The Prepared Mind Discussion about designing human interaction.

I recently read an interesting article on the Core77 website. Apparently, folks in the business community are starting to “get it” when it comes to the business benefits of design!

Increased competition in the industry, improvements in the global technology infrastructure, relentless pressure to lower costs in every industry are just a few of the forces leading a major shift in the field of design. Where earlier, design was the department brought in after marketing or sales or the advertising agency decided that a “new and improved” product or brand extension was required to penetrate a target market or increase profits for a brand. This usually resulted in incremental improvements in product and profits. Notes Sharon Reier in her article When looks count the most, companies are now increasingly seeking to integrate design as a strategic tool for creating shareholder value. These companies understand that the real value in design is using it to improve the entire user experience, where advertising specialists and marketing managers focus more on the buying decision alone.

That’s right! Times are a changing! There is a paradigm shift where knowledge work, intellectual capital and creativity are finally being valued in this flat world where commoditized products can cheaply be produced elsewhere. The article goes on to say:

In Redesigning American Business, BusinessWeek’s Bruce Nussbaum underscores this shift, he says, “Design in America isn’t about form but innovation, in the guise of new products and services.” With the design industry’s shift in core competencies from drawing to thinking, from styling to innovating, from shaping things to visualizing new paradigms, what are the opportunities for designers today?

Traditionally, the majority of the design profession considered itself above and apart from “big business”, perceiving it as obsessed with numbers, dollars and the bottom line. To successfully pitch themselves as an innovation resource, as consultants for change, this thinking is the biggest hurdle to overcome. The language of design itself is evolving to incorporate terms usually bandied in the halls of business schools, such as ROI (return on investment), NPV (net present value), Porter’s five forces and Kotler’s 4 P’s. Few design schools teach the basic elements of business, less so in undergraduate programs. In the meantime, business schools are quickly catching on to the importance of design thinking, and integrating parts of it into their curricula.

Doing a happy dance now? Well not so fast! A wise person once told me, a long time ago, “be prepared for what comes next if you end up getting everything you asked for”.

Now the logical question….. what comes next? What happens when all of these business people and MBA candidates descend onto the marketplace with a better understanding of desgin, good design and all the ways design can benefit a business and it’s core strategy? Our pockets will overflow with money after the creation of all of these design-savvy clients? Maybe, maybe not.

Many of us run the risk of slipping even further into commoditization. Already designers complain about being at the end of the decision chain. Getting the call only once the decisions have already been made. Some clients even go as far as to draw, sketch or comp up in Photoshop, rough versions of what the final piece should look like.

I welcome the arrival of more design-savvy and knowledgable clients but prior to that arrival — and this is going to be a familiar rant for me — we have to get better at the business and strategic aspects of what we do as well! Traditionally, WE were the ones who defined design strategy. We were the experts and we were the ones they turned to when they needed to change/ramp up their communications. We were the ones who asked “Why?” and then determined the “What” and the “How.”

If we don’t grow more strategic and grow to become more of a partner, our new design-savvy clients will soon be able to take over those duties themselves, leaving us only as a pair of wrists at the end of the chain to execute the ideas once all the thinking has been done. Once again, commoditization. And we all know that commodities are produced by those who can do it the cheapest.

Be careful what you ask for, we just might get it. Then what? Maybe not what we hoped for. Better get ready!

.chris{}