The business behind design
Let’s be clear: CEO’s don’t hire designers out of a sense of patronage to their legacy. They hire designers—if they hire designers, to beat their competitors, to drive innovations, and to increase customer engagement. They hire designers to deliver ARR. To make more money.
Cosimo Medici’s patronage of the arts was in service to his family’s political and financial ambitions. He used commissions as a form of branding to solidify his family’s standing in Florence and beyond. Brunelleschi, Donatello, Botticelli, and Michelangelo, like Jony Ive were all hired to create business value. And let’s be clear, Steve Jobs supported Ives because Ives’ designs brought Steve’s vision to life and together they made Apple a lot of money. Thomas Watson hired the Eames and Paul Rand to do the same for IBM.
From experience, it is rare to work for a CEO with an deep understanding and appreciation for design’s potential. So in the majority of cases it comes down to the designer’s ability to hold their own in the board room.
Unfortunately, in most cases they don’t.
During presentations to leadership when asked many designers don’t actually know why they designed it. That is, someone may have requested a design for a problem or their was a customer request. But the real underlying reason for creating that product or service escapes the designer. That is because all too often the designer doesn’t understanding the big picture, they don’t know the business or how the company makes money. So when they are presenting their designs and asked how their design will grow the business, or ties into other business initiatives such as development, sales, support, partnerships, etc. the designer is left flat footed. Their work appears superficial and superfluous; is it any wonder why do many people think design is purely cosmetic? Or why designer themselves feel they are relegated to putting lipstick on a pig?
Too frequently designers simply create a solution based on what they think is the right thing to do. However, without a solid understand of the business/market context, who is to say what the right thing is?
You need a mentor, not a patron.
Many designers dream of having a role where their CEO gives them a freehand to design whatever they wish. Those roles exist, but they come with a specific job requirement: The designer needs to have as deep an understanding of the business, and what is required to move it to the next level of success, as the CEO while maintaining their focus on their craft.
Most designers do not come naturally to business, that is they don’t understand the nuts and bolts of operating businesses, finance, legal, etc. But to be effective designers really only need to know how the business makes money, how it sells its products/services, and have a firm grasp on the market. Additionally they need to know where the company is spending money on things like support, sales enablement, and costs for developing and maintaining their products/service.
While some designer can do this on their own, others require a mentor to understand the business. Designers who have been exposed to weak or inattentive design leaders in regards to business tend to struggle to articulate their work effectively. They focus on the artifacts, letting them do most of the speaking. They often do not discuss the underlying business issues, competitive challenges, or the market, or in some cases they can’t even talk about how the product or technology works. These designers may come across as self-effacing, flustered, or overly apologetic—even preemptively apologizing for their designs. Or worse they can be overly confident, talking about design as an end in of itself, which even the most arrogant rarely pull off.
If you’re seeing yourself in that description, seek a strong design mentor outside your organization. Avoid superficial mentorship programs; it is better to find someone outside design who is an effective leader with a proven track record of developing others, than to work with a designer who talks big but in reality only has a couple more years experience than you.
By contrast, designers who have worked with design leaders who, knowing the business themselves, require the same of their team, exude confidence (which is very different from arrogance). These designers present their work with clarity and authority, backed by data and framed by a solid business context. They frame their work in the context of its business value when they present their work, ensuring their designs are well-received. Given they understand how their work supports the business objectives, these designers often go on to secure leadership roles themselves.
To become this type of designer, you need two key things: knowledge and objectivity—both of which can be cultivated with the help of a strong mentor.
Knowledge: Understand your business—how it operates, generates revenue, and sets priorities. Learn the company’s politics, culture, key players, and decision-making processes. This requires access, which strong design leaders can provide by empowering their team and working within the organization’s power structures.
Objectivity: Evaluate what you’re designing in terms of its impact on the business. Focus on numbers, trade-offs, and the factors that will make the design successful. Design can improve any product, but knowing where to focus—whether it’s the user experience, technical infrastructure, or go-to-market strategies—is critical.
Mentorship plays a crucial role here. Designers often default to observation and inquiry, with the customer or end user. However they need to frame those insights with an objective understand of the business. In design discussions, this means including topics like revenue, engagement, and growth, along with form, flow and desirability. When designers master this approach in their own discussions, they naturally extend it to broader contexts, showcasing their expertise and leadership across the organization.
We need to own our narrative
If we don’t own the discussion about design, then we relinquish that to the care of others. Today the profession design suffers from oversubscription; There are simply not enough well-qualified designers—designers who understand both the craft of design and business to consistently deliver meaningful impact. To consistently ensure design is seen as a business driver.
Design leaders need recognize this, and be willing to make the hard call. The degree to which there is any confusion about the value of design to the business, falls squarely on the design leaders and their choices of who to hire, who to mentor, and who to let go.
It’s time for the profession to take our narrative back and to hold each to account.
