The only thing worse than being exposed to bad design is being forced to work with bad designers.

During each of the past two years, I guest lectured at the Kent State design school, discussing with students how to integrate their design aesthetics with business exigencies. I told them that design had to support a specific business purpose, reinforce the corporate brand and communicate specific qualities. If their design failed to support these business imperatives, then it was bad design, no matter how pretty it was.

Over the course of a semester-long design project, the students learned how to apply their design skills to create a memorable impression, generate interest, communicate product information effectively and generate revenue. Just what they’ll need in the real world.

If college students can understand the purpose of design, why can’t professional designers?

I stopped working today with a designer who simply doesn’t understand how to design effectively for business. Despite detailed feedback, this designer could not grasp the five essential rules of business design:

1. Reinforce my corporate brand. My company has a brand. Specific colors, images, fonts, styles and visual elements that are repeated across multiple media to convey specific qualities and attributes of my company. Your job is to incorporate those design elements to reinforce my brand, not to create a new look that ignores established visual cues and design rules that define my brand.
2. Understand my strategic goals. What is my market? Who are my clients? What are my sales goals? How does this project fit into my corporate mission? If you don’t understand where I’m going, and why, how can you design components to support my efforts?
3. Look at your work from the end-user’s perspective. What does the user want from the product or service? Does your design communicate the core purpose effectively? Is it compelling, distinctive and memorable? The end-user is the one who determines the effectiveness of your design, not your design committee or the marketing director.
4. Design with a purpose. Know what you want to accomplish and what specific message you want to convey. Then design with that purpose in mind. Focus, focus, focus.
5. Pretty ≠ Effective. I’ve yet to meet a designer incapable of creating pretty output. Virtually all are able to generate gorgeous brochures, beautiful ads and splendid identity programs. But just because your work is pretty, doesn’t mean that it’s effective. Great design communicates function, pleasure and meaning to the customer, and supports the specific business purpose of your client.

Remember, you’re a businessperson, too. Pretty isn’t enough. Design with purpose.