For the longest time, design has been about making a product more attractive. But as of recently, design has become a lifestyle. It has become more than just making something more attractive. Wehere once has been language, communication and a human face is now an online presence that has to be compact, slim in content and to the point. People do not like to read. That is no news. However this has drastically changed the way we behave. Suddenly words matter more than ever before – shortness is of the essence. This means that more and more of the face of a business has been laid on design instead of words.
We are a visual species. Research at 3M Corporation concluded that we process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Images are the most easily things to remember by our brains and are essential for our learning. Because of the human nature, what we see has a deep effect in what we do, what we feel and what we are. This shows especially in consumer behavior.
Awareness of the value of good design is at an all-time high. Good design is recognized as a major differentiator in ensuring product success in a crowded global market.
— Paul Hatch, Design House and Deana McDonagh, University of Illinois
Across businesses and business sectors, design can make the difference between those businesses that succeed, and those that don’t.
In 2005, The Design Council studied 63 portfolios of companies that traded on the Financial Times Stock Exchange over the course of a decade. They discovered that companies that put an emphasis on design performed at a much higher level than those that didn’t. Those companies outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 200%. And the numbers don’t stop there. More recently, the National Endowment for the Arts released a report on the influence of industrial design on the US economy. The study shows that some design-led companies—like Apple, Coca-Cola, and Nike—outperformed the S&P 500 Index by a whopping 219% between 2004 and 2014.
It makes your business more accessible and user friendly. Good design should convert complicated things into an easy to understand message. From motivating the user to learn something new about a product, buying a certain service to help guide him through a website or store. Offline and online, design can and should help customers experience your business more easily and conveniently.
It should make your company unforgettable. Did you know that, according to the Social Science Research Network, 65% of people are visual learners? That means that more than half of your customers will learn about your company completely visually making it essential that the business is represented in the right way. And not just that. Your businesses design system should be consistent across all platforms of use – making your organization unforgettable and recognizable.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.”
— Don Norman