us to extend our assets and capabilities into new markets.”
Vaughan joined Les Mills International in 2005 as marketing director, having gained international marketing experience with Tourism New Zealand in the United States and Canada. Vaughan led the marketing team to win a series of awards including an Effie (the Supreme Award at the 2009 Marketing Awards). After six years Vaughan stepped up to his new role as CEO of Les Mills Enterprises, managing the merchandise business and strategic commercial partnerships.
Geoff Suvalko
Geoff has practiced as a designer for the last 25 years initially as Partner and Creative Director of Designworks and then as Founding Partner of Thoughtfull - a Design Innovation consultancy with offices in New Zealand and the United States
Geoff's work over the years has encompassed a wide range of multi-disciplinary design programs both in New Zealand and globally from research, strategy, brand development, product development, design thinking capability building and customer experience design execution.
Geoff has led multiple cross-functional design programs for Air New Zealand - from the organisations brand strategy, the reinvention of the international airline experience including Skycouch and Spaceseat and of course the airlines 75th Anniversary Exhibition.
Geoff has worked with a range of companies from exporters such as Charlies, Comvita, Optima, Airbow Systems and ANZCO, to businesses needing to attract offshore audiences such as Ngai Tahu Tourism and Auckland Business School to multi-nationals such as PepsiCo USA, Amway International and Morningstar.
Geoff has a Masters in Design Strategy at IIT Institute of Design, Chicago and has been recognised in both national and international awards including BEST design awards (NZ), D&AD Awards (UK), the Design Week Awards (UK), Red Dot Awards ( Ger), and IDSA Awards (USA).
Deborah Shepherd
After completing her BA in psychology, Deb gained an MA in psychology and management, followed by a PhD in management. Deb has worked as a researcher, consultant, facilitator and experiential trainer with a variety of companies – SMEs and large companies as well as not for profit organisations.
Deb has participated in The ICEHOUSE activities since its inception in 2001 and has been involved in the design, development and delivery of the Business Growth programmes since 2001. Her consultancy and advisory work with SMEs specialises in strategy, leadership, senior team management development, change management, business growth and the nuances of family business. She currently teaches in the areas or Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Professional Development on the Postgraduate and MBA programmes at The University of Auckland Business School.
Her research areas include understanding entrepreneurial SMEs, family business and social entrepreneurship. Deb is a co-author of the book “Changing gears: How to take your kiwi business from the kitchen table to the board table.” Deb consults to a number of organisations and currently chairs the board of Pet Doctors Ltd and advises to a number of businesses including Furnware, Southern Hospitality, and Forrest Wines.
