Design Value: A Strategy for Business Success

How design increases the value of both brands and companies and what we can learn from the best design teams, global market leaders and silent champions of design, the authors Peter Zec and Burkhard Jacob explain in their book, Design Value.

In an inspiring analysis, they underscore the meaning of design as a propelling strength for economic growth and added value. A book for entrepreneurs, design managers, marketing experts, analysts and insiders, as well as for all those who are interested in how we can all profit from these champions of design.


Hartmut Esslinger, founder and longtime co-CEO of frog design:
I love this book because it is blowing away the age-old stereotype that design is just about culture and depends on the goodwill of a few mentors in industry. For the first time, "Design Value" demonstrates in a rational way that design is creating value and strategic potential for any company which embraces and applies its true strategic principles: creative business strategies, better and more sustainable objects, smarter functionalities, easier-to-use software applications and more inspiring, human-centric experiences. Design influences and defines about 80 percent of buying decisions and user satisfaction - now Peter Zec and Burkhard Jacob prove that design is also adding "beauty to the bottom line".


Dr. Thomas Lockwood, president and member of the Board of Directors of DMI, the Design Management Institute in Boston, Massachusetts:
Zec and Jacob present new evidence to a new reality: Design is a financial asset. This book brings forth new understanding to the tangible values of design, its evaluation, and the important role of the design leader. Full of thoughtful insights and solid proof points, "Design Value" is a roadmap to strategic advantage. 


Gordon Bruce, principal of Gordon Bruce Design LLC:
"Design Value" takes the idea of profitable business performance as a result of high quality design performance out of the spotlight traditionally claimed by branding and places the model of good business as a result of good design squarely in their own rightful place in a most articulate and quantifiable way.  "Design Value" surpasses all the typical archetypal academic case studies and theories that have passed before. Indeed, a tool that no designer or business person can afford to be without.