4.3 BENEFITS ACHIEVED THROUGH DESIGN The benefits obtained through design are mentioned in several studies (e.g. Gemser and Leenders, 2001; Hertenstein et al., 2005), but their links with financial performance have not unambiguously been determined. The links were investigated by first mapping all the benefits that had been proven to be achievable from design in existing research, extracting them for example from articles in the Design Management Journal and the Journal of Product Innovation Management and from the Design ROI workshops. A list of the sources used can be found in Appendix 2. The benefits of design are listed in Table 9. These design benefits are used in the Design ROI tool as measurable targets that can be set for design projects, meaning that they act as links between the use of design services and their financial impact. The benefits were linked to corporate performance metrics such as changes in cash flow. The customer meetings in the Design ROI project indicated that the list of benefits helped companies to understand the wide scope of effects that a design project can have and how these are reflected in the company’s business. The list in Table 9 is not exhausted and should still be tested in practice in genuine design projects. For the purposes of the Design ROI project, design benefit was defined as the positive impact of a design activity which generates shareholder value on the company’s operative, tactical or strategic levels. Some of the benefits, such as usability, are clearly linkable to design, whereas others, such as improvements in occupational well-being, are more contentious. Most benefits are achieved in collaboration with experts from other fields, so the direct impact of design on an end result is difficult to isolate entirely from other contributions. Other factors affecting the definition and measurement of benefits are discussed in section 3.4.
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