At this point, extensive research has long since proved the value of design.
Both the Design Management Institute and McKinsey have done sufficient research to show fairly conclusively that design-led businesses typically outperform their competitors.
Why then are many design professionals still struggling to make the case to their clients and management teams? Why is this still a reoccurring theme among the designers I mentor?
I believe the problem often lies in how we approach the value of design with others. If we do not communicate in the right way, no amount of industry evidence will be enough. People will simply reject it as not relevant in their specific circumstances. That is why I encourage those I mentor to adopt a five-step approach.
1. Recognise Your Responsibility
The beginning of your journey to communicate the value of design is recognise that the responsibility is ours, not our management team or clients.
As designers, we can often come across as petulant children who are angry at being ignored. However, before people see the value of design, we need to demonstrate it to them.
It is our job to explain the value of design so others understand it, not their responsibility to blindly accept the fact.
Once we have accepted that a failing of others to understand the value of design is our problem, not theirs, then we can start to explore ways to communicate better.
2. Know What You Want From People
Before we can know how to frame our argument for the value of design, we need to be clear on what we want from people. It is rarely enough to get people to acknowledge that design matters.
In most cases, we don’t just want an acknowledgement of the value of design; we want tangible change. Maybe we want more time to work on design or to be involved in the process earlier. Perhaps you want to introduce testing with users or not get overruled by development all the time.
Whatever it is you are after, you need to be clear about what exactly that is. If you don’t know that, then your arguments will appear academic at best or childish at worst.
3. Understand Your Audience
Once you know what you want, the next thing you need to understand is what your audience wants.
Jared Spool once wrote an excellent post entitled “Why I can’t convince executives to invest in UX (and neither can you)“. In it he wrote:
I’ve been pitching our services for 23 years, and I’ve never once successfully convinced an executive of anything.
That is a sentiment I can understand. It is tough to convince somebody to care about something that they aren’t interested in. However, he went on to write:
You can find out what your executives are already convinced of. If they are any good at what they do, they likely have something they want to improve. It’s likely to be related to improving revenues, reducing costs, increasing the number of new customers, increasing the sales from existing customers, or increasing shareholder value.
These are things good design can help with, and that has to be the basis for any argument you make.
In short, find out what your management team or clients want and demonstrate how design can deliver that.
Of course, different members of your management team might want different things, and that is why you need to talk about the value of design differently with each. When talking about design with the head of finance, for example, you would talk about the cost efficiencies good design can provide. By contrast, when you are talking about the value of design with a marketing director, the conversation should revolve around brand loyalty.
Structuring your arguments around your audience will go a long way. However, a compelling case is not enough without evidence.
4. Start Small and Iterate Using Evidence
Even with the best will in the world, it is unrealistic to expect people to buy into the value of design overnight. Even if they do in theory, embracing all the changes you might want to introduce will come slowly.
Management and clients will not make substantial organisational changes based on a compelling argument. You will need to start small and provide evidence.
For example, it may be that one day you would like the company to hire a full-time user researcher who runs an ongoing program of testing. That is great but start by just running one small remote, unfacilitated usability test with a tool like Usability Hub so they can see the benefit. Then maybe look at running an in-person session to show how that can be of even more value. Build on what you have proved before, step by step.
Don’t ask management to roll out a new approach organisation-wide. Instead, trial it on a single small project. Don’t ask to make significant design changes to the companies main marketing channel, instead focus on a microsite or internal tool.
Start small and test as you go. Gather evidence showing the value of design on a small scale before trying something more significant.
Also, don’t be afraid to make some assumptions. As I say in the video below, putting some figures against the value of design is persuasive, even if those figures are educated guesses.
Even with this approach, there will be bumps along the way.
5. Never Give Up, but Find a New Angle
I often encounter in-house designers who have all but given up on getting colleagues to see the value of design. They claim to have tried and failed. They feel defeated.
However, in most cases, they gave up too soon or worst still, just kept repeating the same approach.
Instead of coming across as a proactive member of staff, they come across as a complainer constantly nagging others about the importance of design.
If you try something and it doesn’t work, do not give up. However, don’t just try the same thing again, either. Look for a new approach you could take.
Maybe your suggestion to run usability testing fell on deaf ears. Try running a customer journey mapping workshop instead to show colleagues just how little they understand about users.
Perhaps you tried to get more time to work on a design and failed. Well, maybe you could spend a couple of hours of your own time and show management what a difference that makes.
My point is that there is always a different approach you can try. Your first, second and third ideas will probably not work. But if you persevere, you can get others to appreciate the value of design. You just have to find the right approach for your specific circumstances.
