Design IS business strategy
My old professor at the Welsh School of Architecture,
Charlie Maccallum, used to tear strips off people if they drew nervous,
shaky lines because, as he said, ‘every line drawn is not a line, it is
a resource expended’.
As Clement Mok and others have maintained, experience design is
inextricably linked to business strategy – and yet even in ‘pureplay’
e-business consultancies, ‘strategy’ is often handed to designers as a
fait accompli, maybe because our understanding or contribution isn’t
seen to link through to the business case.
This survey by the Design Council (although they would say this wouldn’t they) might go someway to prove otherwise…
“Looking at the last three years, well over half of businesses (55%)
said design had contributed to higher profits and turnover. Almost as
many (46%) reported that design had helped them grow their market
share. Nearly 58% of businesses surveyed said they’d used design as a
strategic business tool that helped them stay competitive in the market
place.”
Petafloptimism 