It’s 5:32pm on a Tuesday afternoon. I have put my computer to sleep and organized the stack of papers on my desk when the phone rings. I hesitate for a moment before lifting the receiver and then immediately wish I had sent it to voicemail to deal with in the morning. It’s a desperate client looking for a last minute design job that needs to be delivered in just a few days. As I listen to the requirements, I wonder for the thousandth time why we aren’t brought into the picture weeks or even months before when we could have suggested a better strategy and created a design that would really support the business objectives of the client.

Executives and managers often see creative design as a necessary evil. It is a finishing touch to be added after strategy has been determined, objectives set and budgets allocated. Instead of being an integral part of the business, the design process becomes a frustrating experience. Managers struggle to know how to handle graphic designers with artistic temperaments and at the end of the day there isn’t often an easy way to determine a design’s ROI. However, I would argue that design is actually an important part of your overall business strategy and should be considered as necessary and important as your financial statements.

Three reasons to bring design in at the beginning of the process:

1.    Create clarity

Design provides a process that can identify your unique value proposition and clarify your business objectives. It creates simplicity in the complexity of information overload. A common experience I have is seeing a light bulb go off over a client’s head during the design process. As we work through questions for the design needs, often clients begin reevaluating business strategies and objectives. Through the experience, many clients leave the design process with not only a well-done marketing piece, but also a clearer understanding of their product or service.

2.    Save Money

Including design at the outset of creating your strategy can save you money in the long run. Often in an effort to keep down costs, executives and project managers want to bring in the designers toward the end of a project. However, once the design process begins, all types of questions arise which may change the timeline, budget and strategies. I recommend bringing in the designers at the beginning of the process so that by the time actual design work needs to be done, the strategy and objective is already aligned with the design goals to reduce reworking previous decisions.

3.    Grow Your Business

The resulting design defines your identity as a business and presents your products and services in an understandable and memorable manner. By including design from the beginning, you can present your best face to your potential clients, increasing the impact of your sales efforts and growing your business.

As I hung up the phone that Tuesday evening at 5:47pm, I realized again that our greatest value to our clients is not our technical expertise, but the real business value we bring. By understanding not only the design and technicalities of creating communication pieces, but also the business objectives, we are able to add value to the client’s business.

In the end, well-executed, thoughtful design is just good business.

by Julie Martinez

After nearly a decade of roaming the world, Julie has returned to her native Kentucky. Julie is Executive Director of Circle of Hope International, which gives her an insider's understanding into the needs of socially active organizations.