A (design) night at the museum: 3 learnings from ‘The Design Effect’ 2024

Every year, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards celebrate the integral role design plays in transforming businesses, improving societies and enhancing people’s lives.

I was lucky enough to attend this year’s awards, presented at the DBA’s newest event - The Design Effect.

Set against the backdrop of the UK’s most visited museum, The British Museum, the day brought together agencies and brands to explore the impact of design on business, society and beyond - and celebrate some of the most impactful creative work of the past year. Design that makes a difference, plus a glass of wine next to the Rosetta Stone? Don’t mind if I do.

Between the accreditation of the shortlisted projects with either a Bronze, Silver, or Gold DBA Award, there were a number of talks from well respected voices in the industry, from Diageo’s Jeremy Lindley to Reckitt’s Jos Harrison, to The Pratt Institute’s Dr Mary McBride and Wolff Olins’ Sairah Ashman.

Talks included how to reframe your perspective on impact and change, how to use design to drive business performance from the inside out, and how design can help us build a better future.

Here are some of my highlights from the day’s talks:

1. Designing for trust

According to Dr Mary McBride, we’re in an era of deep doubt. There’s a collective scepticism towards companies, governments, and even charities - which makes trust one of the most invaluable commodities in today’s climate. All companies speak in financials, placing the highest value of ROI, but perhaps we should be encouraging them to reframe this way of thinking - and design has a huge role to play here. We’ve reached peak misinformation, and unless we can design businesses that are transparent, engaging and real, customers are going to start pressing pause on their purchases.

2. Communicating design thinking

For designers to have the necessary influence within a business, understanding its commercial needs is crucial. What are the commercial drivers? Who is implementing change? Having the ideas without the means of effectively communicating them will make your work more difficult, if not pointless. As Reckitt’s Jos Harrison said, designers must learn to speak the same language as a commercial business, to communicate ideas in a way that is built around business liability. The easiest way to convince people of your ideas is to meet them where they are.

3. Bridging the gap between now and tomorrow

Many businesses are hyper-focused on their short-term goals, but designers have the opportunity to play a more strategic role in a long-term plan. With a unique skill to live in the future - it’s designers’ responsibility to bring people along on the journey to a better tomorrow. But how do you bridge this gap? Invest in storytelling. Learn to take someone on the journey, help decision makers understand how and why future thought is necessary. They’re buying into your idea, which is ultimately a risk, so help them feel more confident in the radical ideas. The radical ideas are what we need right now.

And as the day’s talks wrapped up, we headed upstairs for drinks in the Egyptian Sculpture Gallery after dark, before sitting down for dinner in the Great Court - where B&B studio was awarded the big prize of the night, the Grand Prix, for their work with the UK’s fastest growing smoothie brand, Mockingbird Raw Press.

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to the Design Business Association for the brilliant event. The night highlighted once again that design is truly instrumental in driving change for business, both inside and out.