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First, people aren't really interested in what we do; they're interested in the results that we deliver. Second, running around and selling things is not as effective as actually applying your design skills to problems that matter. In many ways, business people look at things and size up the problems. They may avoid complex variables - the who, what, where - simply because they are complicated factors.

The next big thing doesn't have to be a new big thing. Neither Google nor Facebook were pioneers. Yet, Google searched better than the rest, and Facebook adopted a friends-only approach to profile viewing that helped the site grow more quickly than open-house competitors. Which is good news, because it means you don't have to invent the wheel to make it in the web-billionaire stakes, as long as you know how to overturn the established giants. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen, principal at Nielsen Norman Group, whose clients include Google and the BBC, is in no doubt regarding the secret. "The answer is easy - by being better," he told us. Of course, it's not that easy to be better than big companies that have clearly shown they resonate with customers. "There's always something that the market leaders do poorly, and with careful research, you can find the chink in their armour,"

Understand how to integrate web strategy with good design. See AftertheNet Web Design case studies & portfolios to know how to integrate branding, usability & positioning for maximum impact

The score itself is what most people are interested in - the difference, expressed in a percentage, between those people who are very likely to recommend your brand and those people and the beauty of it is that it can reflect the different levels of engagement and loyalty that customers feel to different types of brand.

What separates a healthy, effective design practice from the horror stories we hear about when talking to others in the industry. We came up with two lists; the first list (below) talks about doing certain actions in the right order. The second list is one of relative values. While all of the items on both sides of this list have value, we value the items on the left more than the items on the right:

Great design is born from inspiration, obsession, commitment and diligence. You need to have your head up and observe, and sort out what the truth really is. But in the end, it is about a creative individual taking that information and translating it into something really great. And great design is more than an object: It is an idea. An idea that permeates everything

In the near future, I believe that you'll be able to get an advanced degree in Business Design. Some programs like the d.school (a formative experience for me) and Rotman are playing with this idea, but I don't think these programs really nail it yet.

True innovation requires the adoption of a belief system that sometimes must prevail in the face of other data metrics. Read up on the great inventions and business wins and you will note that at the core of most of them lie belief, dedication, and the passion to succeed. Today's business leaders are often too afraid to move ideas forward without ironclad data proofs that they will be successful. All too often, they are the losers. Use your head, listen to your heart, and feel what's in your gut.

The organization behind an edgy car has to be edgy. This is called brand integration (the outside and the inside have to align). To create edgy things, people have to take risks and push the envelope. Edge is by definition NOT THE MAINSTREAM.

Companies already recognize the importance of "voice" and style in manifesting their brand through marketing communications and other messaging. As they think about delivering great customer experiences, we show them how they need a component analogous to voice for how they interact with their customers.

Design a pipeline system where the best ideas rise quickly to the top and form the burnt sugar crust your team is going to crack through. You want to taste the sweet stuff underneath. So be ruthless! Let all of the other ideas-even the decent ones-fall away. Be flexible and take comfort: what might seem as wasted energy goes right back into your system as learned experience and improves the new ideas piping in.

With a marketing person, 90 percent of the time is spent trying to do everything to shape the buying decision," said Earl Powell, director of the Design Management Institute, a forum for industrial designers and the businesses that use them. Designers are "more committed to the user experience. That experiential component has an emotional resonance: It sticks

That's why we have a significant team of designers who bring unique skills to the teams they work with. Data informs decision-making but it's less useful for conceiving and building conceptually new directions. It's most useful for optimising and refining an established concept

That's why we have a significant team of designers who bring unique skills to the teams they work with. Data informs decision-making but it's less useful for conceiving and building conceptually new directions. It's most useful for optimising and refining an established concept