What is Business Design?
Business design is a way of operating that combines the tools of business thinkers, analysts, and strategists with the methods and mindsets of design. Business design is a relatively new discipline that lives in the intersection between business and design.
Design, as practiced in design agencies, is inherently customer-centric and focuses on the desirability aspect of products and services.
Business designers think about how every element of the business model affects the consumer and client experience. Business designers have permission to think in new ways.
Business design is an activity that uses:
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(1) design methodologies.
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(2) design mindset,
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(3) business tools to solve,
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(4) business challenges.
Business Design Tools
Even though business designers use design methodologies, they still use business tools.
There is a very long list of tools and I can’t list them all. Here is a list of some of the most common and popular among business designers:-
A Marketing Proposal is a document prepared by marketers, marketing agencies, PR firms, advertising companies, or any individual pitching his/her marketing services to a client.
A marketing proposal is a written document used by marketers to communicate a project to a client for consideration, which can include strategy ideas, delivery time frames and estimated costs, before finalizing the terms and signing a contract for approval.
An effective marketing proposal attracts the prospect to your services and makes them realize their Return on Investment (ROI) if they opt for your services.
A marketing proposal is designed to satisfy a client’s business goals and it is one of the powerful business tool.
How to Create a Marketing Proposal?
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The first and foremost important step is to Conduct Client Research, your marketing proposal should be client-oriented i.e focused on the needs of the client. To perform research on the client’s target audience, industry, products/services, past/current financials, keywords or topics and other relevant details.
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The proposal should fulfill demands for marketing tasks that clients do not have the time or resources required for business growth or to meet other goals.
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To frame a strategy as a marketer. At this stage, answer questions like:
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What are your client's challenges?
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Do they have the resources to solve them?
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How are you going to help the client?
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What actions will you take?
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Who is your client’s target audience?
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Can your client solve the challenges in their desired time frame?
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How will you leverage the prices?
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In next important step, you will create an outline of tasks that you need to perform in accordance with the strategy implemented.
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Come up with unique tactics that will improve your client’s marketing.
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Provide estimated time frames for deliverables which are big factors in whether prospective clients decide to move forward with the contract process.
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Another crucial factor in accepting a proposal is the estimated costs for the project and the potential terms of agreement.
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Metrics are the measurements you will see to identify the success or failure of your work.
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In this step, you should recognize and decide the tools you will use to measure the client’s marketing strategy. Marketers have a variety of metrics to measure the results of their proposed work, including organic or paid traffic, social media engagement and conversions.
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Finally, you are ready to write down the proposal. Include the following elements in it, in the same order:
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Executive summary.
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Your company credentials.
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Situational analysis/case study.
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Competitor analysis.
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Strategy employed.
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Goals of the client.
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Implementation.
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Financials i.e budgeting and pricing.
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Any other terms and conditions.
And, it’s done! Proofread the document and edit out any unnecessary elements.
BUSINESS CHARTS & GRAPHS
Business graphs are visual aids used to analyze data. They can make comparing multiple sets of data much easier. Business graphs are visual aids used to analyze data. They also help to show the audience the data in a way that is easy to understand and remember.
Whereas A Chart combines text, symbols and/or graphics to show the relationship between multiple data sets. They are a popular method for sharing information in different settings. For instance, a bar chart could show how sales of a particular flavor of ice cream have changed over the past five years. The length of each bar would indicate sales for that year.
What’s the difference between a chart and a graph?
The terms “chart” and “graph” may seem interchangeable, there are subtle differences. To start, graphs are a type of chart, but not all charts are graphs. Graphs focus on raw data and depict trends over time, which is not true of all types of charts. In contrast, a chart conveys data sets in a format that helps viewers understand them. That is, the quality of the presentation helps determine the effectiveness of a chart.
By using graphs and charts, you can easily see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data.
Example of Chart
Example of Graph
Why Are Charts Important to Businesses?
Most business presentations include at least one chart, and often several. There’s a reason for this — because charts can quickly convey a great deal of information
Advantages of using charts & graphs:-
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They help viewers remember the data presented, they enable business people to more quickly make informed decisions and take action.
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charts have become an increasingly valuable tool in any business.
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They have countless uses, as modern businesses lean on data to shape their strategies and priorities.
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They enable you to visually compare multiple sets of data.
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They can help people better understand and remember information. Many people understand a picture more quickly than blocks of text.
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They help executives quickly get the pulse of their business.
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By visually showing the relationship(s) between sets of data, a chart can help bring information to light in an easier-to-comprehend manner than reading blocks of text.
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This is a much better approach than showing lists or tables of numbers that force viewers to process the information and determine trends.
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Using graphs and charts is one of the most important skills for the modern-day worker.
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They are frequently used in business settings and can help viewers quickly grasp the information being conveyed.
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Each industry benefits from using graphs and charts for data visualization. Government, marketing, finance, sales, science, consumer goods, education, sports, and so on.
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It helps in summarizing a very large data in a very crisp and easy manner.
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A line graph (also known as a line chart) is a graph used to visualize the values of something over a specified period of time. For Example shown above for trending beauty products in a line chart showing a company's stock price over the past week, a line would connect the dots that visualize the change in price each day. A tricolor represents multiple trending products as shown in the above diagram.
2. Bar Graph
A bar chart (also called bar graph) is a chart that represents data using bars of different heights.
The bars can be two types – vertical or horizontal. It doesn’t matter which type you use.
A bar graph, as you might guess, uses bars to convey data. The longer the bar, the greater the value. Say a bar graph shows sales per store for the past quarter. If sales at Store 100 were twice the sales at Store 200, its bar would be twice as long.
The bar chart can easily compare the data for each variable at each moment in time. The above bar graph visualizes revenue by different trending products for four different product with 4 different colors Red, Yellow, Green and Blue. You can see more granular differences between revenue for each product .
3. Pie Chart
A pie chart is one way to display how various parts make up a whole or 100 percent. A pie chart is a perfect choice for visualizing percentages because it shows each element as part of a whole.
Pie charts are attractive visuals. At a high-level, they’re easy to read and used for representing relative sizes.
Pie charts tend to be most effective when each individual has their own copy of the chart. If you're presenting to a large group and using a whiteboard or screen, pie charts can be challenging to interpret.
A pie chart is a perfect choice for visualizing percentages because it shows each element as part of a whole. The entire pie represents 100 percent of a whole. The pie slices represent portions of the whole. As shown in the above diagram a pie represents as a whole but its slices in different colours represents the portions of whole infographics
A business may use a column chart to compare different products. This type of chart uses vertical columns to represent values. Column charts are great for comparing different items. The best example of this is websites where they use this type of column charts to compare their packages with prices. Also big telecom companies who compare their plans with special features & prices.
If you want to make side-by-side comparisons of different values, the column chart is your answer. If something can be counted, it can be displayed in a column chart. Their main purpose is to draw attention to total numbers rather than the trend (trends are more suitable for a line chart).
When you need to show a side-by-side comparison of different values. then use column comparison chart. When you want to emphasize the difference between values while comparing different products & its values. For example, the column comparison chart above shows the web hosting pricing plans of a website with its great features.
When you want to use multiple lines to make a comparison between groups. When you want to track not only the whole value but also want to understand the breakdown of that total by groups. In the area chart above, you can see how much cost is overlapped by revenue. Moreover, you see at once where the yellow of profit is at its thickest.
When you want to depict and show relationships between three or more variables. For Example A bulb is placed in the middle of the chart and bubbles root out from it to contain its different variables.
This is another best example of bubble chart which is showing social media popularity graph. Bubbles are proportional to the third dimension – the probability of success. The larger the bubble, the greater the probability of success.
7. Gantt Charts
Gantt charts are used to manage project schedules. A Gantt chart is a horizontal bar chart developed as a production control tool which is frequently used in project management.
A Gantt chart uses timelines to represent the completion of each task in a project. The main benefits of Gantt Charts are: easy to schedule the tasks, easy to understand, clear and visual representation of time frames.
Gantt charts are useful because they provide an overview of a project's activities and progress.
In the above example of Gantt chart, the horizontal axis shows the time frame, while the tasks required to complete the project are on the vertical axis. The bar for each task correlates with its start and end dates month wise with highlighted in various colors.
What is a pyramid graph?
It is a graph in the shape of a triangle or pyramid. A pyramid chart is used to show the hierarchical structure as well as the quantity of data in a pyramid like structure.
The Pyramid graph is interesting, visually appealing, and one of the most easy-to-read visuals. A pyramid chart is a simple and easily understood chart used to show hierarchies, workflows, or simple, singular datasets.
It is best used when you want to show some kind of hierarchy. The pyramid levels display some kind of progressive order.
This type of pyramid shows the Hierarchical Relationships of Business Processes or Steps.
When to use a pyramid graph?
When you need to illustrate some kind of hierarchy or progressive order. More important to least important. For example, in the above pyramid chart it is shown the hierarchy of factors responsible for brand revenue potential.
Other Types of Charts & Graphs Used in Business
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Scatter Plots use dots to show the relationship between two variables.
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Radar Charts are one way to represent multiple variables. They’re also called spider or web charts due to their shapes, which often take the form of hexagons, octagons or similar forms.
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Treemaps also show a hierarchical structure like the pyramid graph, however in a completely different way. Treemap is a visual used to display a hierarchical structure with nested rectangles.
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Funnel charts are used to illustrate optimizations, specifically to see which stages most impact drop-off.
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A Pictograph uses pictures or symbols to display data. A pictograph with multiple rows of people in different colors could show how many people work in different departments at a company.
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Venn diagrams use overlapping circles to show how data sets overlap. The greater the degree of overlap between the data, the more the circles themselves will overlap.
Common Types of Charts & Graphs
1. Line Graph
A line graph is best used to depict changes over a period of time. The line graph is the most popular type of graph with many business and statistics applications because they show an overall trend clearly and concisely.
This chart type is particularly useful for showing sales over a period of time.
5. Area Chart
An area chart is a type of chart that represents the change in one or more quantities over time. It is similar to a line graph.
In both area charts and line graphs, data points are connected by a line to show the value of a quantity at different times. They are both good for showing trends. It’s often used to compare several quantities, such as sales in different regions/areas.
After plotting a line that shows each region’s sales, the area between each of the lines is filled in with different colors. However, the area chart is different from the line graph, because the area between the x-axis and the line is filled in with color. Thus, area charts give a sense of the overall volume.
Area charts emphasize a trend over time. They aren’t so focused on showing exact values.
6. Bubble Chart
Bubble charts can be an effective way to show how different values compare to each other. If you want to display 3 related dimensions of data in one elegant visualization, a bubble chart will help you.
A bubble chart is like an extension of the scatter plot used to display relationships between different variables of any products. A bubble chart is a device used to describe concepts. A bubble chart is a data visualization that displays multiple circles (bubbles) in a two-dimensional plot.