Introduction

When I first started to talk with founders, marketers, engineers, I noticed a pattern. The moment I said “design,” they thought “website.” Or “logo.” Or “make it look nice.”

It always came back to decoration.

But design isn’t the surface, it’s the system. It’s not about the service you buy, but the outcome you build.

I’ve seen startups spend thousands on rebrands and shiny websites, and still fail to grow. Not because the visuals were bad (they were often beautiful), but because there was no strategy behind them. No understanding of how design connects to trust, scalability, and profit.

Across the ocean, I saw how American companies treat design differently. In the U.S., design isn’t just a layer added at the end. Designers sit next to CEOs. Product managers talk about design as a growth tool. Companies like Airbnb, PayPal, and OpenAI ¹ built entire systems around design thinking, not because it looked cool, but because it scaled.

In Europe, the culture feels a bit different. We love craft, aesthetics, tradition but we often stop there. Many businesses still see design as something visual, not strategic. We design what people see, not how the business works.

And lately, AI made it worse.

Many non-designers started generating their own logos, visuals, “brand identities.” But instead of clarity, they got noise.

Instead of differentiation, they got sameness.

So this post is about how we see design and why it only creates value when it becomes part of your strategy, security, and scalability.

Because good design doesn’t make your business look better. It makes it work better.

How non-designers often see design

A lot of people still misunderstand what design really is. Some think that a nice logo or pretty visuals are enough but without a strategy behind them, design can’t make a real impact. Others treat design as a separate service or silo, handing over tasks to designers without integrating them into the broader team.

When design outcomes aren’t tracked or measured, its value remains fuzzy and hard to justify. And too often, companies skip iteration and testing, launching what they think is a “perfect” solution, only to see it fall short because it hasn’t been refined based on real feedback.

These viewpoints aren’t surprising. When design isn’t connected to measurable business outcomes, it stays mysterious and undervalued.

How good design can help business and scale

Design is not the website, logo, or layout. Those are deliverables. The true value of design lies in what it enables:

• Strategy: aligning every visual and interaction with business goals.
• Security: building trust through consistency and usability.
• Scalability: creating systems that can grow across platforms and markets.
• Profitability: designing experiences that reduce friction, increase loyalty, and lower costs.

Good design creates clarity, efficiency, and loyalty. When those three align, profit follows naturally.

Performance & financial impact

A study by McKinsey & Company tracked 300 publicly listed companies over five years and found that companies in the top quartile of “design maturity” had 32 percentage points higher revenue growth and 56 percentage points higher total returns to shareholders than their peers. ²

Another source shows that companies with strong design outperformed the S&P index by ~219% over ten years. ³

A design-maturity study of 2,200 companies found that at the highest level of design maturity: 92% said they could directly link design work to revenue; 84% said design improved time to market; 85% said design delivered cost savings. ⁴

How to help non-designers adopt design properly

To get the full impact of design, it needs to be understood, measured, and embedded. Not just added on top.

Translate design into business language. Instead of saying “we need a nicer website,” frame it as “we need to improve conversion by simplifying the user journey.” Use metrics like time to market, cost savings, customer retention, and brand perception.

Involve designers from the beginning, not the end. Design should be part of strategy, product development, marketing, and even customer support.

Use iterative, user-centered processes. Research, prototype, test, and refine. Design isn’t a one-time act, it’s an ongoing cycle that reduces risk and builds stronger products.

Measure and track design impact. Define and follow metrics like user satisfaction, conversion rates, time to market, and cost reductions. Collect qualitative feedback on brand perception and user experience.

Raise design maturity. Educate non-designers on what design really means. Its strategic problem solving, not decoration. Celebrate design success stories internally.

Align design with business strategy. Design must share the same vocabulary as leadership: growth, efficiency, and value.

Conclusion

Design isn’t just for design-people.

For non-designers and business leaders, the key is to reframe design from a “nice to have” to a must-have strategic capability. When design is integrated early, aligned with business goals, user-centric, and measured, it helps scale performance, reduce risk, and differentiate in the market.

The evidence is clear: Companies that make design part of their DNA outperform their peers.

So if you’re running or advising a business, don’t ask “should we design?” Ask “how can we embed design so it moves the business forward?”

Thank you for reading.

Yours truly,

Emir