Business of Design Deep Dive 2021

Design has long proven itself as a vital component of corporate culture, service offerings, bottom line growth, and exceptional customer experiences. Yet many organizations struggle with how to fully embrace and implement design outside of traditional applications. Meanwhile, McKinsey’s 2020 report “The Business Value of Design” describes in detail how companies with deep design integration in their organizations are more likely to outperform their counterparts who lack this capability. Increasingly, the world’s most innovative companies have high-ranking positions such as chief design officers and are making room for design to influence business strategy across wide-ranging areas of the organization. 

The once separate languages of design and business continue to converge and it is vital that we, as designers, understand how to enable a dialogue that helps our business counterparts drive bottom line value while also delivering meaningful, human-centered solutions to the marketplace without sacrifice. This event will help you understand how you can position yourself to be most effective in our work setting and best leverage the tremendous advantage you can offer. 

The Business of Design Deep Dive 2021 convened global design leaders and business decision-makers for two days, November 2-3, 2021 (4 hours each day). Presenters shared the latest product development methodologies, frameworks, and strategies that can help you to become a more valuable asset to your team, prepare for the transition into leadership, or successfully navigate your next million-dollar project proposal. This is a unique opportunity to learn from some of the foremost voices making the case for design and demonstrating its value in real-world settings. 

Participants heard perspectives spanning small consultancies to international, corporate-scale businesses and everything in between. Topics covered included: design management, design leadership, diversity and inclusion, business integration, design thinking and other co-creation methodologies, performance metrics, business analytics, design value, fostering corporate and creative culture, and much more.