There’s a lot of talk about design impact. Yep, impact not value.
Why the language change to impact?
Because most clients won’t accept design adds value.
Clients perceive value-add = higher sales and more profit.
And they want economic evidence of the higher sales and greater profit.
Designers say they can’t get the right data from clients to prove design in itself adds economic value. It means designers find it difficult to directly link design to an increased economic value for clients.
That said, the accepted wisdom in design circles is design adds value and should be priced accordingly.
Problem is, without the right data from clients it’s almost impossible to prove increased economic value.
That’s why clients don’t accept the idea of value-added design.
In an ever-increasingly suspicious world, clients expect evidence-based design.
Our research shows – globally – designers who understand this switched to talking about design impact rather than design value.
How to do you do that? Instead of talking about design value, let’s think and talk about the impact design has on our society, environment and economy.
We believe Design Impact thinking can deliver measurable, positive social, environmental, and economic impacts by combining elements of design thinking with a focus on design as a process beginning and ending with research.
This the ‘why’ behind the Creative Business Canvas. A key element in this canvas is unpacking and explaining impact – the impact design has on ourselves, our business and our clients, socially, environmentally and economically.
Can you measure design impact for your business, clients, customers and society?
We think so – and we’ve devised a way to do it.
The canvas is a roadmap to measure design impact.
Impact is directly linked (roadmapped) to sections of the canvas;
It’s a roadmap that takes you through the process of defining and measuring design impact.
The canvas is a concept developed by DBC (using our practical experience, knowledge and data), and Andy Wright (using quantitative date from Streamtime and qualitative evidence from Never Not Creative). We’ve workshopped the canvas with a large number of creatives, in each case we found a (different) roadmap relevant to that business and their needs.
Read more on how this is done.
Watch a short video on the workings of the canvas.
Want to know more, contact Greg Branson
Contact me if you would like to learn more about defining your impact.
Design Business Council : business advice for creatives.
We help designers build better, stronger, more sustainable businesses.
Design Business Review is Australia’s only online design management magazine. It’s professional development information written specifically for Australian designers by Australian designers. Best of all, it’s free.
Greg’s passion is the research and development of methods that improve design management and the role of design in business.
Greg and Carol developed the Design Business Council as a management school for design leaders. Contact Greg to learn more about developing your skills as a manager.
