Why Design is so Important in Business

When Philippa Frost set up her accountancy practice she knew that she was in a very competitive market and she would need to differentiate herself from the herd if she were to achieve any level of success.  Of course, being a good accountant by providing a consistent service, doing what she said she would do and reminding her clients of the critical dates during the year were all important but she also believed that the image she portrayed through her correspondence, advertising and any other marketing had to be appealing too.

Although she was a one-man-band, Philippa knew that her corporate image did not need to say that about her.  Her close competition all had logos that projected an image of austere conservatism which was probably appropriate ten or twenty years ago but we now live in an age of young entrepreneurial spirit and Philippa is keen to promote herself as approachable, fun to do business with and a good match for radical startup businesses.

As you would expect, she has already worked out a whole range of ideas herself. Like most people, she believes she has hidden talents as a designer and her artwork is certainly good enough for visualization.  This is the dangerous stage for most amateur designers because there is a great deal more to implementing a design beyond having the initial concept.  In the same way that small businesses could complete their own end of year accounts, most choose to employ the services of an accountant because it is time-consuming and requires an up-to-date knowledge base to ensure that expensive mistakes are not made.  The same principle applies to design.  Trained designers have the necessary technical knowledge, can access the appropriate production facilities and are more in touch with the design marketplace.

When design is undertaken professionally for images, products or packaging, there is a process that designers work through to achieve their high quality results:

• A detailed brief is taken to ensure full understanding

• Research is undertaken to explore possibilities

• A range of solutions are proposed

• Criteria based selection is used to narrow down the options

• Rough visualizations, models or prototypes are produced

• The design is tested and evaluated

• The developed design is submitted for production

If a designer jumps from brief to single production-ready design, you may not be getting your money's worth from them.

Your business ought to be something that you are proud to associate yourself with and every aspect of it should be carefully designed.  The Feng Shui disciples are not wrong about the need for planned order in everything.

Philippa realized that, by employing the services of a designer it was much easier to be objective about the corporate image they selected for her.  She could be brutally honest about what she disliked, something that would be difficult if she designed it herself.  She also knew that the final design had been tested and would appeal to the client profile she was targeting.

Information is for educational and informational purposes only and is not be interpreted as financial or legal advice. This does not represent a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Please consult your financial advisor.