How can design in business drive growth?

Design Thinking has become one of the defining movements of the past decade. Yet once the hype fades, the real questions remain. What does it actually change? For organizations? For teams? For the people who make things happen every day?

A world in fast-forward

One thing is certain: the world is complex. It always has been. What’s new is the speed at which change now unfolds.

Our economy is no longer driven by products alone—it is shaped by experiences. If we simplify the picture, value has shifted from products to services. And now, from services to experience.

This marks another step in dematerialization, driven by standardized services and the need to create deeper engagement. Because experience is personal. Intimate. It depends on environments, contexts, moments.

The challenge for companies? Finding the right balance between designing new products and crafting meaningful experiences—while respecting the level of commitment users are willing to invest.

Why design belongs at the heart of transformation

It is precisely at the crossroads of product and service transformation, digital acceleration, and deep organizational change that design finds its place.

Design: a human-centered approach

Design Thinking is a project methodology inspired by product and industrial design, developed since the 19th century. It is multidisciplinary by nature and fundamentally human-centered. Its ambition? To create innovations that align what people truly desire with what is technologically feasible and economically viable.

Design is not just about form. It is a creative and innovative discipline that applies across the entire organization—globally, sensitively, sometimes poetically. It shapes products, systems, and services. And it aims not only to generate business value, but also to improve the quality of life for talents.

The three pillars of design

For creativity to thrive, design must operate within a framework of constraints. Three key dimensions shape this environment:

• Desirability : the project must engage the senses and imagination. Creation starts with people.
• Viability : every project is tied to performance. Economic realities matter.
• Feasibility : technologies, techniques, and organizational structures must support implementation.

Constraint is not the enemy of creativity. It is its engine.

Design delivers measurable growth

“Companies that fully embrace design can see their revenues grow by 32%.”

When design is genuinely embedded and championed at company level, the impact is tangible. According to McKinsey’s 2018 study The Business Value of Design—based on 100 US companies and over 100,000 design actions—organizations that invest in design see revenue growth of up to 32%, while investor returns increase by 56%.*

That’s enough to spark action. And imagination. Across French companies and beyond.

Source: McKinsey, “The Business Value of Design” https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design 

Measuring design maturity: the Danish Design Ladder

Yet not all companies are at the same level of design maturity. Created by the Danish Design Center in 2001, the Danish Design Ladder helps assess how deeply design is integrated within organizations:

• Level 1: No design approach. Products and services are created without understanding real usage.
• Level 2: Design is used to shape products.
• Level 3: Design supports the definition of innovative, sustainable, sometimes disruptive strategies.
• Level 4: Design is fully embedded in corporate strategy.

At this stage, designers sit at the decision-making table. Some companies already lead the way: Decathlon, Carrefour, Schneider Electric, RATP. Design is not an option—it’s a strategic lever.

The pitfalls of implementing design in business

Introducing a design-driven approach is not without challenges. BBVA identified three major obstacles during its own transformation journey:

An excessive focus on technology and functionality rather than actual usage and practices

Highly siloed departments, each impacting the customer experience in isolation

A “business as usual” culture that prevents reinvention

Transformation requires reconnecting vision and execution. That means engaging both strategists and implementers—finding the right methods, tools, and processes to bridge the gap.

Sometimes, innovation begins with the right question. Asking “How might we cross the river?” often unlocks more creative solutions than “How might we build a bridge?”

Design at Chateauform: creating meaning, together

At Chateauform, we embraced this approach to elevate both guest and talent experiences through new products and services. A discovery phase involving more than 150 internal and external interviews allowed us to map the entire customer journey and define a clear intention for this ambitious project.

This work revealed pain points, silos, processes, and friction along the different journeys. With this shared understanding, we entered a second phase: imagining services and tools to improve every step of the experience—and building a roadmap for the years ahead.

The strength of a human-centered approach lies in its ability to reconnect worlds that rarely meet: talents and guests, technical teams and operational teams, operations and sales.

Beyond offering a clear snapshot of reality at a given moment, this approach mobilizes everyone. It creates momentum. It restores meaning to everyday actions. And it turns transformation into a collective story—one we write together.

*At Sphères, we design new solutions: services, products, and companies.
We drive change through projects.
We are entrepreneurs, designers, and creators.