From Cars to Clothing, a growing slice of consumerism rests squarely on the trend-triggered aesthetic avarice. So great is the style and catalytic appearance appeal that over 12.5 per cent of the workforce in the developed economies focusses on product design as a profession.
Design is integral to market competitiveness and synonymous with innovation. The trillion-dollar luxury goods industry is driven by the twin forces of brand equity and design dynamics. While brand crowns the meta mission of the business, design derivatives dictate the tactical gains tipping market cap with influencers baking in the trends of the trade. Many companies refer to design fees as ‘research and product development’ and their ratio varies, depending on the nature of the product and their release lifecycle. For instance, the automotive industry releases their models, variations and adaptations annually, while the apparel and accessories sector has seasonal debuts with Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Collections.
Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH), the largest luxury brand in the world, spent on an average $140 million in R&D inclusive of product design, posting revenues of $88.27 billion in 2024. With $165.82 billion in 2023 revenues, Mercedes Benz AG invested about $6.74 billion in R&D, inclusive of product design, a 14.24 per cent increase, from 2022. Often, design-driven impetus is rolled over many generations of product line spread over multiple years, making it hard to pin-point and collate direct association with its spend ratio for the delta of each year. Once designed, the product rides on launch strategies and takes wing on the brand which in some cases commands 1,000x its actual production value! For the magic mix to deliver the alchemy of Midas, the design driven economy relies on the mirage-like complex reality of the virtual.
Digital tools, laced with AI algorithms, micro-target demographics and consumer data, points to drive maximum impact, with the medium itself becoming the metaphor for design induced economics. Whether it is chips, cars, tablets and personal computers, consumer electronics, shoes, defence, planes, automobiles, mobile phones, yachts, Apps or apparel, newer versions incessantly tug at your temptation to own, possess and flaunt the frivolous, the functional, the fashionable and the fantastic! Each iteration improves on previous lacunae and with increasingly embedded intelligence, meta-data provides the umbrella of efficiency that keeps the economic engines energised.
Design Thinking and Inventive Interface have been hallmarks of many corporations that have been able to transform sectors ranging from heavy industry, luxury, bio-tech, fin-tech, education, natural resources to pure tech. From being on the fringes of core competencies, it has leap-frogged to the core of many mission-driven enterprise, evolving from ingenious low-cost jugaad to disruptive innovation, to collaborative thought to circular 360 design to mandatory inclusion of sustainable eco-practices. Design is as ubiquitous as it is increasingly becoming invisible. From overt expressionism, it is devolving and evolving into its minimalist elemental avatar. Its intuitiveness and ergonomics have propelled mobile devices to staggering heights, with 2025 revenues projected to top $485 billion this year and India projected to devour a $48.2 billion slice of the revenue pie.
Given the ability of design to change the way the world functions combined with Its revenue prospects, it is imperative that universities step up thought leadership in inclusive creativity, leverage innovation and encourage executives in the industry to better appreciate and invest in design as a key cross-disciplinary driver to growth. As the dwell time increases on UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is evident that the planet perfect solutions are right in front of our eyes and that nature provides biomimetic solutions to many human challenges.
Many don’t realise the power of the seemingly insignificant humble ‘Like’ thumbs-up (or down) button designed to influence the $286 billion social media market and fuelling the catalytic growth of its analytical future. Whether design is accidental or process driven, it is apparent that it has the power to bring about incremental or paradigm shifts in the way the world functions and transforms lives.
Henry Ford, founder, Ford Motor Co, once famously remarked over a century ago that if he had asked people what they wanted (then), they would have asked for faster horses!