Design Belongs in the Business Pages

Finnish research has shown that the press is constantly getting better at finding the business angle in design stories but also that there is room for improvement in the interaction between the media and the design business – to the benefit of all companies that use design.

There is money in design, and that is a message that should get out:
"Design represents about 1-3% of the total costs of product development, but it has a far greater effect on the bottom line."

Thus the Finnish researcher Toni Ryynänen. He has studied the Finnish newspapers’ coverage of design for two decades. He believes that design deserves attention as a business factor, and that the design industry would benefit from moving from the culture pages to the business pages.

The Business Angle

Toni Ryynänen points out that the placement in the culture pages means that many angles in the design stories are lost.
"Design is perceived in many, even contradictory ways. Many people learn about design through the media, so media coverage is important. But the journalists who write for the culture pages are not particularly interested in the business aspects. They prefer the human angle or the more individual craft perspective in fields such as glass, furniture, ceramics etc.," says Toni Ryynänen.

He explains that the emphasis on the human angle removes the focus from the role of design in the development of competitive commodities, but he also points out that the designers themselves are not very good at promoting the business aspect of their work:
"The main story in the business press is business, it’s not design. But designers are not good at justifying the economic benefits of investing in design. However, companies that have good experiences with using designers are good at discussing the business benefits of incorporating design into the product," says Toni Ryynänen.

Finnish researchers have studied the way that design is treated in the media. Their conclusion is that it would be beneficial for the design business if the design stories received more coverage in the business pages than in the culture pages. Illustration: Mette Bager

Design as Business News

When business journalists write about design and designers, they typically pick one of three angles, says Toni Ryynänen:

• The national economy angle, where the focus is on export potentials, sales and the role of design in the general economic situation.
• The corporate angle, where the focus is on the company producing the design.
• The consumer angle, where the focus is on the relationship between designers and consumers.

In Toni Ryynänen’s assessment, designers are increasingly studying and interpreting consumers in order to create targeted design. Currently, it is the mutual influence between designers and consumers that captures journalists’ interest, and in his opinion, this is the angle that designers and the design industry can benefit from emphasising.
"Currently, design is becoming more consumer-oriented. And in this trend, there is a cultural shift underway, where design is increasingly becoming an industrial issue. In my interpretation, the growing amount of coverage of design from a consumer angle is an indication that journalists are becoming more aware of the role of design in industry," says Toni Ryynänen.

Danish Conditions

Tore Kristensen, who is a professor of Strategic Design in the Department of Marketing at the Copenhagen Business School, says that the Danish press is not good enough at discovering the business angle in design stories. He believes that design should be discussed in the business pages.
"Probably, the earlier romantic view of design has contributed to creating these problems," he says.

But Bent Sørensen, executive managing editor of the Danish business newspaper Dagbladet Børsen says that design is increasingly viewed as business news. He says that the newspaper’s journalists are well aware of the business angle in stories about design:
"We’ve had a considerable focus on design during the past three years, and we look at design from a business point of view. After all, design is many things today: production, process, brands, etc."

Bent Sørensen adds that even though the paper’s culture desk often handles design-related topics, the business angle in design stories is not lost. Therefore, he does not think that it would benefit the design industry if the topic were moved from the culture desk to the business desk:
"We don’t draw that distinction. We treat culture as part of business news. For example, our culture desks work with annual reports," says Bent Sørensen, who mentions interior design and lifestyle news as the only areas where Dagbladet Børsen covers design without applying a business angle.


Tore Kristensen does think that matters are improving and sees this as good news for the design industry:
"The business pages offer a more serious approach than the culture pages," he says.