It’s easy to hang onto the purse strings when it comes to design. Some bosses feel – almost as a matter of principle – that all design is way too expensive. Well, this does of course depend on what you’re comparing with and what you’re aiming for.

Having the wrong design is always too expensive, but having the right design can work miracles. You can learn how to use design to cut costs, and increase profitability, net sales, and market shares.

Brands aren’t just ten a penny

All cats look the same in the dark. But if we take one of those cats and shine a light on it, that’s the one you’ll remember. Design differentiates and demonstrates, amplifies and improves, builds and safeguards, visualises and updates. In an industry facing immense competition, strategic use of design and carefully considered brand building will show the people you want to reach out to who you really are. Some people in lofty positions still considered design to be a fancy-schmancy thing that has nothing to do with actual money. And in fact, using shape and colour with no purpose or common sense is rarely a good idea. While a brand that nobody notices and that simply fades away over time is really not a good brand. But believing that design always costs too much may cost you dearly in the long run.

Economical design

The UK Design Council has presented a survey entitled The Design Economy. The value of design to the UK . The report begins as follows: Great design can change lives, communities and organisations for the better. It can create better places to live, bring communities together, and can transform businesses and public services. But not only the words are positive. The figures that form the basis for these words are also fairly convincing. The survey draws the following main conclusions:

The design economy in the UK generated a gross value of more than GBP 700 billion, constituting 7.2% of the total gross value in the UK.
People who work with design are 41% more productive than average.
People who invest in and use design strategically (even if they do not necessarily have their own design staff) have higher average production among their employees.

Some of you who read these numbers will receive a confirmation of something you have long ago realized, while others will receive a valuable reminder of the value of design.

Design is the most important form of communication

Design is a complex specialist field. Design can help some companies to take small but important market shares. For others, it’s more of “to be or not to be” kind of scenario. If you operate in a do-or-die kind of market, we reckon it’s more a matter of design-or-die in your market.

Design is all about how you communicate
Design is all about how your services are perceived
Design is all about how your products work
Design is physical, mental, digital and emotional
Design is form and function, colours and feelings
Design gives you more gravitas
Design is man and machine
Design is knowledge and awareness
Design is simplification and improvement
Design is how and why things work
Design means better prices for products
Design gives people an excuse to like you
Design can take you from pain to management
Design is an alarm clock for people who’ve spent too long sleeping
Design is a prouder approach than just ambling along
Design gets rid of the dust and lets the light flood in
Design is an advanced process that makes things easier
Design gives you an identity
Design involves correcting the mistakes you made yesterday
Design is also everything you try not to do

For some people, design may involve doing things differently to yesterday so that they make sure they still exist tomorrow. For others, not making a change is the right strategic choice – just consider Coca-Cola Classic and The Gap.

Find out why the world's most valuable brands are preoccupied with design.

Get the most out of your design budget

Ideally, shopping for design and brand building shouldn’t it will the trip to the nearest discount store. When buying design services, some people might be tempted to buy the cheapest available and then watch the designer like a hawk to make sure s/he does a decent job. But doesn’t that indicate, in a way, that your own time isn’t worth all that much? You should approach design buying in a different way. Make sure you choose one of the best suppliers, and give them a bit of leeway to do the job to the best of their abilities. Here are five things to remember.

Here are five rules to keep in mind when using your design budget

Choose the right agency / designer. The most important item on the list and perhaps the most difficult. It is not necessarily the most award winning agency that is right in every situation. Has the agency done anything similar before? Do they have the ability to think new? Do they see the big picture?
Give us a good brief. A design process without a good brief can turn out to be an expensive exercise. Designers will create their own briefs unless you do it for them. It describes the task you want done, along with your aims and ambitions for the solution, the target group, the budget, the schedule and any other factors of importance. Give your designers access to relevant background information. An efficient research phase gives you more time for design.
Give us space. A classic consideration where lots of people go wrong. It’s incredibly easy to smother, criticise and reject early ideas. Remember, a good idea can change the world – so give your designers space to try things out, get things wrong and test different directions before developing them into ideas that can be presented and explained.
Listen to the experts. If you follow points 1 and 2, you shouldn’t be far from your target after the first round. Hold off with your own first impressions and opinions until your designers have explained their ideas. Listen, and see which solutions have the most potential. If you’ve chosen good designers, they’ll come up with some great solutions in relation to your brief. Take the time to assess the design and the arguments in favour of it. Some ideas lose impetus after a short time. While others just go on growing.
Give concrete feedback. You don’t have to approve the first and best idea your designer comes up with. It’s important to be demanding if you’re going to get as much as possible out of the design you buy. Assess the proposal, then provide feedback that’s as specific as possible. Refer to the brief if there are aspects you feel they haven’t taken into account sufficiently.

You may encounter some major challenges at the outset, as you progress or towards the end of a project, and this often results in us, the customer themselves or even both spending more time and money on the project than they need to.

Follow the 5 points to make the process more efficient and profitable – and improve the end results. When the idea you want to run with has been devised, the most important and often most difficult job remains to be done. Implementing it. We wish you the very best of luck, no matter who you choose to work with. (But that said, if it’s luck you’re after you should choose to work with us! ).