One of the repeated challenges of being a designer is often having to help clients, executives and colleagues understand the value that design can provide to business.
Most designers feel there’s big advantages to any business using good design practices, but I’ve rarely heard reference to knowledge from published research studies.
Typically, designers aren’t aware of these reports to be able to present objective information to help the communication. Designers also need to appreciate that someone spending on design wants to know what they’ll receive in return.
So, I thought I’d help out by collecting, sorting and sharing headlines on design value, referenced from reputable studies so that they can be used to help other designers in their communications.
(This article is a work-in-progress that I will update with new research as I find it.)
Published Research
The research that exists on design value has been generated by McKinsey, the UK’s Design Council, frog, InVision and the DMI (all referenced at the end of the article).
I’ve structured this article by the value areas that have most published research — financial and economic. But I’ll be updating this in future to cover the four value domains that the Design Council have set out in their new ‘Design Value Framework’ as this provides a more current perspective than design just being about making money.
‘Design Value Framework’ by the Design Council
- Socio-Cultural
- Environmental
- Democratic
- Financial
Of course, all designers know anecdotally that we can delight customers with simple and intuitive user experiences through our products and services to create long-term brand loyalty, etc… (insert more Jony Ive product marketing here), but if design is really going to scale into every business then those thinking of investing in design need more concrete evidence.
Only one in eight (13%) UK businesses have accounting procedures in place to measure return on design investment. (Design Council 2007)
In recent years, almost all of the major management consultancies have purchased design & innovation firms. Sure, this shows they’re fighting to stay relevant to their client’s customers — but one big advantage over a typical design firm is that they all have an army of accountants that can prove the direct value of design in next year’s books, and the year after that…
Headlines
Here’s a list of headlines that you can use to get over that initial hurdle of helping others understand the benefits of investing in design:
Financial Return.
- Every £100 spends on design increases turnover by £225 (Design Council 2007)
- Companies with a strong design function outperformed industry-benchmark growth by as much as 2 to 1.(McKinsey 2018)
- Companies with a strong design function correlated with higher revenue growth and higher return to shareholders (McKinsey 2018)
- Design-led businesses shares outperform key stock market indices by 200%. (Design Council 2007)
- On average, design-led businesses increase their market share by 6.3% through using design. (Design Council 2007)
- Results show that over the last 10 years design-led companies have maintained significant stock market advantage, outperforming the S&P by an extraordinary 211%. (DMI, 2015)
New Products and Services.
- Businesses where design is integral to operations are twice as likely to have developed new products and services. In the past three years, 80% of them have, compared to a UK average of 40%. (Design Council 2007)
- When using design to lead and guide the creation of new products and services, the chances of design contributing to turnover growth rose more than threefold (by 3.3). (Design Council 2007)
- Businesses that use design in all stages of developing new products and services were twice as likely to see design contributing to growth (by 2.1). (Design Council 2007)
- Fewer than a third of companies use design to merely work on features. Instead, design is reshaping product development and corporate portfolios at nearly 70% of companies. (Invision 2019)
Designer Productivity
- Designers were found to be 29% more productive than the average UK worker, each delivering £50,328 in output (GVA per worker, 2016), compared to £39,111 across the rest of the economy. (Design Economy 2018)
Customer experience
- Nearly three quarters of companies say they have improved customer satisfaction and usability through design. (Invision 2019)
Additional Value
Design makes businesses more competitive.
- Over three quarters say they’ve increased their competitiveness and turnover through design (Design Council 2007)
- Almost half of all UK businesses believe that, over the past decade, design has become more important in helping them maintain a competitive edge.(Design Council 2007)
These claims above, together with the ones below from frog, are difficult to gauge the success in terms of the the values presented (or lack of), so I’ve added them to this ‘Additional Value’ section.
Frog’s research on the ‘Business Value of Design’ was on their own projects and you could argue that each claim below is a project sales tactic. But with help from the accountants of their new owners (Capgemini Invent), I imagine they have solid numbers when asked.
Design increases speed to market.
- Reduce development costs and timeline
- Meet or exceed target revenue
- Generate mvp-focused customer feedback
- Shorten breakeven and cycle times
Design extends market reach.
- Market share
- Increase in share of wallet
- Percentage of revenue from new products
Design drives engagement and loyalty.
- Customer acquisition
- Customer retention
- Revenue
- Market share
- Brand equity
Design enhances internal capabilities
- Increased collaboration and knowledge sharing
- Improved employee engagement
- Reduced reliance on outside experts
- Talent retention and learning agility
- Executive alignment
Design visionary transformation
- New product revenue
- Ability to attract talent
- Improved cultural metrics
- Market reputation
- Brand value
I hope this content was useful to you.
If it was — let me know. If you want to critique it — please do. If you have new research — please share it with me.
Wyn is an experienced design leader with expertise in building and developing high-performing teams for projects in the medical, consumer and industrial sectors. Need help with a project? Reach out to him at wyn@newid.design
References:
Design Value Framework, Design Council, 2022
Design Economy, Design Council, 2018.
The Value of Design Factfinder, Design Council, 2007.
The Business Value of Design, McKinsey & Co, 2018.
The New Design Frontier, InVision, 2019.
The Business Value of Design, frog, 2018.
Design Value Index Results and Commentary, Design Management Institute, 2015.
