I found myself thinking about the difference between industrial and instructional designers the other day. Particularly about how industries perceive the business value of good design within each profession. From an industrial design perspective, the groundswell of the “good design = good business” mentality has certainly grown due to companies like Apple, BMW, Phillips and Bang Olefson (to name a few of the hundreds). Why? 1) Prices meet demand. People buy and use things, at an affordable price (ie, IKEA and Target ), that look and feel good to them. 2) Consumer to consumer  sharing and selling (C2C). People tell others about the “thing” they found that not only looks good but works. The expression of “look at me I found this beautiful thing that helps me AND it can help you too!” is powerful and of course the cheapest and most stickiest form of marketing. 3) Tight tie to bottom line. Industrial designers, in general, make objects that can be tangibly tied to revenue.

Beyond price, product lust, C2C selling and revenue, business leaders have also embraced design as a strategy. It no longer is an aspiration or what-if theory but a state-of-mind or more specifically…a way of operating within leading companies. Production and operational divisions are reworking and evolving approaches to accommodate design thinking within their workflows and innovation processes. Great design strategy impacts business and because of this business leaders view it paying off…for everyone.  

What can learning designers and strategists learn from this? Isn’t the reaction of “Look-at-this-learning-I-want-it-you -should-want-it-too-check-it-out” the ultimate reaction level for all learning designers and strategists seek? Finding ways to create visual, instructional and social learning features and approaches within a learning solution that causes the user/learner to willingly share their learning with others (whether by the water cooler or in a meeting) is the stickiest form of learning and is what informal and social learning is all about. Making learning stick beyond learning terms or concepts is really about learner to learner sharing and selling (L2L). Moreover, the opportunity to show revenue value from a learning product or solution (no matter how small) is imperative for any long-term, sustainable learning initiative. Learning strategists should view the importance of measuring revenue impact as the single most important implementation must-have. Great learning design = L2L + revenue impact. How to do this at the speed of business? Stay tuned for future posts.