I came across an article today studying the correlation between good design and good business. In a study of the top 75 publicly traded companies, 15 were identified as being design-led. “Design-led” in this case was defined as having “design had to be embedded within the company’s organizational structure; design leadership had to be present at senior and divisional levels; and there had to be a senior-level commitment to design’s use as an innovation resource and a force for positive change.”
The findings? Those 15 companies out-performed the Standard & Poor’s 500 by a whopping 228%.
Granted, there are plenty of other factors that go into a company’s success. However, it seems clear that if all other things are equal, design is certainly a difference-maker in an organization’s performance.
