92% of Senior Executives Say Good Design is Critical for Revenue Growth

OCTO's 2024 Economics of Design Outlook Reveals Design's Expanding, Strategic Role Amid Market Challenges

PROVIDENCE, R.I. and LYON, France, Sept. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, OCTO, a leader in design-driven business transformation, today released its 2024 Economics of Design Outlook, which unveils pivotal trends in the design industry. Based on a survey of 500 C-Suite executives and senior managers, the report highlights design's growing importance as a strategic asset in today's challenging market landscape.

Specifically, the outlook found that over nine out of ten (92%) senior executives believe that good design has become increasingly important for revenue growth over the past decade. Design is undergoing a rapid redefinition, with designers increasingly being hired and assigned roles that entail revenue-driving responsibilities.

In fact, C-suite and senior managers surveyed by OCTO agreed that growth strategy is the most common design or product development expertise within their organization today (62%), and also the skill set that has the biggest impact on their company's revenue (31%). Other design skills that organizations most typically employ today are user research (50%), industrial design (41%), futurecasting (36%), engineering (33%), and UI/UX (29%).

Since its founding, OCTO has been at the forefront of integrating design into business strategy, helping organizations across various sectors harness the power of design to drive growth and innovation. The release of its 2024 Economics of Design Outlook comes at a pivotal time when industry experts have openly questioned why the design field struggles to consistently demonstrate its value in 'big business' settings.

"In today's evolving market, the role of design must extend far beyond aesthetics—it's a core component of business strategy and growth," said Justin Sirotin, Founder and CEO of OCTO. "The findings from our Economics of Design Outlook highlight the progress that the industry needs to make in this regard in the next decade, but also some considerable strides in recent years, which has us headed in the right direction with the strategic application of design to address complex market demands and drive transformative outcomes."

Other key insights from the outlook include:

• Big Bets on Design and Innovation Are Getting Bigger: Two-thirds (66%) of senior executives say that they've built their organization today to innovate at either a breakthrough (39%) or transformational level (27%). Innovating at a breakthrough level means that their organization is using innovation to drive meaningful change in the way they do business, or as a way to give customers something demonstrably new. Innovating at a transformational level is defined as introducing a transformative product or service that creates an entirely new industry/category.
• Design Thinking is Still Here, Albeit in Different Names and Applications: The vast majority of business leaders in our survey state they’re still using design thinking as part of ‘systems thinking’ to enable them to tie together user and business needs. In fact, 88% of respondents noted that they believe their organization at least somewhat uses design thinking to analyze what is desirable from a customer-centric point of view when addressing opportunities and challenges.
• AI Disruption is at Design’s Doorstep: 49% of senior executives believe AI will soon be used to expedite early-stage design and innovation processes. Meanwhile, nearly a third of business leaders (30%) said they think AI will replace junior or entry-level designers directly in the not-so-distant future.

"Generative design is set to transform the industry," Sirotin added. "Machine learning algorithms can now be leveraged to explore vast design spaces and generate optimal solutions based on predefined parameters. "This approach will not only accelerate the iterative design process but also uncover innovative solutions that may have eluded human designers, potentially reshaping the unit economics of the design market."

• View the full 2024 Economics of Design Outlook here.
• OCTO will share some of these top findings in person tonight at its ‘Economics of Design’ event taking place at 1 Sims Ave Unit 201, Providence, RI. You can still sign up to attend here.

About OCTO

OCTO is the leader in leveraging design to deliver transformative business outcomes. For over 15 years, its multidisciplinary, global team of strategists, designers, and technologists has used design as a proactive strategic tool to discover and solve challenges for its clients. By integrating design into the operating systems of global organizations and discrete teams, OCTO charts an ability to innovate and lead rather than respond. The results enable technology-driven companies to drive innovation with industry-changing products, services, and brand experiences. For more information, visit https://octopd.com/.

Media Contact

Kyle Austin, OCTO, 6175640446, [email protected], https://www.octopd.com/

SOURCE OCTO