The Business Value of Design

(Animated)

Design brings value in two ways

1. Increasing Revenue

2. Reducing Cost

INCREASING REVENUE

Generally speaking, a business increases their revenue when they attract more customers (market reach), or they increase the volume of interactions with their existing customers (loyalty and engagement). Good design will affect both, partially because of the Halo Effect.

Large companies invest millions into visual identity, because they know that customers consciously and subconsciously judge the visual appearance. Therefore it determines the quality of the product or service. This phenomenon is known in psychology as the Halo Effect. It describes the situation when something visually triggers a positive or negative association.

This effect is something that can be used as an advantage but is at the same time something to always look out for. A positive example would be the car industry. They use this effect to project a positive image into cars. A negative example would be what we all fear when we write something. A single typo can suddenly make us appear less credible, or worst-case incompetent.

A good start for every struggling small business would be to improve their visual identity. It is a reliable way to gain a competitive edge over their competitors.

An effective visual identity design can increase revenue. It does it by:

• enhancing your brand image
• bolstering customer trust
• increasing the perceived value of your product/service

 This simple and overlooked step to differentiate oneself, isn’t a huge financial investment.

Therefore, for those who take the step, it does not take much to get ahead.

REDUCING COSTS

Every business wants to reduce costs to be more profitable.

What gets overlooked in day-by-day operations is the inefficiency of usual processes. Especially when they are being done a certain way, for years.

The basic ways to reducing costs are:

• Reducing fixed costs (overhead, salaries, etc.)
• Reducing variable costs (acquisition costs, etc.)

Good design can influence fixed and variable costs?

Large companies like Coca Cola, Nike, or Apple are using design guidelines to keep their appearance visually and verbally consistent. No matter the country they operate in, the marketing material or medium they use, regardless the staff size they employ, or the countless ad agencies they hire.

These design guidelines are a rule book and are the only single source for marketers, copywriters, and designers. Without them, every project or design decision will rack up hours of time being wasted with relentless debates.

For example:

• Can we make the logo bigger?
• Should this headline be 64px or 72px?
• Is this the right color?
• Can we use these images instead?

All these decisions, besides causing inconsistency over time, cost money. It may not look like much, but an hour here and there adds up. Especially when there are multiple projects going on, like ads, social media posts, newsletters, emails, sales decks, proposals, and websites.

A thoughtfully crafted design tool kit can eliminate the need for small decisions and can increase your profitability by tens of thousands of dollars every year.

How to make sure design is good and profitable in the future

Not every design is good. It is hard to decide what is good or bad, because it is all subjective. Honestly, there is no real way to determine it, and forecast what will bring you profit. But to get a sense of good versus bad, check your brand strategy, and see if it aligns.

The design is merely a visual representation of your strategy, and good design will always be able to define and translate strategy into functional design.