Every company looks for ways to cut costs. It’s part of doing business. CEOs, directors and managers will always explore how to increase profits and reduce expenses.
Unfortunately, many companies try to cut costs by reducing marketing efforts or finding “cheap” ways to present information. Surely someone in the office – or maybe your nephew who’s taking a high school art class – can create a company logo or presentation instead of hiring professional designers, right?
But you’ve seen what this ends up looking like. Clip art logos, Word and PowerPoint “font fests” with colors out of the ‘90s, or photos that are fuzzy and pixellated.
In short, amateur night. What’s the result of all this?
- Your business looks unprofessional
- Potential clients and business partners don’t take you seriously
- Prospects get confused and leave your store or website
Today, a potential customer’s first encounter with your business is often when he or she visits your website. That visit is their first impression of who you are and what you do – and if that impression isn’t favorable in about 5 seconds, that prospect is gone, and so are any sales that would have come your way.
As Dr. Ralf Speth, the CEO of Jaguar put it, “If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”
On the other hand, studies show that companies focusing their energies and dollars on design reap major rewards.
Over a decade ago, the Design Management Institute (DMI) and Motiv Strategies began analyzing the performance of U.S. companies incorporating design as an integral part of their business strategy.
The resulting Design Value Index tracked the value of 16 publicly held companies that met specific design management criteria and monitored the impact of investments in design on their stock value, relative to the overall S&P Index.
The result? Design-led companies maintained significant stock market advantage, outperforming the S&P by over 200% for three straight years.
So what does bad design do?
In general, bad design confuses, distracts and dissuades. Instead of communicating your message and the action you want viewers to take, it baffles your audience – and they move on to your competitor.
Have a story to share about a good (or bad) design experience? Drop us a line.
