- Qaasim April
- Jun 23, 2019
- 12 min read
Updated: Jul 25, 2019
An image is truly worth a thousand words.
According to a Hyerle 2000 Study, 90% of information that lands on the brain is visual. The Social Science Research Network reported that 65% of the population consists of visual learners. And according to a 1996 Jensen Study, our eyes register an average of 36,000 visual messages per hour.
News just in: design is visual communication.
Yet, even in a world where we communicate with thousands of images from the time we wake up for fajr till after isha, Muslim businessmen today are still unclear about the contribution and value of design; to themselves, society at large and well…business.
Design is generally seen as purely aesthetics, something thought of as a last minute style element to add before the product ships. Despite the considerable contribution design has made in solving the problems of humanity, it can be difficult to quantify—if you can’t measure it, it seems to have no intrinsic effect on the bottom line. It is no wonder then that after all this time, both parties still can’t seem to agree on this important subject matter.
The value of design.
The modern day business model is now including long term strategic partnerships with design service providers. In fact, the top fifteen companies have design as part of their business model and it has made all the difference, while their counterparts are being left behind to wallow in their dust. More about that shortly.
Firstly, let’s look at the difference—whether positive or negative—that design has made with a few case studies:
Tropicana, learned the hard way when they introduced a new Tropicana logo and packaging design to the North American market in January 2009. Up to that point, they boasted a $700 million revenue per year—knocking out all their competitors. It had an image of a big glass filled with orange juice on the back of a predominantly white background; coupled with a fancy ‘orange-like’ cap to top it. From the looks of it, the idea was to make it modern and minimal as they have entered a new era (of minimalism and modernization). Well, consumers hated it! Apart from the $30 million invested for advertising their new packaging, sales fell by 20% shortly after the introduction and revenue crumbled to $30 million. The old packaging reappeared within a month.
In late 2010, Gap launched a nationwide rebrand, trading their old logo for what many believed to be a crowdsourced redesign. Their customers, with the help of an even greater community (with social media in their hands), were disappointed, and even launched a campaign that forced Gap to revert to their old logo. Gap responded swiftly in what could have been the most epic brand fail of the 20th century, and reverted their logo in a matter of days. It did cost them a $100 million.
Pepsi too, just like Coca Cola has had a history of not getting it right. 2008 marked one of those instances where it cost Pepsi a whopping $1 million. This time, they rebranded to a new circular logo that was (explained to be) a white smile. It confused the consumers as they noticed that the smile became thinner or wider depending on the product. This was yet another attempt to jump on the minimalist/modern bandwagon but resulted in another brand fail. Others weighed in and said it looked like the Obama logo. It was a $1.2 billion rebrand communications rollout over a span of three years (excluding the $1 million logo redesign). Despite all the commotion, Pepsi kept the logo.
Whether good or bad, these were all design decisions. Pay attention to how severely they affected the bottom-line.
Now let’s look at an example where the bottom line flourished, and design was the driver of what turned out to be a billion dollar empire.
Meet AirBnB—like so many startups—were on the verge of disappearing silently too. Started in 2009, their revenue flatlined at $200 per week and the picture didn’t look bright. A week later, to everybody’s surprise, their weekly revenue jumped to $400. But it did not happen before Joe Gebbia, co-founder, had a realization which he shared with his team one afternoon as they were trying to figure out what wasn’t working.
So what was it?
It had nothing to do with their business model—everything was on course, every discipline executed according to plan. What was it then? They flew over to New York, rented professional camera equipment and took in-depth, high quality photos of all their listings. The result? It marked one of the most crucial stepping stones that, later, turned AirBnB into a billion dollar business in record time. Henceforth, design became part of their business model and brand culture.
Whether incremental changes, small adjustments or complete brand overhauls, a diagnosis of your brand is required. Book a consultation with me so together we can have a look at how you should proceed before you decide to brand or rebrand. This might serve you well and save you both time and money. AirBnB demonstrated that you too can do simple adjustments to your business through design. Our ummah is more in need of your business now than before so look at your brand as a strategic business tool.
Onward...
We’ve looked at tangible examples—easy to understand. Next, let’s venture a bit deeper into studies conducted using strict measures from both a business and design perspective, led by authorities from both disciplines.
The first significant recorded study of design’s impact on business—titled the “Commercial Impacts of Design“ (CID) project—was done by Robin Roy, Professor of Design and Environment, and Director of The Design Innovation Group. He was assisted by his colleagues at the Open University in Britain. The study examined 221 small-to-medium-sized organizations (sixty to one thousand employees) in the UK and was funded by the Department of Trade and Industry to employ design consultants. Projects included new product development, engineering and graphic design and represented a sample of British Manufacturing. The survey followed a simple three-stage methodology that reviewed design inputs, design processes, and commercial outcomes. It turned out that 90% of projects were profitable. On average, designed projects had a remarkable sales increase of 41% over projects that were less design orientated. 48% of the projects recovered their ROI in design within a year. An overwhelming 89% recovered their investment and made a profit. 41% of repackaged projects had sales increases. Of all the different investments/contributions, graphic design (including packaging design) proved to generate the highest ROI.
Ten years later, Robin Roy and his colleagues revisited the subject matter in conjunction with Britain’s Design Council. This time, the study was coined MADRID, short for “Market Demands that Reward Investment in Design.” Their revised study set out to understand how investments in design vary with the markets the company operates in and how design can be used as a competitive strategy. Note that the long term benefits of design were also considered. The results demonstrated that successful projects had used design to help ‘up market’ products into more profitable markets. The successful products also used design as a way to make product improvements in features and quality as opposed to style alone. Lastly, successful products employed a “broad, multidimensional” approach to design that focused on product performance and quality, in comparison to those who only used it as a styling function or cost reduction tool.
In 2001, Julie Hertenstein and Marjorie Platt, Professors at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University, followed up on their 1996 study with a revised look at design’s impact on business and financial performance. They worked closely with the Design Management Institute and examined fifty-one companies with twelve measures of performance over a five-year period. Again, professional and high level criteria were established as measures of performance from both design and business industries. In the fifty-one companies ranked, the top half designated as ‘effective design groups’ while the bottom half rated less effective design groups. Forty-eight comparisons were made: forty-five indicated that the companies with ‘effective design’ outperformed companies with ‘less effective’ design. The tangible results? Companies that valued design made financial gains averaging 32% higher than the industry norm. Those that did not value design, averaged 13% below the industry standard. Returns on sales was 23% higher for the companies that valued design, while those who did not value design averaged 36% below industry average.
In their “2004–2005 Report,” The Design Council of Britain—established to communicate design’s role in making business competitive—it found that 24% of businesses that were in a state of upward growth, reported that design was a key contributing factor to its upward movement. It proved that companies that value design and make it part of their business processes, had increased rates of innovation and were able to bring added value to their products. The most profitable companies—as we’ll see below—use design as a competitive strategy within their business model. Furthermore, as a competitive strategy, design proved to be an effective alternative to competing on low cost. Those who did not use design as a business tool—45% of the companies—were left to compete on a low-cost price strategy, while only 21% of design conscious companies still used process as their competitive strategy.
The following are statistics of companies that have built design into their business model vs those who don’t value design or just see it as an end-of-the-process-styling-tool:
Brands that have a compelling USP, a distinctive brand identity and great advertising score 168%.Brands score 76% when their advertising is bad but they have a great USP and brand identity.Brands reach a low 27% even if their advertising alone is great but they have a weak USP and brand identity system.Brands lacking in design—USP, distinctive brand identity and advertising—have still grown in value over time but at a crawling rate of 21%.
The takeaway is increased brand value in financial terms due to the contribution of collective design—168% in advertising and branding. And even with a negligible advertising budget, how branding alone holds its own with a remarkable 76%. Compare this with your advertising spend as your preferred ‘go to’ weapon alone (neglecting branding) or if you disregard design altogether, you sit with steady crumbs of 21% while your competitors (and everybody else really) are moving ahead at a rapid rate, utilizing branding as their ‘go to’ tool.
“If this business were to be split up, I would give you the land and bricks and mortar and I would keep the brands and trademarks, and I would fare better than you.”—John Stewart, former Chairman, Quaker Oats.
Let’s look at famous companies that have come to understand the value of design and incorporated it into their business models.
The Design Management Initiative (DMI) and Motiv did a study during 1993 and 2013, where they set a strict criteria for publicly traded US companies using their Design Value Index. Of the 75 companies, only 15 met the criteria. These companies include Apple, Coca Cola, Ford, Herman-Miller, IBM, Intuit, Newell-Rubbermaid, Nike, Procter & Gamble, Starbucks, Starwood, Steelcase, Target, Walt Disney and Whirlpool.
The results were staggering: over a 10 year period, these design-led companies have maintained significant stock market advantage, outperforming the S&P by an extraordinary 228%.
They have one thing in common: design. To them, design as an integrative resource to innovate more efficiently and successfully.
The founder of Frog and creator of Apple’s Snow White design language, Hartmut Esslinger recounts convincing Jobs to empower designers to become part of the integral business strategy.
“Naturally, there were some points where we disagreed—Steve believed that “one insanely great product” would define Apple, whereas I insisted that Apple needed a comprehensive strategy that could generate a line of great products. But we launched a pivotal collaboration that day, creating what would become one of the most successful and influential designer/entrepreneur alliances in the history of consumer technology.”—Hartmut Esslinger
Since, Apple has become the world’s most valuable brand.
The Value of Design as it relates to you
What makes you succeed in business is your realization of opportunity and seizing it—swiftly. It goes without saying then, that the days are numbered where design has only been seen as an ‘add-on’ or fancy aesthetic. The silence from the creative community was mainly due to the intangible aspects of design, like engagements on social media or long term brand loyalty, as we’ve witnessed in the reactions from the customers of Tropicana, Pepsi and Gap. Creatives have become synonymous with order takers or drawing the short end of the stick in the corporate world. Yet, design has been at the forefront of major strategic and groundbreaking developments that made the business world zag...and zag for good.
Once executives and creatives realize they share a common ground, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. The companies that have embraced this notion, have been able to add design as part of their competitive arsenal. We’re starting to see long term creative service partnering more and more, as well as the appointment of new and innovated roles like Vice President of Design and Chief Design Officer (CDO) within companies, ensuring that design is indeed part of their long term strategy and DNA as a business.
While many designers may finally enjoy a breath of fresh air, they will need to be accountable and it will involve communication, process and other necessary skills to earn the trust of their business counterpart.
For the business professional, design has become quantifiable but not without being accountable. Design has proven itself to generate much greater ROI than any marketing tool. By no means is this a threat to the Marketing Department. Rather, together they’re a powerful force as they compliment each other. And compelling branding, coupled with good advertising, are the most powerful contemporary business armoury.
There is an increasing rate of companies that employ design thinking as part of their integral business processes, due to its holistic problem solving ability. There are also much better businesses due to utilizing design as a service. Then there are those who have design part of their integral businesses model. Many are making a decisive investment in design due to its power and potential.
However, sadly there are also a growing industry of crowdsourcing and speculative work: a great threat to the design industry. This has hurt both the design profession and clients alike due to people’s illiteracy about design. Courtesy of crowdsourcing and below average priced sites like 99designs, Fiverr, etc—and the influx of anyone with Photoshop becoming a designer—the perceived value of design has dropped for most people. Design is too often treated like a commodity and people have become entitled and grossly rude in their dealings with design professionals. Something they wouldn’t consider doing when consulting other respected professionals like Lawyers or Accountants. No doubt a designer collaborates with the client and/or the marketing department to get the best outcomes. But very often the designer will be used as no more than hands, reducing their skills to bring to form whatever the client has in mind.
Design is value.
“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”—Dr. Ralph Speth, CEO of Jaguar
Let it be known that design aims to solve business problems that are specific (and therefore a customized) to a particular business. It is never done in a vacuum. The designer usually has to study the business problem, then understand what the needs are before any attempts are made to solve the problem. In-depth design processes, methodologies and workflows that stem from strategy and concept then follow suite, before design development and execution. Good solutions only come after these intense exercises, which requires a good deal of time (for the brain to process). Compare this to “design” done in the absence of understanding the business problem, usually executed by “wannabe designers” who charge “well below industry standard price”, completing the tasks “within no time,” with hundreds of revisions. How many steps have been skipped to effectively solve a problem? How would these ever solve the core business problems in its truest sense? For some things in life, quick fixes work, but for most things quick fixes are no more than band-aid solutions that rarely fix the problem at hand.
Final Thoughts
The barriers of entry in the design field have become low since the boom of the internet with many “designers” using software that is generally unlawfully obtained (as design software is expensive). Meanwhile, designers with years of concentrated expertise who are trained to design (a skill independent of the computer) to the level of mastery, are having to contend with rookies. And they only get away due to the illiteracy of the generality of people on the subject matter of design. Furthermore, the business model of speculative design work is un-Islamic and many graphic design industry professionals have spoken out against this form of oppression. Furthermore, it always amazes me to see how many regard themselves as laymen in many professions e.g Doctor, Architect, Electrician, etc., yet for some reason, everyone seems to have a handle on design. This has undoubtedly contributed to the terrible design that has found inroads into our lives. Finally there’s the consumer who treats or buys design like he does with other commodities like coffee, sugar, beans, etc. Design is neither a product nor a commodity.
The Islamic Way Forward
As a respected Muslim businessman, treat your Islamic business in the same way you would your health, your deen or your life. Run into an illness? See a specialist. Need a fatwa? Ask a scholar. Want your brand problem solved? See a brand identity design specialist. Want your brand problem solved in a way that is in line with your deen and completely halaal? Let’s talk.
And next time you consider leaving design to the last moment, simply disregard good investment in your brand, or reduce design as a “simple” aesthetic…
Think again.
Islamic design is double the value. Use it or your competitors certainly will.
Further reading:
Measuring Brand Communications ROI by Don E. Schulz and Jeffrey Walters (Association of National Advertisers).
The Strategic Designer: Tools for Managing the Design Process by David Holston (How Books).
