Data-Informed Design: How To Pitch Why Design Work Matters To Anyone
Kai Wong
Medium.com's Top Design Writer.
Great design Doesn't Speak for Itself. Learn to Speak for It.
Most designers do great work. But when they present it, they say "reduced cognitive load" and executives hear "nice to have."
They say "user friction" and leadership hears "fix it later."
They leave the room. Nothing changes.
This isn't a design problem. It's a translation problem. And it's the reason strong designers get overlooked, passed over for promotion, and stuck waiting for buy-in that never comes.
"Selling and advocating for design is 50 to 60% of a designer's job." — Senior Product Designer, ex-Amazon
"You have to translate usability findings into how it's driving your business KPIs." — Design Leader, Mastercard
Data-Informed Design gives you the frameworks to connect your design decisions to the business outcomes leadership actually tracks.
Built from 29 interviews with design leaders at Target, Ford, Mastercard, Meta, and Amazon, and 13+ years presenting design work in low-UX-maturity environments, every framework gets applied to a real project you're already working on.
4 live 90-minute sessions, every Wednesday for 4 weeks. One framework per session. Something you can use immediately every week.
By the end, you'll know exactly what to say to get your work acted on.
What you’ll learn
Go from a designer who presents work to a strategic partner who influences what gets built.
Translate UX findings into the metrics leadership actually tracks
Identify which design decisions have the strongest impact on business goals
Learn to communicate design value in the language executives actually respond to
Define what success looks like before you design, not after
Discover data sources you already have access to but aren't using, from support tickets to analytics to stakeholder interviews
Move from "3/5 users struggled" to "this is hurting our activation rate"
Frame insights so stakeholders feel the urgency to act
Answer the "so what?" before anyone has to ask
Prioritize which design solutions are worth pursuing and why
Estimate business impact before committing to a solution
Present recommendations with the confidence of someone who has done the math
Understand what your PM, executive, and engineering lead actually care about
Tailor your presentation so every audience feels like you're solving their problem
Get to a decision in the room instead of a "we'll circle back"
Build a narrative that connects user behavior to business impact
Make your presentations persuasive, not just informative
Walk out of every meeting with buy-in, not just acknowledgment
Learn directly from Kai
Explore more from this school
Kai Wong
Medium's Top Design Writer| 13 Years Designing in Low Maturity Organizations
Who this course is for
Designers who want to use data to bypass office politics and prove their value immediately
Designers tired of watching 'strategic' roles like PMs get promoted while their insights are ignored
Designers in low-UX maturity environments where relationship-building isn't enough
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Kai Wong in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.
Course syllabus
12 live sessions • 36 lessons • 4 projects
Week 1
Apr
27
Workshop 1: Align Design with Product Goals to start having an impact
Workshop 1 Lessons: Align with Product Goals
May
1
Workshop 2: Want to talk about the Value of Design? Track Business Outcomes
Workshop 2 Lessons: Track Design impact on Business outcomes
May
1
Office Hours
Week 2
May
4
Workshop 3: The most important question to answer is "So What?"
Workshop 3 Lessons: Identifying the core problem that matters to your audience
May
8
Workshop 4: Turn your Core Challenge into a Data Visualization
Workshop 4 Lessons: Turn your Core Challenge into Data Visualizations
May
8
Office Hours
Schedule
Live sessions
2 hrs / week
Mon, Apr 27
4:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Fri, May 1
4:00 PM—5:00 PM (UTC)
Fri, May 1
3:30 PM—4:00 PM (UTC)
Projects
1 hr / week
The exercises help create a final project, which is an effective Data Story draft presentation
Async content
1 hr / week
Follow along with not only pre-recorded videos, but concept cards and templates as well
Testimonials
"Kai brought structure and clarity to our transformation stories — distilling complex, multi-layered design challenges into simple, human narratives that reveal how design drives real organisational change."
Jean-Baptiste Kaloya
VP, Product Design at BPIFrance
Frequently asked questions
$599
USD
5 days left to enroll