20/10/2026
Sometimes, Design might be seen as an expendable cost.
The product is imagined. The service is defined. The process is set.
And then design appears to “make it look good".
Apple, Airbnb, IBM, OXO, and Philips did the opposite.
They made design the first decision. The strategic one.
The one that shaped everything that came after: The product, the service, the process, and the experience of every person who touched it.
The results weren't coincidental.
A peeler designed for someone with arthritis became one of the best-selling kitchen tools in history. A photo upgrade doubled Airbnb's revenue in a week. Design thinking gave IBM a 301% return on investment and cut time to market by 75%.
None of this required a bigger budget than their competitors.
It required a different questions.
And this makes the difference between a design investment and a design expense.
Are you ready to make the design decisions have you been ignoring?
Let’s talk!
Note: The data used is derived from publicly available sources collected from various publications and channels.