A critical requirement for startups is to identify a real user need for which a product proposition can be built. Thus, Design & Design Thinking has become imperative for entrepreneurs. The contribution of design is to see things from a human-centric perceptive to define and identify relevant problems.
Design Thinking And Design Doing
Design process, methods, and tools enables a startup to convert abstract and fuzzy ideas to real products and services. While it’s easy to come up with an innovative idea but the real challenge for startups is to quickly move from the problem space to the solution space and in this process, design can be a great catalyst.
Innovation and creativity are inherent to design. With design at its core, a startup can create enriching and engaging consumer experience. Design adds the spunk and spark to all internal and external processes for a startup and create value in multiple ways.
So let’s discuss and understand how a Designer can live in the Startup Ecosystem and how he can benefit the organization.
Embraces A Multi-Disciplinary Way of Working
Designers are multidisciplinary; equipped with a high range of skills, they understand user requirements and simultaneously develop the solutions. They are good in user research, information architecture, creating interaction and communication design, making them deliver the best product or solution to the market. And being technically sound, a designer masters the world of technology and the world of people very well. With these traits, a designer can wear many hats in the early days of the startup.
Connects Well to User’s Mental Map
Design isn’t the top skin. It is not just beautifying any product, but to bring market relevance and deliver meaningful results to it. It is to make sense out of ill-defined, unclear and fuzzy problems.
And, being an innovator, the designer observe, experiment and network your products. He is an expert in practicing innovative design thinking behaviour to bring out the best in the products and entice buyers.
Understands The Method of Execution
The biggest challenge of any entrepreneur is to make an experience for customers memorable. It is imperative for them to fit into user’s mental map and understand their unarticulated needs. And so they put their trust in designers.
Designers’ spends their time on extensive research. They believe in the fact that design is a method of examining the problem area of the business/customer then beautifying the product. So, they understand the market, map out the behavioural pattern, problem area and then accordingly develops the solution.
Attract Customers To Buy The Product
Designers’ change people’s behaviour. They make them perform the targeted action. A designer studies and examine his subject thoroughly and accordingly makes the change in their real behaviour. Also, he invests hundreds of hours in product testing to create an excellent customer experience and makes the customer buy a product.
Champions Of UX
Designers are the champion of the user experience. They are highly skilled in the world of technology and people. The technical skills of a designehelpps him in making effective use of tools and technology for designing whereas his exposure to people and their purposes makes him understand their expectation.
A beautiful quote by Donald Norman, the author of ‘The Design of Everyday Things’ conclude these benefits very well. He quoted –
“It is not enough that we build products that function, that are understandable and usable, we also need to build products that bring joy and excitement, pleasure and fun, and, yes, beauty to people’s lives.”
Due to these benefits, many startups are hiring designers and make them sit at the table with decision makers of the company. It is due to their excellent craftsmanship, relentless determination, a passion to make a change, ability to overcome rejection and resourcefulness, which has increased their engagement in business.
[The author of this post is Harshit Desai, COO, DesignGild.]