Dear (none)Designer,

Welcome back to the forty-fourth Design at Scale™ Newsletter – focusing on innovation and how design drives change in a large organisation or an agency.

With close to 3000 interviews on different design networks, I have been constantly asking the same question, "What is your design value proposition?

Ultimately, the goal is to find an answer for more designers who struggle with the same challenge: articulating the very basis of design value within the organisation. We often start with the value proposition of the business, which is understood and documented to ensure the company has a value that the customer cares about. Simply enough, within the company, there is a design and development function that crafts this value proposition for the customer — no surprises there either.

If we then ask what the value proposition of a design function is, it is to craft a unified perception of a brand proposition, platform, product, or service for the eyes and minds of both existing and new customers. This way, the unified visual, verbal, and audio language can be a value proposition that design brings to the organisation.
 
Let's consider another layer. We might be curious about what value your design department or design team brings to the organisation. At this point, it became slightly tricky. The specific team only create a particular artefact that may or may not influence the value proposition. And this is the point where business often starts questioning the value of specific units or departments, as they do not create substantial value for the organisation.

One layer below is the designer. Yes, that's you. Asking designers, design managers, design leads, design directors, and senior vice presidents, as well as design representatives, both value the proposition they bring to the organisation. Across the spectrum of all mentees, we have observed a significant disparity between what they perceive as their strengths and what they actually bring, which will have a tangible impact on the business.

Often, these articulations became very sensitive, especially when someone became a design manager without prior design knowledge or was a brilliant designer without managerial and business relations education.

The higher we go, the quieter it is.

The number of related design networks suggests that design leadership is the primary driver of the business's value proposition. Yet, it often feels as though it is failing profoundly at articulating what this "value" really is. Strategic leadership, or strategic design leadership, is not something that you can learn at the university. There is no Google course, a General Assembly Certificate, and you cannot fly to Bali for a Boot Camp with meditation and a pina colada. Fun aside, these skills are very hard to learn and can not be acquired by reading or listening.

How can we effectively communicate our value proposition to our team, department, and organisation? One of the most outstanding design leaders I had the chance to speak with has profoundly changed the perception of design leadership.

Initially, every design leader is a design practitioner with a minimum of 10,000 hours of design experience, having designed products and services in either a physical or digital world. Equally, it is someone who had a chance to build their own business; this way, they understand where the value comes from, how it needs to be articulated, and what impact it makes when it is delivered. Equally, understanding the detriment when it's not delivered and what repercussions it has on the customer and the business.

To a great extent, it is someone who had a chance to build the department from one designer to many. This way, the person understands all three layers of leadership for a team of one, a team of ten, and a team of one hundred. Allowing them to switch between addressing the individual, the team, or the business.

Last but not least is the person who embodies a very simple principle: transparency—understanding that reframing the game for all designers in the organisation and making better designs with greater impact.

By embodying their values, they often form their own value proposition, which takes the form of their own leadership legacy. Unfortunately, this legacy can not be transferred to another party joining the department or the business.

How would you articulate your design value proposition?

For more information, please visit Designa at Scale™ – GRID Magazine, where you can find additional relevant articles that explore high-performing teams, self-organising teams of 001, teams of 010, and teams of 100 that deliver the value proposition within a product-led environment.