Paying for Design

I was shopping for footballs recently and I couldn’t help but notice that there appeared to be a correlation between the price and the design.

The higher priced balls all had an intricate, complex, appealing design.

Whether as the cheap balls looked extremely basic.

The low priced balls looked like the designer’s first rough draft before they went on to create the masterpiece that is the €120 football.

The €25 ball had 6 colours with loads of tiny shapes and icons.

The €10 ball had 2 colours and one shape repeated over and over again.

I assert that the difference in structural quality between the €10, €25 and €120 balls is marginal. Therefore I reckon that all that extra money, the €15 or €110 is all going towards the design.

Well, to be more specific, the feeling you get when you see the design.

Feelings such as:

‘I’m just like the pros with this ball’

or

‘See how they worked the stars into the stitching’

Even the owner of the €10 ball buys a feeling.

‘I’m no dummy, I’m not going to be fooled by some marketer to spend over the odds for a football’