GRAPHIC DESIGN   |   POSTED ON 07.06.2012

These days most businesses, no matter what they make or sell, recognise the power and financial value of good design.

Why? It’s because we as consumers, expect great design. Indeed, there’s a new, mass expectation of good design: that products and services will be better thought through, simplified, made more intuitive, elegant and more enjoyable to use.

One such company that has truly reaped the rewards of design led products and service is Apple. This organisation now has a market capitalization of $570 billion. Its revenue is double it’s major competitor Microsoft’s.

Which media software would you rather buy?

While engineers and programmers tend to belittle the efforts of designers and marketers in making their work look beautiful, the wisest ones realise that without the contribution of designers, their work has little chance of being recognised. Both are important… even critical in a competitive market.

What the Apple case study illustrates is that the design bar has been raised and design-oriented businesses are winning.

This design led competitive advantage is no surprise when you think of how swiftly and strongly a design experience shapes our opinion of that brand, company or store, for good or bad. For instance, we know quickly when a website is bad. And we associate this feeling of frustration, or worse, disappointment with that brand.

Brand design-oriented organisations invest in thinking this stuff through. They put design at the heart of their company to guide innovation and to continually improve products, service and marketing. They recognise that a great design leads to differentiation, brand loyalty and higher profits.