From Brand Assets to Business Assets: Reframing Design Investment

TL;DR

Design isn’t a cost centre. Today over 80 % of the value of the S&P 500 comes from intangible assets like brands, patents and customer relationships. Companies that prioritise design and brand consistently outperform peers, growing revenues 32 percentage points faster and delivering 56 % higher shareholder returns. Strong brands deliver lower acquisition costs and command premium pricing, with their value growing 2.4 times faster for companies that invest in them. When you view design as business infrastructure rather than a cosmetic expense, you build reusable assets that compound over time. This post explains why and how to make the shift.

Introduction

Ask most executives to justify a marketing budget and they will cite cost per lead or campaign ROI. Ask them to justify their design budget and many will struggle. Design is still seen as decoration, something you invest in after strategy and sales are sorted. Yet the numbers tell a different story. A 2018 McKinsey report tracking 300 companies found that top‑quartile design performers increased revenue growth by 32 percentage points and delivered 56 percentage points higher total returns to shareholders over a five‑year period. Design‑led companies don’t just look better; they make more money.

Meanwhile, the composition of corporate value has changed dramatically. In 1975 tangible assets like factories and equipment accounted for the bulk of a company’s worth. By 2018 intangible assets, intellectual property, patents, customer data and brands, represented 84 % of the value of S&P 500 companies. Your logo, colour palette and visual system are no longer just marketing extras; they are assets that influence loyalty, pricing power and even investor confidence.

This article reframes design investment as an asset‑building activity. We’ll explore what makes brand assets valuable, the financial case for design, why amateurs misallocate budgets, and how to convert your brand infrastructure into tangible business outcomes. Along the way we’ll draw on Lot Designs projects to show how systematic design can transform not just the look but the performance of a business.

Brand assets: the building blocks of value

Brand assets are the visual and experiential elements that convey your business identity. They include your name, logo, colours, typography, imagery and even distinctive sounds or scents. When used consistently, these assets create immediate recognition and set you apart from competitors. Canva defines brand assets as “design and marketing elements that convey a business identity and are easily recognised by consumers”. Over time, repeated exposure to these assets builds familiarity and trust, which lowers the decision‑making burden for buyers.

These seemingly simple elements are more than just aesthetics. Intangible assets, which include brands, account for the majority of corporate value. A study on the S&P 500 found that intangible assets represented 84 % of total company value in 2018. In other words, most of what you’re worth can’t be shipped from a warehouse; it exists in perceptions, relationships and intellectual property. Branding is a sizeable component of that intangible value. Ignoring it in favour of short‑term tactics leaves money on the table.

Design is a business investment, not a cost

If brand assets form the foundation of intangible value, design is the engine that creates, maintains and grows those assets. Data backs this up. McKinsey’s global research shows that companies with strong design capabilities outperform their industries, generating 32 percentage points higher revenue growth and 56 percentage points higher total shareholder returns than their peers. Forrester research goes further: according to a widely cited report, every dollar invested in user experience design returns $100. That’s a 9,900 % ROI.

Brand investment also compounds. Interbrand reports that companies prioritising brand strength saw their brand value grow 2.4 times faster than those that did not. And because brand equity influences perceptions of reliability and quality, it lets businesses charge premium prices, attract talent and weather competitive shocks.

In practical terms, design investment reduces costs elsewhere. Consistent assets lower your acquisition costs by improving marketing efficiency and conversion rates. A strong brand also reduces churn and increases customer lifetime value, because people prefer buying from brands they know and trust. When your design system includes reusable components and guidelines, your creative team spends less time reinventing assets and more time delivering value. This is why design systems reduce developer time by more than 20 % and allow companies to scale without adding headcount.

From decoration to infrastructure

Many organisations still treat design like wallpaper, something applied after the real work is done. This mindset leads to one‑off campaigns, inconsistent visuals and a chronic need to “refresh” the brand every few years. Professionals operate differently. They treat design as infrastructure: an integrated system of assets, guidelines and workflows that support every customer touchpoint.

Consider our work with Carmex MEA, a global legacy brand trying to resonate with a younger, trend‑conscious Middle Eastern audience. The challenge was to translate Carmex’s iconic yellow‑and‑red heritage into social‑first content and physical PR kits without losing global consistency. We built a modular design system that governed colours, typography and packaging across digital and physical channels. The result? Higher organic influencer adoption and share rates, improved cost‑per‑engagement and a multi‑year partnership. The brand assets we created weren’t campaign collateral; they became reusable components that continue to drive engagement.

Professional creative operations don’t just make things pretty; they align design with business goals. They build design systems, implement governance and measure the impact of assets. Amateurs skip this infrastructure and pay a hidden tax in rework, delays and inconsistent messaging. They see design as a sunk cost rather than an investment that grows in value. The difference isn’t talent; it’s how design is managed.

How to turn brand assets into business assets

Reframing design as an investment requires a shift in mindset and practice. Here’s how to get started:

1. Audit your existing brand assets and value drivers

Begin by inventorying all your visual and experiential assets: logos, colour palettes, photography, videos, voice and tone. Assess how consistently they are used across marketing, product and sales channels. At the same time, examine your intangible value drivers: customer loyalty, price premiums, intellectual property and community. This audit reveals gaps between your current assets and the business outcomes you want.

2. Build a unified design system

Create a single source of truth that defines your brand’s visual language, component library and usage guidelines. A design system centralises decisions so new assets automatically align with the brand. This is how we scale content without chaos for clients like Carmex and Carbon Theory. For startups, investing in a minimal system early prevents design debt and sets the stage for consistent growth. Our article on design systems explains how to build and govern one [Scaling startups without chaos].

3. Tie design metrics to business outcomes

Set measurable goals for design: conversion rates, user engagement, lifetime value and price elasticity. Use cohort analysis and A/B testing to link improvements in brand assets to these metrics. When you see that a consistent landing page increases sign‑ups by 20 %, design becomes a performance lever, not a cost. McKinsey’s research underscores the importance of tracking design performance with the same rigour as revenue.

4. Invest in user experience and brand storytelling

Your brand isn’t just your logo; it’s every interaction customers have with you. Investing in UX design improves satisfaction, loyalty and word‑of‑mouth. Remember that Forrester found a 100‑to‑1 return on UX investment. Brand storytelling also builds emotional connections that turn customers into advocates. Our blog on design consistency explains why coherent storytelling fuels revenue growth [Why consistency matters].

5. Empower cross‑functional collaboration

Design becomes a business asset when it permeates every department. Marketing teams should have access to the same design system as product and engineering. Sales decks must be on‑brand. Customer support needs templates that reflect your voice. Bridging silos requires governance and training, but the payoff is speed and cohesion. Our post on predictable design output shows how shared processes accelerate marketing velocity [Improve marketing velocity].

6. Measure and communicate ROI

As you implement your system, track both qualitative and quantitative results. Do customers recognise your brand more quickly? Are campaigns launching faster? Are you spending less on design rework? Present these findings to executives in financial terms. When intangible value grows and costs drop, the case for design investment becomes self‑evident.

Project‑backed proof

Our projects illustrate how reframing design investment produces outsized returns:

• Carmex MEA: By treating the brand’s visual elements as reusable assets, we transformed static global materials into dynamic, platform‑native content. The resulting PR kits and social designs boosted influencer mentions and reduced cost‑per‑engagement, turning design into a growth lever.
• Carbon Theory × Nahdi: This partnership required localising a UK skincare brand for Middle Eastern audiences. We developed a science‑first design framework that balanced clinical credibility with cultural resonance. The consistent system enabled rapid production of marketing assets and contributed to a successful regional launch and high engagement.
• Website redesigns: In our experience, businesses that see their website as a living asset rather than a one‑time project achieve better ROI. Our post on why most redesigns fail explores this in depth and explains how to align design with business objectives [Avoiding redesign failure].

These case studies show that design investments aren’t just about aesthetics. When treated as infrastructure, they generate measurable business value.

Strategic takeaways

• Intangible value dominates modern business. Eighty‑four percent of the S&P 500’s value now comes from intangible assets like brand, reputation and customer relationships.
• Design drives growth. Top design performers enjoy 32 percentage points higher revenue growth and 56 percentage points higher total returns to shareholders. Every dollar invested in UX returns up to $100.
• Strong brands compound. Companies that prioritise brand building see their brand value grow 2.4 times faster. Brand assets improve recognition, trust and marketing ROI.
• Systems beat one‑offs. Professional operators build design systems and governance to scale assets across channels. Amateurs rely on ad hoc fixes and pay a hidden tax in delays and inconsistency.
• Measure what matters. Link design efforts to revenue, conversion and lifetime value. Use metrics to prove the business case and secure ongoing investment.

Conclusion

Design isn’t fluff, it’s infrastructure. In a world where intangible assets make up the lion’s share of corporate value, your brand assets are among the most valuable things you own. When companies treat design as an expense, they miss out on revenue growth, price premiums and customer loyalty. When they treat it as a long‑term investment, supported by systems and measurement, they unlock compounding returns.

Moving from brand assets to business assets requires discipline: auditing your current assets, building unified systems, tracking performance and cultivating collaboration. But the payoff is clear. Strong design doesn’t just make you look good; it makes you more resilient, more profitable and more valuable. If you’re ready to stop thinking of design as decoration and start treating it as the engine of your brand’s future, now is the time to make the shift.

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