Home > Design > The Design Crusader > How To Use Your Design Superpowers to Be Your Customers’ Hero

Those were the days.

25 years ago, when I first started working as a graphic designer, design was a practice reserved exclusively for those who had attended art school or received extensive technical training.

The tools we used — X-acto knives, art boards, expensive markers in hundreds of colors, t-squares, Rapidograph pens and high-end mechanical pencils — weren’t exactly items the average office worker had laying around.

Do I miss those days? Not a bit.

Design superpower: what it looks like today

Today, design power is in all of our hands. Even the most basic of computers can use custom fonts, millions of colors, and open source graphics programs to design items for our businesses.

And websites are getting easier to create, too. Free software makes it simple to put together a site that looks great and is a professional, polished representation of your business.

Design democracy rules the day. And that’s great news for everyone, even designers. As awareness about design’s role in a successful business grows, so do the opportunities to apply it.

It’s not all about the visual manifestation of your brand, either. Design is a way of thinking about your customers and how you can serve them.

Why you should care about design thinking

Harnessing the power of design is a compelling way to set your business apart. The idea that design is a separate activity that happens independently of your business proposition — whether it’s products or services — doesn’t work any more. Incorporating design thinking into everything your business does will establish a culture of caring about the details.

And that, after all, is what design is: adopting an attitude that’s care-full, rather than care-less.

Where to start developing your design superpowers

Design superpowers start with an attitude shift. Putting design first really means putting your customers first, and thinking deeply about the challenges they face in their everyday lives, and how your product or service can help. That’s design thinking in action.

Anticipating their pain points and designing solutions will make you a hero in their eyes. Start in the development stage of your business offerings:

1. Brainstorm the situations you’d like to help your customer improve. This could be something in their daily lives, or something about how they interact with your company.
2. Get your body involved by physically performing the tasks your customers have to deal with: use props if necessary. Notice where the sticking points are.
3. Develop a solution that meets their needs. Create a working model of it, whether it’s a tape-and-cardboard physical model, or a wireframe version of your website.
4. Once you have a model, test it with people unrelated to the project who represent the kind of person you’re trying to reach. Ask them to “think out loud” as they interact with your product, your website, your customer service team. Take good notes.
5. Make adjustments, and go through steps 3 and 4 again until you have a final product or solution that works well.

Prepare for hero worship

Why will your customers fall at your feet when you’ve harnessed the power of design and utilized design thinking when developing your solutions? Because they’ll know you care.

The way your business interacts with them will demonstrate you’re intentionally designing a positive experience for them. And that’s enough to make the most indifferent customer swoon.