The Business of Design

Design isn’t just about visual communication.. Design impacts both the user and the business and, in fact, is more powerful when both parties are considered. They need equal attention at all times, designers should use their best judgement as to who the dominate players should be and/or when those dominate players become subordinate. Your creative insight, pattern recognition, and ability to combine disparate elements can influence future initiatives and business strategy, especially as you uncover real issues both the customer and business are facing through their journey together.

We are in the business of thought delivery

In the article “Designers shouldn’t code they should study business,” by Joshua Taylor, Joshua states that it is more important for designers to learn the art of business rather than learn to code (Check it out here). Joshua says succinctly that business savvy helps companies with more than pixel perfection. He states “I would argue that those companies are as successful as they are because they have designers that are focusing more on what those businesses need than on how perfect every pixel is going to look.”

Yes. Agreed. In fact the world out there is starving for a creative shot in the “tush” that design thinkers can inject (you can pick your own shot location). You’re more than pixels or pantones and by not exploring the need to gather meaningful insights from consumers you’re failing to add real, impactful value or uncover hidden opportunities. In the end it’s the way you think, how you empathize, and how you use that empathy to communicate with the consumer that provides the most value to a company. The way you perceive information is distinctly different than your client and you should look for opportunities to display that. Aesthetic quality and craft, in my mind, is a given result of any engagement. In fact, make it a point to not ramble on about it when presenting. Instead back up your designs with thoughtful insights, empathetic stories, and maybe then, just maybe, you can talk about how your font choice, color palette, and animated transitions are the bee’s knees.

You’re more than pixels or pantones…Aesthetic quality should be a given result of any engagement.

You should never walk into a meeting and start babbling about typefaces. You, as a designer, should know that you need to empathize, study, and communicate to your audience (When you’re presenting designs your audiene is usually not a group of other designers). Going so far as to understand that each design decision deserves a business case and that there’s always a financial impact. You know that Brandon Grotesque has a hefty price tag attached to it. You also know that the price tag increases the more people that visit the site. You better know why that particular typeface is going to have an actual impact to your audience (it doesn’t always have to be monetary). As Joshua stated “I think our suggestions about design would carry a lot more weight if we were able to have insightful conversations, and offer valuable suggestions about core business principles.”

Your designs are your ideas. Your ideas are good. Sometimes great. They can be better, stronger, and more insightful when paired with real business objecives and information. In fact they have to be. We have a seat at the tablet that was never there before and the true value of our craft is being uncovered little by little. Nows not the time to putter around in pixel purgatory, grab that opportunity with both hands and pull yourself up to the ledge. The sun is out and its time to bask in the light of opportunity (metaphor hat on).

Don’t worry there’s proof

An article from Forrester, “Your Best Investment Is Digital Customer Experience” says a lot about the returns a company gains by investing in your creative thinking. Here’s some nice clips:

• go beyond surface-level changes to reach your goal through “disciplined simplification.”
• Customer journey maps bring relevancy to your investments. You have to understand the specific devices, touchpoints and interactions that resonate with your customers.

There’s real value in investing your time in the strategy of design and how that strategy affects the business and future decisions. To be honest my biggest goal is to have a say in the projects coming down the pipeline for me. I want to make absolutely sure that mobile app I design is VITAL to the success of the user and the business. I want to help create my future projects and I want to do it with ethnographic study, analytic review, interdisciplinary collaboration, coupled with killer execution. I look at it this way, at the top of the mountain a pebble can become an avalanche by the time it reaches the bottom. If you want to have influence as a designer then be the person throwing pebbles at the top of a mountain (nailed it).

“I want to make absolutely sure that the mobile app I make is VITAL to the success of the user and the business.”

Proof is in the puddin’

The field of design is morphing and it’s exciting. Design is finally demanding a role in the front seat and those who want to drive can buckle in and grab the wheel. There are multiple ways to start:

• Read articles from thought leaders across disciplines.
• Follow new and interesting people on Twitter and…omg…ask them stuff.
• Grab some good reading about strategy and design (I’ll provide a book list later)
• Find a business, operations, supply chain, IT, buddy and start talking about what they do and what you do.
• Help any one of those people with their PowerPoint deck and you will literally be a god among them.
• Use any of the information you find and have someone help you build an actual business case, with numbers and figures, about how your insights will save money or make money.
• If all else fails. Personal project. Personal project. Personal project. Oh how I love them. You MUST also.

Best of luck. If you have any other thoughts and ideas I’d love the dialogue to start. Yell at me, curse me, cry with me. If you don’t talk nobody will hear you.