Meeting business challenges

Design as a competitive weapon

Why do some of the world’s leading companies think it worthwhile to invest so much effort managing and optimising their design processes?

To answer this question, the Design Council undertook its most in-depth study ever. Researchers visited the design departments of eleven companies (Alessi, BSkyB, BT, LEGO, Microsoft, Sony, Starbucks, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Whirlpool, Xerox and Yahoo!) - all world-leaders in their fields and all with a public commitment to the use of design to improve their brand strength and product and service offerings.

While design can be used as a tool to improve many product characteristics, and many aspects of a business, some key themes emerged very frequently when we asked the companies in our study where the benefits of design lie.

Design has helped many of these eleven companies respond better to common business challenges:

• Good design makes products more competitive. It keeps production costs down but allows higher prices in the shops
• Good design keeps users happy, making them come back again and encouraging them to recommend things to their friends
• Design applies the power of the brand. A strong brand identity encourages customers to trust existing products and to try new ones

The Eleven Lessons study shows that design plays a fundamental role in the success of many of the world’s leading companies and it picks up plenty of tips and design tools which smaller businesses can take advantage of.