Design a bigger profit (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Design a bigger profit

Do you judge a business by the way its office looks? And can good design really make profits rise?

IAN RALPH of The Rialto Consultancy in Purton explains why design is better for communication, better for the working environment and better for relationships between businesses and their customers

Where does design rate in your list of business priorities?

Before you think about the answer consider the following fact.

In a Design Council survey, 62 per cent of static companies that is, ones that have not grown at all in the past year see design as irrelevant.

Markedly however, not one rapidly growing company agrees with them.

Harry Rich of the Design Council believes that "design is the cornerstone upon which some of the world's most successful companies are built."

Most companies do consider that at one time or another they will have to, maybe grudgingly, seek the services of a designer.

This may be to help them design a logo for their company or put together their Yellow Pages ad. But that is as far as it goes.

What they do not realise is the huge potential for the success and profitability of their company, be it a start-up or a major corporation, that they are missing by not using the power of design throughout their organisation.

Richard Seymour, award-winning product designer believes that "design is fundamentally about making things better better for people and consequently better for industry."

Expanding on that thought I am convinced that good design in business can make things better, not only for the products or services offered, but better for communication, better for the working environment and better for relationships between businesses and their customers.

Better in fact from shop floor to boardroom, from stock room to shop window.

If you are serious about putting design high on your priority list there is no better place to start than with the surroundings that you work in.

In the past it may have been okay to simply provide the people in companies with the basic furnishings. Just enough desk, bench and chair space for them to do the work required.

It didn't matter about colour or texture or correct lighting or if an interior reflected a company's corporate identity or in fact if the staff were happy working in a given environment.

These days that just will not do. Your interior has to do and say so many things about your company.

John-Paul Flack of Pacific Interiors agrees: "More and more of our clients are becoming aware of the need to incorporate branding throughout all areas of their business.

"When a client enters their business premises, they are judging what kind of company they are dealing with in the same way as they would by looking at their literature or website."

And good environmental design practice doesn't stop at the interior of the building; it's about the exterior and surroundings as well.

A clean, well-maintained exterior with adequate and, of course, well designed signage that again reflects your corporate brand says so much about your company's attitude to the outside world and consequently your attitude to your clients.

Well-thought out and well-designed marketing communications activity is also essential, not only to get your sales propositions and your key selling messages across, but also to ensure these also reflect the essence of your corporate ideals and aims.

This applies to literature, websites, direct mail, point-of-sale, packaging and advertising.

And when you exhibit your products or services at trade shows you need to make sure you communicate the positive aspects of those products or services in the best possible way.

Underpinning all this should be a well-designed corporate identity, that when executed with vigour and imagination will speak volumes about your attitudes, your ethos and even your sense of humour and help to establish you as a player to be reckoned with in your chosen market.

This is what design and designers are there to help you to do.

And all of this also applies to product design as well. To quote Richard Seymour again: "Design and innovation can't be divorced if innovation is thinking the new, then design is physically creating the new."

Many businesses in the past have concluded that design is something that can be bolted on after a product has been engineered.

This theory has always been flawed and any company that still believes it to be true devalues their products.

There may be designer labels but contrary to popular belief there are no such things as designer goods. Just well designed goods and badly designed goods.

Engaging with design at the start of the process of development leads to better products, more sales, more profits. It really is that simple.

Design then simply isn't about looks. Companies need to use design to add value to their products, services, environments and communications.

And that involves fundamental questions; not only about their customers and what they want, but also about how they regard themselves.

I think that the most important first step to benefiting from a positive attitude towards design is to implement a company design policy.

If you can't formulate this yourself call on help from outside the company.

Whatever size your company is, a start up, an SME or a major corporation, the idea of having focus and direction for your future involvement with design can be nothing other than a positive influence on decision making at all levels and in all departments.

Ian Ralph can be contacted 01793 772189.