Design Thursday: Proving Design Moves Markets

0atwong • 13th Aug 2007 • Conversation Pieces

I wish they had one for IT design.

Design Thursday: Proving Design Moves Markets
We know that great design fuels revenue and grows margins. But thus far, most companies — with the possible exception of pioneers like Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool—have been unable to prove it. The main reason is that it’s exceedingly difficult to untangle design’s contribution from all the other business drivers–engineering, manufacturing, distribution, marketing–that ultimately fuel a product’s performance in the marketplace.

There is, however, compelling evidence that in the aggregate, companies that excel in design kick some serious butt in the market that matters most to investors: the stock market. The data comes from the London-based Design Council, a publicly funded research organization that promotes the role of design in Britain. The Council reports that over a ten-year period, from 1995 to 2004, 61 “design-led” businesses outperformed the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 by more than 200%.