All the companies interviewed were open about their design processes and happy to share these as part of this study. This signifies a level of comfort with the design process that they use.
Bar any directly commercially sensitive methods or data, the companies were eager to communicate about their design expertise and confidence in their design process. In some cases, the existence of a robust and functioning design process is seen as one factor that may attract the most able designers to apply to the company.
Having this attitude and confidence in the design process, and being willing to communicate externally about it has a subsequent positive impact on the corporate brand. The Desk Research Report drew on the example of Philips Design, and pointed to the way in which the company builds its ethos and image on its creative processes and regularly presents at conferences sharing its best practice and design process. Consequently, Philips’s confidence in its methods strengthens its design-led brand values and profile.
Indeed, the companies that participated in the design process study were equally adamant that design, including its processes, internal profile and the product or service generated, is a key element in developing and enhancing brand qualities for commercial leverage. In fact, their participation in the design process study demonstrates their confidence about the methods, tools and techniques used in executing design within the business.
Companies that recognise that the relationship between corporate growth and strategic design decisions, and present their design-led thinking as a central component of the business, do more than produce a product. They are able to build on their reputation for design and design process and create a sense of emotion and desirability around their standard product or service. The company’s market, customers and stakeholders subsequently are quick to identify and establish a link between design and brand equity.