Glossary

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A | C | D | E | F | G | I | L | M | P | R | S |

A

Added value

The term added value describes how a business creates more value around its core products or services so they meet customers’ expectations. For example, a manufacturer might add value by offering a repair service or finance options to its customers; a high street bank might add value by offering internet banking.

Added value through design

As part of our survey of 500 UK businesses in 2007, we identified a set of companies that add value to their core offer and service and also either use design or a designer to do so or see design as integral or significant to their business. These businesses are adding value through design.

C

Communications design

This includes graphics, brand, corporate identity, brochures and signage. It is the most widely used design service.

D

Design alert business

As part of our annual survey in 2005, we interviewed 1,500 businesses across the UK. From these, we identified 250 businesses that had observed a direct impact from the use of design on several business performance measures. We call these businesses ’design alert’. We went back to them with more detailed questions on their use of design and whether they could quantify the results. The bottom line benefits that design alert businesses have seen are explained in The link between design and business performance .

Digital and multimedia design

This design service covers websites, film and television identities, digital design, interaction design and animations.

E

Externally facing functions

This covers things such as corporate identity, brochures and exhibitions, and essentially means things that customers see. However, we have not included marketing in this, giving it its own area.

F

Fashion and textiles design

This design service covers the design of clothing and fabrics.

G

Gross value added (GVA)

Gross value added is the difference between output and intermediate consumption for any given sector/industry. That is, the difference between the value of goods and services produced, and the cost of raw materials and other inputs used in production.

I

Interior and exhibition design

This design service covers retail design, office planning and workplace design, lighting, display systems and exhibitions.

Internally facing functions

This covers things such as workplace design and internal communications, and essentially means activities that are only for employees and not for customers.

L

Large business

A business with more than 250 employees.

M

Medium sized business

A business with between 50 and 249 employees.

Multivariate analysis

Multivariate analysis is a statistical technique that analyses the relationships between more than two variables. Carrying out multivariate analysis in this research means we could isolate the effect of design on business performance from other factors. See the Detailed research methodology for more information.

P

Product and industrial design

This design service covers design of any consumer /household products, furniture and industrial design such as automotive, engineering and medical products.

R

R&D tax credits for SMEs

Research and development (R&D) tax credits are a company tax relief which can either reduce a company’s tax bill or, for some small or medium sized companies, provide a cash sum. The aim of the tax credits is to encourage greater R&D spending in order to promote investment in innovation. See the HM Customs and Revenue website for more details.

RODI (Return on Design Investment)

Similar to standard ROI (return on investment), RODI isolates the specific return on design spend. Although only one in eight businesses currently pinpoints RODI with accounting procedures, we hope that doing so will become more common.

Rapidly growing business

As part of our survey, we asked businesses to rate how their turnover had changed over the past year. They had four options: grown smaller, stayed the same, grown moderately and grown rapidly. We used this as our definition of a rapidly growing business. This gave us a key factor that we could compare design against. For example, we found that businesses who saw design as integral were the most likely to have grown rapidly. Those where design played no role were the least likely to have grown rapidly.