Design Strategy > Design Tactics
Yes, a new look and feel will make you seem modern. But that's a thin veneer that wears easily as modern aesthetics are achievable by nearly everyone.
Yes, a compelling white paper or case study will educate prospects on your business prowess and ability to solve problems, but they still have no idea how easy or hard it is to work with you.
Yes, integrating a new tool like AI chat might make your experience efficient, but does it make people want to lean into a meaningful conversation with you or be put off by it? I could go on.
The problem with all of these examples is that they're using design tactics instead of design strategy to solve business problems.
Tactics are best employed in concert and in the right ways to achieve the desired impact on audiences.
Tossing fashionable design ideas at people typically falls flat when they are asked to do anything requiring actual commitment. And that includes hiring you to solve their problems.
So what do you do? Start with strategy and follow with tactics.
First, ask yourself what kind of impact you need to make on your audience to solve your business problem. Do you need to impact what they believe about your company/product? Influence what they think of your products and services? Change how they feel? Nudge what they do?
Second, think about different design strategies available to you. The world is full of them (hint: look beyond your competitors). What is the right fit for the job? Test them out and start layering in the tactics that align with your strategy.
In the end, you'll have a crystal clear view of what works for your business and your audiences that lets you filter out the tactical noise.
When your team comes up with design ideas, ask them three questions.
First, what business goal is this solving?
Second, without looking at any artifacts, how does this design create change that meets our goal?
Third, is this the best approach? The key is to keep your team's thinking elevated on the business problem to solve and the design strategy to solve it. We utilize the AUX Lab which figures these parts out along with finding the best design strategy that outperforms all the others.
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