Design Matters

We're designers. We think that design is important. We believe that design actually affects people. Good design or bad design, it doesn't matter. It affects people. Why does it seem to be so difficult to get others to see how important it is? It's not about a particular style. It's about how you think.

I just read the editor's letter in the October 2007 Fast Company and I'm encouraged again. Read it for yourself, if you can. In fact check out the whole issue. But in case you can't, I'd like to give you some excerpts from Robert Safian's introduction to the issue.

Mr. Safian writes "What does design really contribute to an organization's bottom line? In a global marketplace where price competition and commodification have slashed margins and "reengineered" jobs, it can be easy to peg what designers do as indulgence - style over substance, form over function. Committing business resources toward the tangible is just more efficient than - sniff - the soft world of design."

He goes on to write "Studies have now shown that design-oriented firms in all kinds of industries outperform their more traditional peers - that design and innovation go hand-in-hand with financial success. Research from Peer Insight has calculated tenfold advantage in stock-market returns versus the S&P 500 for companies focused on consumer-experience design, as senior writer Linda Tischler explains in her profile of Yves Behar."

Safian contends that CEOs are starting to get it, citing examples such as Hewlett-Packard (seen their commercials lately?) and, of course, Apple (we're an all Mac office - thank you very much.) "They're making the connection that design can help them get on their next growth cycle," according to Peter Lawrence, chair of the Corporate Design Foundation.

This is all great amunition for us designers. The benefits of quality design not only benefit super-corporations, but also your local school district, the place where you live, your library, community center, coffee shop, or bank. Heck, even your strip mall. Matt O'Reilly is proving that.

So design does matter. We've always known that, but in a state whose motto is "Show Me" it takes a while to get the point across. We're doing what we can. We hope others take notice.