Driving growth at scale through design
Where most innovation models focus on maintaining incremental growth or setting up incubators, garages, and labs on the sidelines, McKinsey Design is focused on making disruptive innovation integral to your everyday operational culture.
You don’t have to start big. In fact, the evidence is clear that the obvious routes of chasing the biggest return on investment or satisfying the largest group may not get you there. Many innovations start small—but the prizes aren’t.
It’s an elusive prize.
In creating the McKinsey Design Index, we rigorously linked design actions to financial performance, and our research revealed just how challenging it is to drive design thinking at scale:
We’ve found that innovation is driven from the top.
And through incentives, metrics, clear roles—and clear goals—it becomes everyone’s job to put the consumer at the center of every decision. But how? The McKinsey Design Index reveals four key principles we use to help companies design at scale:
Design is more than...
a feeling: it’s analytical leadership.
Measure and drive design performance with the same rigor as revenues and costs
a product: it’s user experience.
Break down internal walls between physical, digital, and service design
a department: it’s cross-functional talent.
Make user-centric design everyone’s responsibility, not a siloed function
a phase: it’s continuous iteration.
De-risk development by continually listening, testing, and iterating with end users
First to scale beats first to market.
Embracing a culture of design does require meaningful changes—but in our experience, these changes are not only within reach, they will also reenergize your organization as we help you make innovation and customer delight central to your DNA.
Our People
Our creativity is fueled by a diverse, international team of passionate design leaders and practitioners.
Ewan Duncan
Senior PartnerSeattle
Works with clients across the technology, media, telecommunications, and other sectors to use design and customer-centricity to increase growth
Hyo Yeon
PartnerNew York
As a leader of McKinsey Design’s global team, works closely with clients to ensure the use of a customer-centric approach to creating products, services, and experiences
Rod Farmer
Associate PartnerSydney
Leads customer experience and design in APAC for McKinsey Digital and is a recognized thought leader in human-centered design, customer experience, and digital transformation
Ben Sheppard
PartnerLondon
Ben leads McKinsey Design in EMEA and the firm's global research on design. He advises clients on creating bold new products and services.