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Design Evangelism

Learn what Design Evangelism (Design Advocacy) is and discover effective techniques to promote the value of UX design in your organization and create a user-centered culture.

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Design evangelism (or Design Advocacy) is the continuous process of promoting the value of user-centered design throughout an organization. It involves educating, persuading, and inspiring non-designer colleagues (engineers, product managers, marketing, sales, executives) to understand, value, and integrate design principles into their own work.

What Is Design Evangelism?

Imagine you are a nutrition expert at a company. You don’t just create a healthy menu for the cafeteria. You give talks about the benefits of good nutrition, put up informative posters, offer consultations, and encourage your colleagues to make healthier choices on their own. You don’t impose a diet; instead, you foster a culture of wellness.

Design evangelism is exactly that. It is not about design imposing its decisions, but about creating a culture where everyone in the company understands the value of thinking about the user first.

Why Is It Important?

  • It creates a user-centered culture: When everyone understands the importance of UX, decisions at all levels of the company begin to consider the end user.
  • It secures buy-in: It facilitates budget approvals for research, hiring more designers, and prioritizing design initiatives.
  • It improves collaboration: When engineers and PMs understand UX principles, collaboration is smoother and the final product is better.
  • It scales the impact of design: A design team cannot be everywhere. By evangelizing, you turn your colleagues into allies who can make better design decisions on their own.

Key Methods and Techniques

Evangelism is a marathon, not a sprint. It is built on consistent actions:

  1. Share the voice of the user:
    • Bring interview clips: Share short videos or powerful quotes from [[User Interviews]] in meetings or on Slack. Hearing a real user is more powerful than any presentation.
    • Create a research repository: Use tools like [[Dovetail]] so that anyone in the company can access research findings.
  2. Make design visible:
    • Host “Lunch & Learns”: Organize informal sessions where the design team presents a UX topic, a case study, or a new process.
    • Create a design newsletter: Send a monthly email with the latest designs, research findings, and team successes.
  3. Involve others in the process:
    • Invite people to observe usability tests: Invite PMs and engineers to observe [[Usability Testing]] sessions. It is one of the most effective ways to generate empathy.
    • Facilitate collaborative workshops: Organize [[Strategic Workshops]] or ideation sessions where non-designers are active participants.
  4. Demonstrate impact:
    • Connect design to business KPIs: Create case studies that show how a redesign improved conversion, retention, or customer satisfaction.

Mentor Tips

  • Speak the language of business: Don’t just talk about “heuristics” or “Gestalt principles.” Talk about “reducing support calls,” “increasing retention,” or “improving conversion.” Translate the value of design into metrics that matter to your stakeholders.
  • Show, don’t just tell: An interactive prototype or a video of a frustrated user is a thousand times more persuasive than a PowerPoint slide.
  • Find your allies: Identify the PMs, engineers, or executives who already “get” design and turn them into your champions. Their voice can reach places where yours cannot.
  • Be patient and persistent: Changing a culture takes time. Celebrate small wins and be consistent in your message.

Resources and Guides

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