Launched in June 2006, the Value of Design Factfinder shows the positive impact of design on practically every measure of business performance, including market share, growth, productivity, share price and competitiveness.
The increasing importance of design
UK firms are attaching increasing importance to design. The evidence for this comes, in part, from comparing the results of our latest survey to those from similar research conducted in 2005. For example, over the last three years the proportion of firms:
- who regarded design as integral to their operation has doubled to 30%
- making use of the various design disciplines has risen by 15 percentage points
- who had developed new products and services and reported design as leading or guiding the whole process had increased.
This comparative evidence is consistent with results from within the 2008 survey, which reports positive views of design across a range of measures. For example:
- 23% of businesses thought design had become a lot more important over the last three years in enabling the firm to achieve its business objectives. 30% said it was a little more important and only 5% considered it less important
- more than half (52%) of firms agreed or agreed strongly that design is integral to the country’s future economic performance – 16% disagreed or disagreed strongly
- 59% of firms agreed or agreed strongly that there was a clearly positive link between investment in design and profitability – 13% disagreed or disagreed strongly
- over the last twelve months 34% of firms had seen design expenditure grow moderately or rapidly whilst only 5% had seen it decrease.
Design in the downturn
- Over half (54%) of firms believe design will help them stay competitive during the economic downturn.
- However, design was not seen as a panacea – almost as many firms (44%) thought design had not been important in meeting the challenges they had faced in the last three years.
The role of design
- Design plays an important role in developing new products and services – particularly among larger businesses.
- Large firms were twice as likely (69%) to have developed new products and services than micro businesses (33%).
- The most common use of design is still marketing (71%) and other external facing functions (62%), such as corporate branding and websites.
Design disciplines
- Communication and multimedia design are the most common forms being used (61% and 55% respectively).
Design spending
- For most firms (61%) design expenditure had stayed the same over the last 12 months.
- Over a quarter of firms (27%) have seen their design spending grow over the same period.
- Expectations for the coming year were virtually identical.
Commissioning design
- Over a third of firms (39%) have commissioned designers in the past 12 months – the majority of those designers (88%) were from the UK.
- Larger businesses were almost twice as likely as micro businesses to have commissioned designers in the past 12 months (61% compared to 32%) – though this still represents a substantial number of micro businesses.
- 95% of firms were very or quite satisfied with the design services they had commissioned over the last 12 months.
- Selecting a design consultant was most commonly done through personal contacts with two-thirds (67%) of firms using this approach.
Differences by firm size, sector and location
- Over a third (35%) of large firms say design is integral to their operation and almost a further half (47%) describe it as having a significant role.
- The role of design within a businesses also varies between sectors: 46% of the sector covering manufacturing said design was integral to their business – almost double the proportion in the construction, transport and agriculture sector (24%).
- Regional variations show a concentration of design use in the South East, with 48% of firms in London saying design is integral to operations.
- Firms in the North East were least likely to see design as this significant (20%) and also had one of the highest proportions (23%) saying design had no role in their firm.
Design and sustainability
- Consumer demand for sustainable products is not yet a major issue for most firms.
- 41% thought there was some demand for sustainability in their sector – 30% thought there was no demand at all.