Enhancing Productivity Through Design: How Aesthetics and Functionality Impact Performance

Design is a huge part of our lives. You may not think about it, but literally every product that you see right now has undergone some form of design development.

So, in a way, people already expect businesses, designers, and anyone else who ideates a product to really incorporate great design. It also refers to a business logo. Unfortunately, a lot of software you might use to upgrade your logo usually embeds a reference to their brand name.

To avoid this problem, try using an online logo maker without watermark. This tool lets you make as many logos as needed until you find something unique that fits.

But you may be asking yourself, should you go through the trouble? A logo is an essential part of great performance! Before we elaborate on this, let us first discuss the subject in a little more detail.

How Can We Tell That Something is Performing Well?

When you’re trying to measure something, you first must have metrics. So, before we go on to determine the performance of anything, we need to have indicators.

For example, let’s say you’ve created a new factory layout. A key performance indicator (KPI) you could include is the average number of steps a worker takes while on the clock. If it goes down, it could mean that they’re completing their tasks more efficiently.

Meanwhile, a high revenue is an indication that a marketing funnel is very successful. So, if something is meeting its objectives, it’s considered to be performing well.

Form vs. Function in Design: What Should Come First?

This will generally have two elements. In various disciplines, experts have their own opinions about which should go first. 

Here’s our take: it depends! What matters most is the product. When using an online logo maker, you’ll want to focus on aesthetics first because you want your logo to attract attention.

But for something like a laptop, it’s definitely more important that it actually works; only once the practicalities have been considered should you worry about what it looks like. Now that we’re on the same page, we’ll discuss these two.

Why is Aesthetics (or Form) Important?

Aesthetics has always been downplayed as something unnecessary. But that’s not the case at all. If something is easy on the eyes, it’s going to grab attention.

Consider it the first impression made by whatever it is you are offering or presenting. Think about it this way; if there were two chairs that you could choose from, you’d be more likely to go for the one that you thought looked better.

But what if the one you didn’t choose would have actually benefited you the most? If someone thinks the difference between the existing options is negligible, they’re going to go with aesthetics. 

So Where Does Functionality Come In?

Now that you’ve grabbed their attention, it’s time to prove that they made the right choice. And what does this all boil down to? Performance.

Design also helps with this. Consider what a basic table looks like.

If it only has three legs instead of four, the weight distribution will not be as well balanced. As a result, the user may not be as comfortable using it. The same principle applies to practically everything produced, whether it’s a physical or digital creation.

When considering how to choose a logo for your business, think about what you’re going to use it for. It’s important that it meets all the basic functions of a logo, like improving brand recognition, but it should also be practical in the sense that it’s easy to use for all functions and media.

Tips on Harnessing the Power of Design to Improve Product Performance

Regardless of what you’re creating, be sure to incorporate good design with our few tips:

1. Create Cross-Functional Teams

The process should be a collaboration of different minds. In the case of your average business, the team in charge of design must be made up of people from various departments. Only then can you ensure that you get as many insights as possible.

No matter how amazing a homogenous team may be, it will always have a blind spot. Cross-functional teams minimize that. By having people of different expertise and backgrounds working together, you allow the project to be looked at from different perspectives. 

With this setup, every idea can get critiqued and get built on. This will definitely help you to get the best end product possible.

2. Look at What Worked Before

What you come up with doesn’t have to be a hundred percent unique. Let’s go back to the chair example when we discussed functionality. Why should you add two more legs when four already work great? Instead of focusing on that, you can add features like a built-in coffee holder instead.

3. Test, Test, and Test!

We can all theorize about which rendition of the output is going to work best. But at the end of the day, there’s only one opinion that matters: that of the user.

That’s why they should always be a part of the process. A lot of proposals can be backed by logical explanations. However, conducting a few tests with focus-groups may help you figure out the final design.

This is an opportunity to improve performance by maximizing the impact of a product based on the target market. And in a business, amplified positive effects usually translate into higher profits.

But perhaps more importantly, it’s a great way to avoid failure. If it doesn’t resonate with the intended users or viewers, you’ll still have the chance to change it.

The Importance of Design in Agile

Design is a very important factor when it comes to making decisions in Agile teams. No matter what type of project you are handling, design must always be considered when planning and documenting processes, especially when creating workflows. The way a workflow is designed can help improve the efficiency level of your team once a workflow process is followed accordingly. With proper design of workflows and products, Agile teams can provide better value to users and provide a positive user experience.

By giving value to design, your Agile team can facilitate better collaboration and communication. Better designs can help ensure that collaborators have a clear understanding of what the desired outcome is. Additionally, the way you design your processes or product can also support continuous improvement. This way, you can always make sure that your daily operations and the output that your team delivers are always topnotch.

Final Thoughts: Design is a Building Block for Greatness!

Everything that you see has some inherent properties of design… even this very page. It helps a product fulfill its purpose and is, therefore, necessary for performance and productivity.

We hope we helped deepen your understanding of the relationship between productivity and design. More importantly, let this inspire you to use design to improve and grow.