TLDR

Design can’t simply be squeezed into KPIs.
Quantity is measurable but quality isn’t. And that’s exactly why KPI logic collapses when applied to creative work. Design is subjective, contextual, and only one part of a much bigger system. A red CTA button won’t fix an uninteresting product, and even great design can fail if everything around it is off.

For as long as companies have existed, the goal has been the same: sell more, earn more, save more, and become as efficient as humanly possible. Everything must be optimised, maximised and accelerated. No exceptions.
Of course, this obsession has made its way into the design world, where it often makes absolutely no sense.

Design is not something you can simply reduce to numbers, and it probably never will be.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why that is, why design metrics so often fall apart.

THE RISE OF THE KPI CULTS

MAKE IT MEASURABLE. I WANT TO SELL MORE. I WANT TO SELL FASTER. I NEED TO SAVE MONEY SO I HAVE MORE IN THE END.
That's generally what it is about: Efficiency and money. In order to gain more and spend less, corporations like to measure everything - they even try to measure the unmeasureable.

Sure, in some departments you can track every second and slap a number on every action. But what people tend to conveniently forget is, that not every job is the same. (Thank god it isn't! The moment I care about numbers my soul will leave my body.)

These metrics usually exist for one single purpose: to visualize, as simply as possible, who is “making money” and who is “costing money.” And therein lies the problem as not each department will / can / should generate revenue to begin with. That is also the reason why, broadly speaking, sales people are favoured and the heroes of the spreadsheet, while e.g. marketing is always the place where people are let go first. The evaluation of a professional bound to numbers is often quite absurd and yet we are stuck in a system where this is celebrated as if it was the holy grail.

It’s no secret that the role of a designer is still widely misunderstood and will probably forever be. In my experience, it isn't even valued by the vast majority of companies. But the lack of differentiated thinking is - to put it mildly - concearning at times. Our job is to solve problems in a visual way. We are supposed to give a face to the company we are working for. We'll help people understand complex information faster. We guide them to where they want to go without friction.

So the question here becomes: "How the hell does that generate money?". And that right there, Ladies and gentlemen, is where we are getting into a bit of a pickle.

THE PROBLEMS WITH KPI's IN DESIGN

300 Magazines a year. Sounds impressive, right?
A company pulling this off with 3 designers must be REALLY productive and successful, right???

What if I told you, that the number doesn't matter. What if these 200 Magazines containes 20 repetitive pages and not ONE of them is good or user friendly?! Well, shit.

Quantity can be measured, quality, which is an important part of our job, can not.

GOOD OR BAD DESIGN - HARDER TO TELL THAN YOU THINK

Sure, design is following a certain set of rules. Readability matters. Hierarchy matters. If I create a white flyer, use white font for it, nobody will be able to read it. In this case, the design failed. Hard.
If I have millions pieces of information on one tiny flyer and people are more confused than informed - it failed too. Objectively even.

What if the design doesn't fail objectively? You think that's the simple part? Nope. Sorry.

Because HOW you design things can differ too and none of all the thousands of design styles out there are objectively wrong or bad. Just because it's not YOUR favourite, doesn't mean the design failed.

Even Brand guides allow interpretation. While the corporate colors are used, each designer will have a unique way to pull it off and neither of them will be objectively wrong.

MARKETING IS NOT DESIGN

YES. Marketing will be able to see how well a campaign performs. Engagement rate, CTR, impressions and whatnot. Fair. But Marketing does not equal Design KPI automatically.

Most Marketeers know nothing about design, which in itself is okay. It's not their job. But if they see that a campaign is not going according to plans, they have to become detectives and try to find out why. One of the suspicions can be design and maybe the question "Maybe the button should be red not blue.".

Chances are high it's not the damn button.

While design is supposed to SUPPORT the decision making of the client, it CAN NOT force an interest, where there is none. If nobody is interested in your product, nobody will click - even when the button is red.

Design is just a small part of a campaign supposed to support people's bahaviour but we treat it as if it was the only factor making or breaking a campaign. Many different aspects count into a campaign like wording, channels, target groups and even the TIME of release can have massive impact on a campaign. None of that has anything to do with design.

Again: Design should support here. There should be a clear hierarchy so it's easy to read, the button should be big enough to show people that they can click - but design is not the 100% answer to the question, why a campaign is performing well or horribly. I've seen terribly designed campaigns perform well and absolutely awesome ones fail miserably. It's about the value the customer sees and not the red CTA.

YOUR OPINION IS NOT OBJECTIVELY RIGHT

There, I said it. You have your own taste and you judge accordingly to it. You are not free of personal preference and that will make you prefere one design over another even when objectively you COULD be wrong too. Nobody is above this - not Managers, CEO's, Marketeers or Sales Pro's.

Often designs get rejected simply because of personal preference even though there wouldn't be an objective mistake in the creation. BUT it is also a designers job to create the solution YOU are happy with too. You have to be comfortable and confident with the way the face of the company looks. That's why we follow your orders. If you are objectively right though - that's a whole other discussion and is not being taken into account often.

So... How does one turn preferences into KPI's again?!

Design also works in a context.
Think Ford rebrand. There was an idea. There was a high quality execution. But people rejected it, because it didn't fit into the context. Not one bit. It confused people and that is the point where I claim the rebrand was an objective fail because nobody saw a car manufacturer but maybe some sort of fashion company.
Objectively they delivered high produce. It didn't look cheap. It was well designed and thought out. In the eyes of Ford the design and execution was a win. But as the connection to the car manufacturer was not visible for the clients, the campaign was a clear miss. Just take a look ad like/dislike ratios or comments and you can see the result clearly. This campaign might have scared off more people than it won.

ARE YOU SEEING THE PATTERN HERE?!

I hope you do. Design is not as simple as you think it is. It will never be.

HOW TO EVALUATE DESIGN AND DESIGNERS BETTER?

Now you might ask: If numbers don't work, how the hell do I evaluate design or designers?!

Good question and I have an answer you might not like: Good design and good designers can't be judged in 30 minutes or with a spreadsheet. It's a combination of seniority, personality, curiosity and the ability to develop themselves and their workflows.

> Stop with the number-nonsense and get into the more complex stuff.
Start asking the real questions here:

• Does the person actually understand what we (or our clients) do?

• Do they take requests into consideration and align them with brand guidelines?

• Are they evolving ideas or just recreating the same things over and over?

• Do they challenge assumptions instead of blindly following orders

Evaluating a designer by the number of deliverables, you're prioritizing the wrong thing.

> Make sure designers are properly connected with other departments
Design doesn’t make or break a campaign but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to learn. Different perspectives are valuable.

Yes a bigger button might not be the solution of all problems, but it can guide a viewers eye and maybe support their behaviour. (However that is being measured) Designers should enrich their own views with the knowledge of other professionals from e.g. Marketing or Sales to understand points of view they've never considered before.

> Attitude > Skill
A designer who doesn't ask questions WILL stagnate.
A designer who doesn't want to learn will do the same.

Look out for: Thinking minds, openness to learn and to listen to different input, critical thinking skills, respect of context and people who respect their craft. It's impossible to give simple explanations when a topic is complex. That indicates a solid understanding of the matter.

Skills can be taught. Character cannot.
Companies that refuse to invest in mentoring only shoot themselves in the foot long-term.

> Are they reliable?
It's important to be able to trust the designer. Are they sticking to deadlines? Are they getting in touch if something went wrong? Is the communication on point? Good - keep those people close.

And designs? Here are some questions that might help you to find out if a design is good to go.

> Is complex info shown in a way that it's easy to understand?
> Is the design clear or is it confusing? Is it guiding or blocking?
> Are the important things easy to see?
> Does the vibe of the design align with what we need?
> Is it readable?
> Does it serve the purpose? Can the goal be reached with it?

CONCLUSION: THE REAL WORK BEGINS WHEN THE BULLSHIT ENDS

Design shouldn’t be reduced to fancy dashboards or cold numbers.
Its value lives in clarity, usability, trust, consistency, and long-term brand impact. Basically all things that simply cannot be captured realistically in metrics.

If we stop the corporate bullshit bingo and finally understand what design truly does and is, we'll be able to get a better grasp of what to expect if quality is the goal. Numbers rarely tell the truth in a design context... Wish I had a more simple answer for you. (I really do.)

Empower people, not spreadsheets if you want your designers to live in an environment in which they can actually grow and move your brand forward.

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