Design’s Dark Energy | RDI & RDO

Accelerating the Expansion of the Norwegian Economy through Design Effectiveness

In support of the UK government’s post-Brexit industrial plan the UK design council has just released ‘The Design Economy: The value of design to the UK’.

Norway doesn’t have an existential economic crisis in the same way as Britain, nor does it have a massive fiscal deficit. But Norway does have a rapidly changing economy and as a small country we need to play to our strengths. Design is one of them, so its about time the Norwegian Design Industry gets investment-smart, in the same way advertising has done for years.

The economic report from the Design Council isn’t its first and this is not a UK owned agenda; including nations from Denmark to South Korea. Taking the big perspective is essential, but it only tells part of the story of the design industry’s economic and social impact.

Understanding how these big picture economic reports relate practically, is a struggle. They are abstract in the day to day delivery of design, and even more importantly for design buyers to connect business objectives to design strategy. In discussing design value we can’t just talk about GDP or GNP; we’re talking about turnover, profit, increase of jobs, higher productivity, better solutions, healthier options, and so on and on; at a practical grassroots organisational level.

We need to substantiate, in Norway, that design is not a cost, it is an investment. To quote the 20th century American management theorist and consultant Peter Drucker;

‘There are only two things in a business that make money — innovation and marketing, everything else is cost.’

The responsibility of measuring design effectiveness is at all levels of the industry. From the government, national councils, local design clusters, and especially design agencies and design buyers.

In 2009, a European Commission *survey reported serious barriers to the better use of design. The most significant obstacle was considered to be lack of understanding of design among policymakers. The second was lack of knowledge and tools to evaluate the rate of return on design investment. Most of our energy seems to be focused on the ‘understanding’ of design — pushing the value like evangelicals. But isn’t it a much smarter idea to show the value?

So what has happened in over the past 8 years, since this EU report came out?

What practices have we in the Norwegian design industry employed to measure the value of our work?

Are design buyers demanding evidence of return on their investment? — shouldn’t they?

Who’s discussing this? — Is DogA, Grafill, Design Region Bergen / Design Arena, and all industry forums pushing the discussion about Return on Design Investment and Return on Design Objective? — shouldn’t they?

Are our national Design Schools and academic’s leading the way through eduction and research? — What about our Economic Schools?

I’m not laying the blame on a single group, perhaps it shows the real need for joined up leadership throughout the industry. Design effectiveness ‘was’ a feature of Merket for God Design and Kreativt Forum’s Stella award is an example of how the advertising leads the way in creative effectiveness. However, design impacts over a longer period of time and with a wider system of effects than an ad campaign.

This month a Norwegian owned company based in the UK is the winning client in the Design Business Association’s Creative Effectiveness awards. The research was conducted by the UK design agency involved. I think its time a Norwegian client was recognised for smart design buying from a ‘Norwegian design agency’ — showing the very best practices in contributing to business growth and social gain. Of course celebrating creativity is important, but lets grow up and tell the full story.

Ignorance to RDI and RDO and/or a deficit of joined up thinking is not serving business. It is vital for the health of not just the design industry, but also as a part of the future economy of Norway. Return on Design Investment and Return on Design Objective must be on everyones agenda from now on.

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Originally published [in Norwegian] by Kampanje 12.03.17.

*European Commission. (2009) ‘Results of the Public Consultation on Design as a driver of user-centred innovation’, Brussels