The level is based upon the idea that there is a link between design and the revenue of the company, Higher the level the more earning brand will obtain so their pay scale(salary) to employees will get a rise. The design & profits of the business are interlinked and it completely depends upon, How does your business views design.

Design is good for business. If something is not Design it becomes messy so the design provides a way of thinking from today’s reality to an imagined future.

In simple words, The Process of bringing Imagination into reality is called Design.

Now there is no specific definition of what is exact definition of design, Many people define design in their own languages like Steve Jobs to find the design as a function, few people define it as a process many people define design as a visual. Though it exists in many forms i.e. from Graphic to fashion design, interior to automobile design there are various levels of the design under which all of them have been categorized. This has been done previously by the Danish Design Ladder, where each ladder represents each form of Design.

There are 4 main categories of design :

1. Non-Design — Ideas
2. Design as Visual — Poster
3. Design as Process — Management & Leadership
4. Design as Strategy — Brand Strategy

This level helps the company to achieve its goal in the following ways, we will start in a reverse direction, i.e from top to bottom -

1. Design as Strategy — This level of design exists around the Vision & purpose of the company. In consumer terms, why you are company exist? Eg- Starbucks exists as a “third space” besides, your home & office where you comfortably sit & relax.
2. Design as Process — How your company is going to survive means what actions your company will take around its purpose Eg- the purpose of Elon musk is to build a sustainable environment and achieve that purpose he builds Tesla electronic cars.
3. Design as Visual — Here design mainly exists for styling(form-fiving) and decoration purposes such as graphic design or video making. This defines how your company will grow. Majorly here the design is used to of the company. Here design is not directly used by the designer but by a company to communicate its message eg: Social media Posters of a company.
4. Non-design — Also know as Invisible Design, It mainly defines how your organization thinks.

There are further 2 more extracts of the top-level i.e Design as strategy, are:

Design as a method to drive Innovation

Here design is used to change the course of an industry, by solving problems that occur at mass populations and a very popular tool used in it was “Design Thinking” mostly by UX Designers in disrupting startups. A popular product that comes under this category was an iPhone by apple.

Design as a medium to set the Culture

Design is used to set the culture of an organization, by training, learning, cultural activities & leadership, In order to get the whole organization aligned around its core purpose

All the individuals should always try to rise up their level from non-design towards Culture.

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