Kevin McCullagh

Anyone who blithely believes that the return on investment on design is self-evident needs to explain the decline of Philips. In the mid-Noughties, the electronics company boasted 650 designers on its books, more than Samsung at the time. Yet, since a high point in 2008, its stock value has halved.

Despite the sustained hype, take-up of wearables has been underwhelming, at best. And with this week’s reveal of the Apple Watch comes a big question: Has Apple done enough to take wearables mainstream? Rolex took out a 10-page spread in the FT’s “How To Spend It” magazine last weekend, under the strap-line “There is only one way. The Rolex way.” Given the amount of buzz that preceded the Apple Watch launch, one could read that as an attempt to hold back the inevitable tide.

There’s nothing like the post-Christmas lull for catching up with a spot of reading and reflecting on which articles from last year mattered. Looking back, 2015 seems like a pretty pivotal year in design and tech. HBR published a special issue on Design Thinking, and McKinsey scaled up its design activities, along with other management consultancies.