Design should start from the top of the company

As a leader in your company, your willingness to invest in good design affects your company in a larger way than you think. It's just so important.

A good business cares about good design. No matter what they make, design sets companies apart, and it is evident from every aspect of the company as well.

Let’s take the case of Apple; the company is known for it’s ability to design good products. If you deeply think, it’s just not only about that. At Apple, design goes beyond what you see or hold in your hand. It extends even to the technology that is enabling this design to work smoothly. And ultimately, everything that the company has done, transcends to what Jobs said in one of the interviews about design:

The fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.

That’s it. This is everything that Apple cares about and executes in the company. If you are a CEO, you might have at least heard people say that Apple’s products are great, and they just work. That’s because its the way the company’s products have made people feel.

Being at the decision making level of a company, you need to understand the power of design. The power of design transcends to the intention of the product, and the way it is translated to their customers.

The power of design transcends to the intention of the product, and the way it conveys to the customer.

Today, we’ve seen companies transform themselves to be design oriented. When Larry Page took over Google as the CEO back in 2011, the first major change that happened was with design. The company focused a ton of energy in re-designing their existing products, and the way it functioned as well. This move set path for the next 10 years for Google, making it a proper consumer based company.

The decision to invest in good design should always happen at the top. Design definitely needs a seat at the table during budgeting or decision making. Think about this. The products that is enabling you to run your meetings easily, are from companies who invested in good design. If the design was bad and complicated, why would you even pay for it? It doesn’t make sense. When you are subconsciously having design as the priority, why should you not invest in good design for your own organization?

If your leadership is not willing to look at design as a priority in your organization, your company might never reap the rewards of a design-first company. Ever.

I’ve spoken to a ton of CEOs, who say that they don’t have budget for good design. And that they want good design to be made at a cost that will not cut their budget short.

This is bad. Anything good does not come cheap or for free. Good design will cost you. It is the investment that you need to make to make sure your product is competitive enough across the world.

Good design will cost you. It does not come for free.

The size of your company definitely doesn’t matter when it comes to investing in design. The reasons you might come up with doesn’t matter when it comes to investing in design. Your non-design background doesn’t matter when it comes to investing in design.

The only thing that matters here is your willingness to stay ahead of your competition and translate your products’ intentions as easily as possible to your customers.

Invest in good design.

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