A late 2018 study by McKinsey illustrated a clear link between high financial performance and design-centric cultures at 300 publicly traded corporations. Those companies that valued design most–the top-quartile design performers by McKinsey criteria–increased revenues and total shareholder return by 32 percent and 56 percent, respectively, faster than their peers over the five-year study. Those are significant figures that help support the belief that good design is often directly tied to higher financial performance. While design is often relegated to the margins or early in line for the chopping block when budgets tighten, perhaps more research such as McKinsey’s will help reverse that trend. Good design is in fact a good investment.
Regardless of the classification–graphic, UX, industrial, architectural, fashion, etc.–design clearly impacts our lives in many ways, consciously and subconsciously. It influences our decisions, experiences, interactions and ways of thinking. And how we process (or perceive) design will positively or negatively affect those outcomes. We purchase consumer goods based on packaging, we choose to revisit a museum because of the architecture, we communicate via text because it’s often easier, we are loyal to certain companies because of good branding, we often wear clothes not because they feel good, but because we feel they look good - and the list goes on.
With so much at stake for marketers and corporate communicators, the choice between hastily and reactively presenting your brand and taking the necessary time to craft something meaningful seems an easy one. It makes one wonder why the laggards in the McKinsey study haven’t already jumped on board the “good design” train.
