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Knowing your "why" -- your company's deeper purpose -- is the single most powerful tool in UX design. It aligns your team, speeds up decisions, wins over customers, and drives lasting business results.
What Is "Knowing Your Why" in UX Design?
Your "why" is your company purpose: the deeper reason behind what you're building and why it matters. It's the first and most important of the 12 competencies of UX design, because without it, every design decision that follows is built on sand.
Good aesthetic design is fleeting. It's subjective. Trendy. Surface-level. Once a user digs a little deeper and sees that their needs aren't fully met -- or once their taste changes and they move on to the next trend -- it's over. A product or service must have value, not just vanity, to make a real, long-lasting impact.
Value comes from purpose.
Why Does Design Need to Go Deeper Than Aesthetics?
When the average person says "design," they often mean style or aesthetic -- how something looks. That's a normal association, but changing times call for changing definitions.
Technology has disrupted design, leading to fragmentation of specialties, exponentially faster timelines, and higher demands from both users and businesses. A designer who just creates a pretty product and calls it a day is no longer cutting it. Pretty products may impress someone for a moment, but they don't create lasting value.
How Does Your "Why" Help You Win?
A meaningful company mission -- the deeper "why" behind the work -- is the secret ingredient for winning over both consumers and employees. Here's how it plays out across three areas.
Does Having a Clear Purpose Actually Motivate Employees?
Yes. Humans need to know the reason behind requests and actions in order to fully understand and buy in. Influencing employees and colleagues isn't all that different from influencing a child -- the most common response when you ask someone to do something without context is: "Why?"
A designer given a task with no context or background is going to come up with a drastically different (and probably subpar) solution than one who is clear on the purpose and goal of that task.
Knowing the deeper "why" not only affects how employees approach individual tasks, but also their job as a whole. A company purpose attracts like-minded candidates, motivates their work on a daily basis, and makes them want to stay with the firm.
Deloitte's research shows that "mission-driven companies have 30 percent higher levels of innovation and 40 percent higher levels of retention, and they tend to be first or second in their market segment."
Consider Nike. Yes, they make great shoes, but their goal is deeper than that: to bring inspiration and motivation to every athlete in the world (not just professional athletes, but anyone with a body). This purpose has attracted customers and employees alike. They've become a footwear and apparel leader, and were ranked #2 on CareerBliss' list of companies with the happiest employees. Their "why" has helped them win.
Does a Clear "Why" Build Customer Loyalty?
It does. Happy employees provide better service to customers, who also appreciate working with companies that have aspirations beyond just making money.
The EY Beacon Institute noted in their research that "purpose-led brands are more successful in acquiring and retaining customers. This may make intuitive sense, but it is also backed up by behavioral science: people buy things that make them feel good about themselves. And people do business with those they trust."
Like Nike, TOMS has become a successful shoe brand because it strikes a chord with customers. The firm started with a simple idea: every time a consumer buys a pair of TOMS shoes, they donate a pair to someone in need. This "One for One" model catapulted the company from a small startup to a $400 million giant with over 60 million customers and raving fans.
Does Purpose Actually Improve Business Results?
Study after study proves it. Recent research from EY and the Harvard Business Review shows a stark difference in growth between purpose-driven and non-purpose-driven companies.
These companies have a crystal-clear idea of their "why," and they use it as a North Star to guide every product, every person, and every decision to success.
What's Your "Why"?
Being able to articulate your purpose is essential for motivating employees to build a meaningful experience and motivating customers to buy it. Whether you're creating a company from the ground up or simply starting to work on a new experience or task, ask yourself these questions:
- Why are you creating this product, service, experience, or feature?
- What problem will it solve?
- Have you ever experienced that problem yourself? If so, how did it feel?
- What benefits or results did you experience when that problem was solved?
- How will your solution improve the lives of your users or customers?
- How will it improve your business?
- What difference will it make in the world?
- Why should your users or customers care about it? What's in it for them?
Once you have the answers to those questions, the next step is to use them to articulate your purpose statement, which will serve as the North Star for your UX projects. Curious how to do it? Stay tuned for our complete course on "Knowing Your Why" coming soon.
FAQ
What is "knowing your why" in UX design? It's the first of the 12 competencies of UX design -- the ability to clearly articulate your company purpose. Your "why" is the deeper reason behind what you're building, and it guides every product decision, team conversation, and customer interaction that follows.
Why isn't good aesthetics enough in UX design? Aesthetic design is subjective, trendy, and surface-level. Once a user's needs go unmet or their tastes change, the appeal fades. Products need genuine value -- rooted in purpose -- to make a lasting impact.
How does a clear company purpose help retain employees? Deloitte research shows that mission-driven companies have 30 percent higher levels of innovation and 40 percent higher levels of retention. When employees understand the deeper "why" behind their work, they're more motivated and less likely to leave.
Can a company's "why" really drive customer loyalty? Yes. The EY Beacon Institute found that purpose-led brands are more successful at acquiring and retaining customers. TOMS is a prime example: their "One for One" donation model turned a small startup into a $400 million company with over 60 million customers.
How do I figure out my own company's "why"? Start by asking why you're building what you're building, what problem it solves, and what difference it makes to your users and the world. Your answers to those questions form the foundation of your purpose statement -- the North Star for all your UX work.
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