When Your Designs Speak Business, Everyone Listens

How to understand business & use it to your advantage

Before you jump in, if you’re feeling a bunch of pressure about keeping up with all the latest tools & releases (Figma, Loveable, etc) watch this ❤️

Ok, so, today I want to share a shift in thinking that can seriously level up your career as a designer:

Designing for business impact, not just aesthetics or usability.

Because here's the reality…

Being great at executing beautiful, user-friendly designs will only get you so far.

👉 If you can't clearly articulate how your work moves the needle for the business, you'll always be seen as an "executor," not a strategic partner.

Early in my career, I thought my designs should speak for themselves. I figured if the work was good enough, people would get it.

Spoiler alert: they didn’t.

I missed out on bigger opportunities to lead, drive strategy, and influence direction — simply because I wasn't connecting the dots out loud.

Let’s talk about how to change that.

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The Problem with Staying "Just a Designer"

When you don't connect your work to business outcomes, here’s what usually happens:

• You get looped in after decisions are made

• You struggle to defend your design decisions and end up making changes you disagree with

• Your ideas never get prioritised

• Promotions feel out of reach because you're seen as tactical, not strategic

You can be exceptionally talented at UX/UI and still get stuck here.

Think of it like this: If you design the world's best checkout flow but can’t explain how it will increase conversion rates and reduce cart abandonment, leadership sees a pretty screen — not a revenue driver. Your value add is minimal.

Design is not just about solving user problems. It’s about solving user problems in a way that helps the business win.

3 Ways to Start Designing Like a Business Partner

1. Understand the Business Levers

Every company cares about a few critical outcomes:

• Revenue: The total income generated from selling products or services.

• Growth: The increase in a company’s size, market share, or customer base over time.

• Retention: The ability to keep existing customers or users over a period of time.

• Efficiency: The ability to achieve desired outcomes with minimal wasted resources, time, or effort.

• Cost reduction: The process of lowering expenses to improve profitability or resource allocation.

Ask yourself:

• What are the top 1-2 business goals right now?

• What metrics matter most to leadership?

If you don't know — that's your first action item. Ask your PM. Ask your manager. Read quarterly reports.

Example: If your company’s goal is to increase customer retention by 10%, any design work that improves onboarding, usability, or customer support is directly tied to that goal.

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2. Map User Behavior to Business Metrics

User problems and business problems are often reflections of each other.

Example: If users frequently abandon a signup form, that's not just a "UX issue" — it's hurting activation rate, which hurts growth.

or

Example: If users are abandoning their shopping carts before checkout, it's not just a "UX issue" — it's hurting conversion rates, which directly impacts revenue.

When you see behavior gaps, think:

• "How does this frustrate users?"

• "How does this hurt our key metrics?"

Think of it like this: Every user action (or inaction) is either making the business stronger or weaker.

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3. Frame Your Solutions in Dual Impact

When presenting your work, don't just say:

❌ "This redesign will make the page easier to use."

Say: ✅ "This redesign reduces cognitive load, which we expect to improve task completion rates — supporting our goal of increasing signups by 15%."

Another example:
❌ "This visual update modernizes the look and feel."

✅ "This visual update aligns with our new brand positioning, helping build stronger customer trust and improve brand perception — which supports our goal of increasing customer loyalty."

Speak both languages: user value + business value.

That’s when leaders start listening differently. That’s when you start getting pulled into earlier strategy conversations.

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🛠 Practical Application:

Here’s exactly how I started making this shift:

Before presenting any design, I forced myself to answer 2 questions:
🔹 "What user problem does this solve?"
🔹 "What business goal or metric does this support?"
I literally wrote those answers on the first slide of my design reviews.

The impact? I got way fewer "why are we doing this?" questions — and way more valuable input.

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🚀 I Challenge You:

Step 1: Pick a project you’re currently working on.

Step 2: Identify the top business/team goal it could support. (Growth, retention, revenue, efficiency, etc.)

Step 3: Map 1-2 user behaviors that directly connect to that goal. (Signup completions, drop-off rates, satisfaction scores, etc.)

Step 4: Next time you present your work, open with both the user problem and the business metric it impacts.

✨ Bonus: If you do this, DM or email me and tell me what happened. I’d love to hear.

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Final Thought

Being good at design execution makes you valuable. Being good at design execution and understanding business impact makes you invaluable.

Learn to speak both languages — user and business — and you’ll unlock bigger opportunities than just the next design handoff.

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psssst… 🤫 I’m currently working on a challenge that will help designers practice these skills specifically. If you’re interested in training your way to influence while getting a few killer portfolio pieces on the way, 👉 sign up here.

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P.S. A few more ways I can help you

1. I’ve created quite a few resources for UXers, take a look.

2. Bring your burning product & UX design questions over to one of my regular Live AMAs and get my professional advice on the spot.

3. Follow me on Tiktok or Instagram for critiques, advice, & how-to's focused on helping you grow in your career and land a job in this difficult market.

4. Join me over on LinkedIn for personal experience stories and targeted tips for experienced designers