"With an undergraduate background in Architecture, I've spent my entire adulthood in an industry that struggled to attain business relevance. When I switched to tech in 2018 to become a UX designer, I was starry-eyed. It was refreshing to immerse myself in a world where it felt like design had won the battle for recognition - IDEO and the D-School's Design Thinking framework defined what design means to businesses, and McKinsey's report ("The Business Value of Design") quantified design maturity, and correlated it with business performance. Design jobs were booming, and designers finally earned salaries on par with engineers."
"Neither I, you, nor anybody else can convince an executive to invest in user experience."
"Design wasn't just decoration - it was the "secret sauce" that differentiated Silicon Valley products. At least that's how the outside world saw it."
Design gained visible prominence through Design Thinking, IDEO, and reports linking design maturity to stronger business performance. Design roles expanded and compensation reached parity with engineering, creating an impression that design had achieved recognition. Despite that perception, many designers still face the persistent challenge of securing executive investment in user experience. The effort to repeatedly prove design's value leads to fatigue and burnout. Shifting the approach from proving ROI to framing design as an integral, strategic contributor to business outcomes can reduce friction and better align design with executive priorities.
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