Shaping a World-Leading Brand SHIRO NAKAMURA Senior Vice President “Our goal is very simple: make Nissan the world leader in design. Design is about shaping products that naturally draw the eye, and yet it is also an intangible asset that creates shareholder value and competitive advantage. The power of that attraction translates into a higher selling price. Ultimately, a design’s true worth is measured in profit and the number of cars sold. At the same time, design is a visual message from the company. The brand’s philosophy must be consistent, because brand value directly relates to profit. Automobiles are my main responsibility, but design—specifically visual brand identity—covers much more than that, including motor shows, showrooms, new car launch events, and even the shareholders meeting. Whether it is through cars, buildings or showrooms, we express a variety of visual messages, but the overall message must be constant and coherent. You must sense the unity and power of the brand. nearly a thousand designers are working together across the globe, with 700 in Japan, 100 in the U.S., 100 in Europe and approximately 30 in Taiwan. For the moment, that’s an ideal mix. We’ve aligned our goals, strategies and processes to unify this international team. Yet we feel there is a definite creative advantage in having each design center maintain its own character and culture. It ensures that fresh perspectives keep coming. We don’t want a uniform viewpoint. We all have the same goal, but there are different ways to get there. For example, when developing the Z, we put the three  main design centers in competition, which was very  healthy and stimulating for the entire team. In other cases, we assign the design to one center. The Titan truck was designed and engineered in the U.S. Nissan Design Europe in London often does the same. We also  exchange designers, including senior staff, between the different centers. One of the assistant design directors from Nissan Design America is now working in Japan  as a chief designer.  We have a simple design decision process consisting of three stages: concept, selection and model freeze. During the initial stage, we gather research data from the Market Intelligence Department and other sources within I am in charge of the Design Center globally. We have seven design centers around the world—three in Japan, two in the U.S., one in Europe, and one in Taiwan. There are OUR WORK Nissan Design America Nissan Annual Report 2004 38 DESIGN