(I’m reposting this from a comment I made on a Laura Baker post, and there’s a great discussion here on this topic.)
The question was: Design often has a low ‘business maturity’ perception.
My answer:
I was listening to Beyond UX Design podcast (thank you Jeremy Miller!) and heard this – “Design is ‘preventative’ and not a fix, that’s why it’s harder to track it’s impact”. Business leaders think in concrete terms, and in the present, rather than in the future. Design has a real effect in the future but can be hard to track.
If Design can get changes across the line, and link that success to an increase in profit, then I think that translates pretty well to c-suite and stakeholders. Steve Jobs managed this, though I’m not convinced his methods were completely sane either. 🙂
About dropping the word Design, I think the real problem is how the term has been so diluted, as our industry seeks to constantly stay relevant. I look at the recent job description of Product Designer, and it’s still just a Design role – but this term seems to have been crafted to get Design closer to the product, and its profit KPIs.
I think we make Design more clear, and more relevant, and then connect it to real outcomes (i.e., profit) rather than diluting it with different sub titles.
What do you think about this? How can Design embed itself more concretely to the success of the business?