Designing with Data
‘Data’ is a word that hasn’t lived long in the vocabulary of designers. We feast on a daily fare of originality, expression and emotion, not numbers, analyses or propensities. The idea of information and live feedback brought on by the advent of software design has left many traditional designers uncertain of where to hang their hat. But what if by embracing data, designers could grow their influence in the org, develop truly impactful creative and overcome long standing hurdles that have invalidated the craft in business.
1. Data Develops Trust
Traditionally design has not been good connecting our outcomes to the goals of the business. As a part of our most recent rebrand at BombBomb, I was determined to let the business know that design was here to make an impact—and not just the impact we wanted to see, but help achieve the changes the business wanted to see. At that point, design was still a somewhat abstract discipline. Leadership knew it was needed, but how it contributed specifically was still grey.
To develop trust and connect the dots between org goals, design and data, we aligned testing across the categories of Trust Development, Perception and Affinity. Each of these categories had direct alignment with company goals of going up-market and shared values development. We implemented customer panels and user testing to assess the performance of our visuals across these categories. Through real market feedback, there was clear opportunities in our brand that propelled a full rebrand—and not just one pushed on the business by design, but one with full buy-in from leadership because the narrative from the data was compelling and convincing.
Connecting the capabilities of design to the needs of the business
The testing work established trust that would pay dividends through the entire rebrand process. Because the org saw the need in the numbers, micromanagement, skepticism and resource restrictions were minimal. We were given complete freedom to go after the goals we were all on a course to accomplish together.
2. Data Debunks Design Assumptions
Not only did data develop trust for the project, it created trust in the outcome. SaaS is wrought with rinse and repeat design. Try it—go look at your favorite 5-10 SaaS brands. You’re going to find circular type, Corporate Memphis illustrations (Google it) and a knock-off styling of either MailChimp, Adobe, Dropbox or Zendesk. These echo chamber companies seem to spend little time understanding their audience and translating that information to their brand, and we wanted to avoid these pitfalls at all cost.
Our team started by testing brand assumptions. How does our segment perceive Avant Garde styles? What are their thoughts on illustration? Do they resonate with real humans or conceptual forms? We put all the current trends in front of them and got real data on their likelihood to purchase, trust and share (as one example). This gave us an easy grid for what to pursue and what to leave alone. Without testing, we would have spent heavy resources on conceptual illustration design—a given in brand development. It's an expressive avenue for the communication of complex topics. But our testing told us a different story. Not only did illustration not resonate with our audience, it actually undermined our authority in the space and made us look untrustworthy. Woah!
Synthesizing and testing specific design styles with our audience
Data streamlined our creative process and gave us continual confidence that our decisions would make an impact. It allowed us to ask questions of what customers actually wanted and saved us from assuming the same visual direction as our competitors.
3. Data Takes the Pressure Off
Now designers have great intuition and are often attune to forward-thinking expressive and cultural shifts, but somewhere along the way we got the idea that we know people better than they know themselves. We have believed that we can understand our segment without talking to them. We didn’t need to know what resonated with them, because we were there to tell them what they should connect with rather than what they actually responded best to.
With new methodologies learned from the advent of software at our fingertips, the days of extensive creative educated guesses are over. We can test our assumptions with actual viewers and users. On our marketing teams and in developing our brand, we have pushed multiple layers of design to our users to understand how the art impacts and directs action. We’ve mapped visual attention patterns, deepening the designer’s ability to further optimize for outcomes. At the end of the day, data has allowed us to move forward not with hope, but with knowledge. We know the design will connect and impact in our segment and achieve our outcomes. Knowing we connected with our customer is a high better than self-righteous creative expression any day.
At the end of the day, testing has changed with way I and my team design. Gone are the days of intuitive-based creative. With testing, we now have a better idea than ever before what is going to work and resonate with our audiences. This confidence not only echos across our team, but across the company, transforming design from a nice-to-have to an essential player that can and will deliver on the measurable goals of the org.