Your leadership doesn’t get the value of design? Here is what to do

You've just wrapped up a project. The work is good — you know it, your team knows it. And then someone in the room asks the question you've come to dread:

"But what's the ROI?"

It's a frustrating moment. Not because the question is unfair, but because you know the value is there. But whenever you’ve tried explaining it, people didn’t seem to get it.

This is one of the most common challenges for designers and creatives at every level. Whether you're a UX designer trying to justify a research sprint, or a creative director defending a campaign budget, the ask is always the same: show me the numbers.

Start with what keeps them up at night

You need to do some digging behind the scenes and find out what your stakeholders care about. Is it conversion rate, customer retention, support ticket volume, or time-on-task? Map your work to any changes in those numbers. Even a directional improvement tells a story.

Great for them might look different to them than to you. But that doesn’t mean a project can’t be successful in both ways.

Put a price tag on the problem you solved

ROI isn't always about revenue gained. It's also about cost avoided. A research project that prevents a six-month build from going in the wrong direction has enormous value, even if no one thinks to measure it. Make that case explicitly before the project, not after.

Make it a before-and-after story

Stakeholders respond to contrast. Instead of describing what you made, describe what changed. "Users were dropping off at checkout, so we redesigned the flow, and abandonment dropped by 20%" is far more persuasive than any process walkthrough.

The underlying skill here isn't really about metrics.

It's about understanding how the business thinks: what it measures, what it worries about, and how decisions actually get made. With that in mind, you can position your work inside that conversation rather than alongside it.

That's a learnable skill. And that’s exactly why we built the Mini-MBA for Designers & Creatives​.

We focus on practical skills to showcase design ROI, so you never feel like you have to prove your worth to others in your organisation again.