The logo application alone appeared on delivery vehicles, aircraft, storefronts, drop boxes, packaging, collateral, stationery and business forms. During a process that still serves as a model for corporate-identity programs, Landor Associates' San Francisco office created a graphic identity that leveraged FedEx's reputation for speed, reliability and customer service, while recharging it for an era of global expansion. But so far, no one has developed a systematic way to estimate design's dollar value to business. Currently, the Design Management Institute is collaborating with two Northeastern University professors on a study to estimate design's value in product development. But less progress has been made toward quantifying the value of design in other disciplines.
Successful design is an interdisciplinary process.
Designers are working with ethnographers, psychologists, marketers, engineers, accountants and others. It's hard to draw the line. The rapidly changing marketplace demands that managers trust their intuition and make changes quickly. If you look at the constant flow of examples in the marketplace, you'll see that successful companies got there through a lot of risk-taking. At age 9, David Lesh sent a portfolio to Disney and received his first rejection letter.