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Designers have business super powers
Business leaders often push for reducing costs and settling on quality while creatives will fight for design perfection. One of the hardest things I’ve had to learn as an entrepreneur is that the business world does not value craftsmanship as much as I wish it would. As a designer, you study proper process, principles, research, discipline, and so much more… but, this often falls on deaf ears in client or investor meetings.
I’ve seen career designers clash with business leaders for years without changing their approach. Too frequently, I hear the phrase “the business just doesn’t understand.” Which leads designers to fight the same fight more aggressively. This can continue for entire careers leaving creatives feeling jaded and underappreciated.
Business leaders have entirely different sets of responsibilities and incentives. They care about the investment, the budget and sustained growth of the business. It's not always that they don't understand a designer's perspective, it's often that it's simply incompatible with their goals. Believe it or not, this balance between business and design is usually healthy for a company, although it may feel like torture. But here’s the thing, designers have super powers in the business world and they don’t even know it.
The moment I realized that investors didn’t value my discipline sincerely, I focused on changing my approach. Simon Sinek says to “start with why” when building products and he’s absolutely right. Why should anybody care about my product? Why?
The answer to “why” is a story. Any company, pitch, product, marketing campaign starts with a narrative and design is absolutely essential in storytelling to create an emotional connection. This is how you drive momentum and get buy-in and it’s why design is one of the strongest tools for gaining traction for new product ideas.
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Supercharge your business storytelling
You have to start with a hard truth: nobody cares about your product…yet. It’s your job to craft a story that gets people inspired on a deeply emotional level. To do that, you have to push aside your own biases and act as if you share nothing in common with your audience.
Most creatives are taught this as part of user experience (UX) discipline when building personas, but it’s always harder when you have to execute on this personally. Just remember, there is a secret society of people that keep Long John Silver’s in business… or at least that’s what I tell myself as a reminder of how different people can be. With that said, this is my framework for supercharging your pitch to a business audience. Let’s start with the assumption that you have a great business idea…
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Crafting an excellent story for business
Know your business goals when designing. When you have a strong idea with real competitive advantage you then need to think about creating momentum with investors or clients. At this point, your goal isn’t to make a beautiful prototype or preach the value of a proper UX-based approach. Your goal is to get investment. Many people get lost in the craftsmanship of digital experiences and lose sight of the big picture which is…unless you plan on working for free, the idea won’t realize its potential without investment.
Know your audience and paint the future. You need to show your audience a magnificent future with your idea. This future needs to be big in vision, yet realistic. It’s a difficult balancing act, but the way you tell your story is just as important as the idea itself. I remember being told by investors: “I don’t want to be making millions…I want to make billions.” But then, in the same breath, they'd say it also needs to be believable which always felt impossible and unfair. You have to understand how your audience defines success and their motivations. To make it real, try using adjacent stories of other companies or data that your audience appreciates to build trust. Don’t forget, people have both personal and professional motivation.
People aren’t inspired by the process. Show your audience the best version of your product and the impact you'll have on the world. You’re going to struggle presenting wireframes and survey questions to inspire an audience. To create momentum, show what the future would look like with their investment or support.
Your product needs to have a soul. While many might downplay branding at an early phase of a product, it’s essential to present designs that capture attention and have a soul. Your product needs to feel like it belongs in the world and it fits as a leader in your industry. If you’re presenting for investment, look at their other investments and the industries they represent as reference points when building your brand. The product needs to feel good in the world.
Your product needs to have a center of gravity. You’re here to solve a problem so what is it? What are you going to be the best in the world at? Establish a center of gravity around your core offering and beliefs instead of focusing on bells and whistles features. If you don’t live up to what makes you different, and establish that gravity, you’ll lose your audience. Keep it simple.
Create a connection with the audience. It might not always be a design or digital prototype…For IoT and connected products, creating this connection might involve holding something that gives the sensation of a product. Make it tangible.
Don’t let facts get in the way of a good story. This is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it’s easy to get mired in all the ways your product won’t work. You’ll always be your own worst critic. You might feel like you have to illustrate all of the “what if'' scenarios, but you don’t. Don’t be your own inspiration killer, but be prepared for the tough questions just in case.
Brevity is king. Everybody has a small attention span and people don’t like to read dense slides. Challenge yourself to keep a presentation under 15 slides total (Under 10 is even better). If you look at large consulting companies like Boston Consulting Group (BCG) or Deloitte, you’ll see that they'll invest huge sums of money into research and build presentations over 200 slides long. But at the time of presentation, all of this research will be summarized in 10 slides because that’s the attention span of an executive.
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Final thoughts
While none of this should be that surprising, I’ve found that many designers fall into the trap of showing all of their work because they're proud of it. You should be proud, but don’t assume others will care. Designers will put all of their attention into the product itself and then fumble at the moment of presentation. Great products are killed all the time because their stories weren’t properly told. Presentations run the business world - play ball and get that investment.
