How much is good design worth?

What is the value of design?

Due to political isolation Serbian companies have had access to a domestic market free from major international competition. However, as Serbia moves closes to Europe, and foreign business interests in the region increase, this situation will change rapidly. Marketing, PR and price cutting will help in the short term, but investment in quality design is needed over the long term. Without this, domestic producers risk loosing the marketing battle to sophisticated foreign brands, and failing to keep up with new innovations.

A designer should not be bought in at the end of the product development process. Ideally, they should be involved in the entire process, from beginning to end. In this way they can help understand customer needs, and make sure final product offerings respond to their needs.

Many company directors are reluctant to invest in better design and packaging. It is viewed as a drain on resources, something that will cost money rather than help generate profits. Investment in design may add to the direct costs, but higher priced products generate more revenue and more profits even when the design investment costs are accounted for.

Design, especially packaging and labelling, can help you to tailor your products and services to meet international needs. Labels that communicate well to domestic consumers will invariably not work abroad. This is because good design communicates to specific customer segments, and these are different and vary from country to country.

As indicated in a recent DesignSerbia survey, over 90% of Serbian companies believe they can compete both domestically and internationally on price alone. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that trading on price alone is a very risky strategy. IKEA, the Swedish furniture company, has revolutionised the industry by combining great design with exceptionally low prices.

What is design?

There is no single definition of the word design, and it means different things to different people. While design is about aesthetics, and how things look, it is primarily concerned with solving problems. Design is objective, and about the process of turning ideas into commercial products that add value to peoples' lives. All good design must begin with users, what their needs are, and how they can be met.

How to brief a designer?

Designers are like physicians, they can only do a good job if they have all the information they need. The purpose of the design brief is to give the designer as much information as possible about the problem the design is supposed to solve. This means that the brief should not be written in a few hours at the last minute, and also not by only one person. Primarily the brief should focus on business objectives and the desired outcomes, and should not get sidetracked explaining how things should look.

How to choose designer?

There is design talent in Serbia, but without the right contacts and know-how it can be difficult to know where to start. Where do I begin? What type of designers do I need? How much will it cost? Do I want to look in-house, commission a big agency, or what about a small creative company, or possibly an individual freelance designer?

Having outlined your design problem clearly in the design brief, the next step is to run a tender, and invite the short listed candidates. In terms of criteria for selecting who you will work with, it is likely that price will be the key factor, along with their ability to do the job within the designated time frame. However, a track record of helping previous clients realise their business objectives is important, and it is often worthwhile talking to past clients and requesting references.

There is a famous quote "if you think good design is expensive, look how much bad design costs." The cost could be your domestic market share, or the next big sales contract.

Note: This text is an excerpt from the document-guide for investors DesignSerbia.

The project is implemented with the support of the USAID Serbia Competitiveness Project.

If you need more information

click here to see the PDF file.

USAID Srbija Projekat za razvoj konkurentnosti Beograd

USAID

DesignSerbia

Design Serbia

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