3. BusinessOverview
• Primarily a Business Consultancy to
small businesses (2-50 employees)
• Also offer Design services
• Founder: Inzar Haq
• Partner: Zakera Kali
• 8 subcontractors
70%
30%
Concultancy Design
Answers
to
Business
• Husband & Wife
• Located at the Innovation Centre, De
Montfort University
4. Objectivesofthe
DesignAudit
Design is a significant, potentially
powerful management resource,
susceptible to intelligent direction
and control
-Wally Olins
Effectiveness of use of design
Consistency in purpose, performance and
appearance
Differentiation through design
Current situation
Relevance of design with respect to philosophy
Understand the philosophy of the company to
analyse the appropriateness of the role of
design
Future?
5. 1. Acquaintance
2. Methodology
3. Rationale
Adapted and Inspired by
Rachel Cooper & Kathryn Best
DESIGNAUDITFRAMEWORK
THECORPORATEONION
Physical
Design
Design
Management
Corporate
Culture
• Visual Identity
• Corporate design standards
• Service
• Work environment
• Pre-project
• Design resources
• Design skills
• Design training
• Design management: Processes, Procedures,
Guidelines
• Design Department: Location, Services, Aims
& objectives
• Project management
• Corporate design strategies
• Design awareness
• Integration of Design with other functions
• Design activities undertaken
7. Presents the core idea !
of the organisation!
First visual contact!
Reveals the brand’s
personality!
Ideologies of the people
behind it!
Identity
Inzar and his role serve as the
face of the business more
than the name
Name/identity of business
gets overshadowed
Relate to Inzar as a
personality more than the
business as a whole
Clients didn’t remember the
logo
8. !
A logo !
Encapsulates !
the brand.
-Olins, 2008
Identity
NAME!
Suitable as a tagline
Compared to other consultancies it
does not sound as professional
Not all answers to business at the
moment: SEO, UX/UI design
Logotype!
Impersonal
Symbol is a cliché!
Confused identity
Typeface: unsure & under
confident
Undermines
the business
Impersonal,
unrelated,
copy-pasted
Do I look
fat in this
dress?
10. DesignManagement Leads
• Serves as a testimonial
• Only method of marketing
• Proves reliability & assurance
• Proves company has potential
• Not a single direct customer
• Website is not doing its job
• They are aware of the website’s weaknesses
in design & content
• Shows they understand what they are
offering and needs to be put across better
referrals
Imagine the power of strategic marketing!
No financial
returns
through
design
Design is
not
bringing in
any clients
No Use
of the
Web as a
resource
11. DesignManagement Space
• Comes across as a start-up with no experience
• Clients greeted with ‘De Montfort University Innovation centre’
• Office spaces have not been used to their potential
• Designers need inspiration and physical & mental space to be creative
environment
Creativity in any
business needs stimulation
No room
for
creativity
Innovation
Centre
can’t help
any further
13. Personalities
the couple
Inzar
Home Office
Husband/Father Business Consultant (MBA)
Strong
personality
Business minded/
Corporate
Head of finance Founder & In-charge
Zakera
Wife/Mother Design Manager
Softer
personality
Creative/Organic
Head of
operations
Partner/team leader
DesignManagement
Corporate
To the point
Professional Creative
Organic
Innovative
17. Ideologies &
Ethics
philosophy
Current Position Current Design Aspirations
Business Consultancy, also
offer design services
Answers to your business
questions
Want to be a Business &
Branding consultancy
Professional & trustworthy
Start-up with little knowledge/
experience
Caring, Innovative,
Professional
Strong set of loyal clients No portfolio to see, no proof
Image: confident, well
equipped & experienced
Inexperienced
/unequipped
Inorganic
Mechanical
No
portfolio
Just
another
consultancy
Corporate
Culture
18. • Communication Design has played almost no part in their
business as yet
Branding
• Product outcomes have been inconsistent due to various
designers but have worked for clients
• Design of their Services has been of high standards
Product/Services
• Comfortable and has brought together a loyal team of
subcontractors who follow similar ideologies
• Honest, clear and thorough with clients
Communication/Behaviour
• Environment hasn’t been thought out
• Mediocre impact on clients as it was backed up by their
service
• Space needs to feel inspiring for ALL employees and stimulate
creativity in both business & design departments
Environment
Outcomes
role of design
Corporate
Culture
19. Conclusion
Form Follows Function
Function is intact but has no design to drive to
forward
Growth is possible if they differentiate themselves
using design
Their confidence in being better than other
‘consultants’ and ‘web designers’ is not reflected
in their use of design
Design needs to have a bigger role and drive its
own agenda
Company should come across as confident to
take up independent design projects without
having to wait for referrals
“Branding is simply a convenient
package for a business idea”
-Marty Nuemeier
Answers
To
Business
20. Recommendations Rebrand, to be confident about what they do and why they do it
Consistent web presence Website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, You Tube
Internalise their work philosophy, apply it to themselves
Name | Business Cards | Space | Location | Website | Signage |
Create the entire experience for clients through strategic use of
design: Publicise testimonials, Starter Kit
Change name as the company is known as “Inzar’s company
and not Answers to Business
Strong visual and brand identity with a new logo
Change of space will help show authority and experience and
give room for creativity
For incremental success, design should be on the agenda at
every meeting
Both Inzar & Zakera need to be more informed & adaptive to
each others roles
To understand the clients requirements
to be consistent in their approach
21. Bibliography
OLINS, W (2008) The Brand Handbook. London: Thames & Hudson
NUEMEIER, M (2006) The Brand Gap. Berkeley: New Riders
BROWN, T (2009) Change by Design. New York: Harper Collins
DESIGN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (1997) Five Views on Design and Strategy. Boston:
DMI
LOCKWOOD, T (2010) Design Thinking. New York: Allworth Press
DESIGN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE (1997) Ten Views on Brand Management. Boston:
DMI
COOPER, R and PRESS, M (1995) The Design Agenda. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons
Ltd.
ANSWERS TO BUSINESS (2013) About the company [WWW] Answers to Business.
Available from: answers-business.co.uk [Accessed: 5/5/2013]