However, it is easy to see that if Vietnam is to reach global design standards, designers—and business leaders in particular—need to take design more seriously.
In its report on the business value of design , McKinsey presents several notable findings based on the McKinsey Design Index (MDI):
Design is not something to be done merely for the sake of having it.
Companies that rank highly in design capabilities tend to achieve stronger business performance.
Put simply: Design does not merely improve experiences—it creates financial competitive advantage.
Looking at the Vietnamese market, although comprehensive quantitative data is not readily available, we can still identify several notable examples.
In the financial and banking sector, MoMo is a clear example of a company that has invested seriously in design—not only in its visual identity, but also in the user experience:
Simple onboarding designed to accommodate a broad range of users
A clearly organized ecosystem of services
Micro-interactions that make the product feel easier and more intuitive to use
These elements reflect an important principle: design must be consistent across the entire user journey, not limited to the interface alone.
In consumer industries, this is even more apparent. You cannot simply sell good coffee while offering an inaccessible space and a poor customer experience in today’s competitive environment.
Yet in Vietnam’s digital and software industry, we still tend to treat design superficially. Design is rarely connected to specific business metrics and is still often evaluated through personal opinions and subjective taste. Unless this changes, design will continue to be seen as a cost rather than an investment.
How Can Design Contribute More to Business?
As a practitioner and an observer of the market, I believe businesses can create significant breakthroughs through design—even though design is only one part of the larger picture.
The issue lies in how design is understood and approached.
1. Design Needs to Be Measured Like a Business Function
One of the important principles McKinsey highlights is analytical leadership: design should be evaluated through concrete metrics.
For example:
Conversion rate
Churn rate
Task completion time
Every design improvement should be able to answer the question:
How does this affect business KPIs?
Without measurement, design will always be vulnerable to being perceived as a cost.
2. Put the User at the Center of the Experience
Design is not about making something look good or pleasing a particular individual—especially not about pleasing a company leader.
Design is about building experiences around users.
An experience does not begin and end with an interface. It extends from the moment users become aware of a product, through their usage, and across every touchpoint in the broader journey.
Customers do not experience a company’s organizational structure. They experience the product as a whole.
And in today’s market, customers are not necessarily loyal to a company simply because it has a good reputation or a polished experience. They continuously evaluate which product offers them the best experience and the greatest value.
3. Design Is No Longer Defined by a Narrow Set of Skills
Designers need to understand that design is no longer a profession defined by a limited set of skills—such as drawing, attention to detail, color selection, or proficiency with design tools.
The work increasingly requires a combination of:
Product knowledge
Technical and technological understanding
An understanding of the company’s and product’s business strategy
Organizations need to recognize this broader scope as well. McKinsey refers to this as cross-functional capability—where design becomes a capability embedded across the organization, rather than something that belongs exclusively to designers.
4. Design Is a Continuous Process
The mindset of “design it once and consider it done” is no longer appropriate.
This mindset remains relatively common in Vietnam, in my view, partly because of an incomplete understanding of design and partly because organizations continue to rely on outdated or unsuitable processes—for example, heavily sequential, waterfall-style workflows.
Modern design involves:
Rapid experimentation
Measurement
Continuous refinement
This approach helps organizations:
Reduce risk
Shorten time to market
Increase the likelihood of achieving product–market fit
These principles are not new. They are already well established in approaches such as Lean Design and Design Thinking.
However, applying them is far from easy when an organization’s systems and processes are not designed to accommodate change.
5. Half-Hearted Investment: The Common Trap
The most dangerous trap is not failing to invest. It is investing halfway.
The value of design does not increase linearly. Investing one unit does not necessarily produce one unit of return.
In practice:
The right investment → a clear competitive advantage
Half-hearted investment → little or no meaningful value
This is why many businesses have design teams, allocate budgets, and yet struggle to see a clear ROI.
They can easily identify how much they have spent on their design team. But they often cannot explain how much that investment has actually contributed to revenue.
Ultimately, even designers who genuinely want to demonstrate their impact may struggle to produce clear data to support their case.
Conclusion
The role of design in modern products is not difficult to recognize.
A product cannot compete through technology or features alone. Users do not see the complexity behind the product.
They choose products based on:
What they see
And how they experience them
If your business operates in a market where you do not have an overwhelming technological advantage or a truly exclusive product, design is one of the most sustainable competitive levers you can invest in and influence.
Vietnam wants to establish a stronger presence in the global market. If that ambition is serious, then design must be taken seriously too.
