Creating Design Strategies for businesses

A brand is a manifestation of design experiences. So are the products, services and marketing communications such as packaging, corporate websites and advertisements. The glass of water with your company logo that you serve your clients is one of them too.

Following this line of thought, it is almost easy to conclude a Design Strategy sounds very relevant to any business. Yet, Design Strategy is relatively rare in businesses outside of the creative industry especially SMEs in Singapore. My guess is that this is a relative alien or new concept where the definition and benefits are not very clear. We need to know what Design does first.

Design in business is hard to define yet its manifestations abound. From the way the logo, brand, tag line and the experience it delivers, it is like a light bulb which produces light but you do not feel it is really there. Increasingly, design in businesses is getting a heads up as we know what it can achieve. Design grows a business and ensures its sustainability.

 
Razer which designs gaming mice and peripherals is a testament of good design and branding. Gaming and mice are both not new categories yet Razer managed to capture nearly half of gaming peripheral market share in a matter of years. This model above is one of the fastest wireless mouse in the market. By this design alone, it is remarkable.Razer understood the language of gaming tribes and dived in deep. Designing true experiences for gamers by gamers which is also its brand tag line.

The Strategy aspects talks about a plan or model which Design is road-mapped like a business strategy. Hence, Design Strategy is about utilizing design or design thinking to help businesses gain competitive advantage over competitors.

In the next 3 posts, I will investigate how Design Strategy can impact businesses with examples.

Please leave your comments, if any. Image taken from Razer website.