Being on both the creative team and a part of management, I see many project struggle to come to life because the business does not involve the design group early enough. Especially when it’s dealing with the web or some other form of media. The business needs to understand that design is not a “snap your fingers and poof!” process. Good design needs good planning just like everything else.

Having a background in Psychology, I know that in order for a project to be successful, you have to understand your target audience. Too often projects are created taking into consideration what management “likes” versus what the target demographic actually wants. And for me, that’s a big miss.

This is why, as you stated, it is very important for designers to be very familiar with the way the business runs. It is this involvement and cross communication that allows the other parts of the business to see where the gaps are and how to close them. It also allows for the business to take the design aspect of the project seriously because now they can see the added value and how it is directly tied to the success of a project.