Many design leaders still struggle how they can demonstrate that design contributes to an organisation. The article by John Heskett (2009)1 attempts to fundament the necessity of communicating the value of design. He does this by explaining how design is, or better said, is not integrated into contemporary economic theory. An interesting approach, describing the shortcomings of the economic theories that have dominated our thinking in Western Europe and argueing for an “elaboration of economic concepts through the prism of design theory and practice.”
Fairly said, he is right that the discipline of economics does not acknowledge design until now and that:
- Design is about envisioning change; products and markets are not static.
- Current economic models tend to push the company’s focus on short-term financial profitability, which goes at the expense of innovation and on-going product & service development.
- Design plays an important role at the microeconomic level (e.g. functions and processes at firm level) whereas many models attempted to explain design in a macro-economic context (e.g. in terms of the numerical, quantitative values.
- Context of use & role of products in people’s lives is neglected since economic models are limited to point of sales.
In short, a nice overview and some interesting thoughts, but a shame it resembles much more of an historic overview than any advice to design managers on how to prove the value of design.
I think we should be much more pragmatic about it: We shouldn’t believe that designers can become the new true economists! Design should stick to what it is good at: developing great products & services that deliver profit and make people smile.
1 (2009), Heskett, J. “Creating Economic Value by Design”, International Journal of Design, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 71-84 downloadable at http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/viewFile/477/232
Tags: communication, design value, economic theories
I totally agree with your last paragraph! It’s just true!