Contributed by J. Cornelius, an EO Atlanta member. J. is the founder and president of Nine Labs, which helps companies imagine, design and build world-class web and mobile products.

Great design is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.  

That bears repeating: Great design—a product that looks good and works well—is essential for success. Product design in the software industry has matured enough that you simply will not succeed with an ugly, ill-conceived digital product. A beautiful and well-functioning app is just table stakes. And I’ll explain why.

Over the last year, I’ve had multiple conversations and discovered these groundbreaking talking points anyone in product design must be aware of.

Beyond basic software expectations, the reason product success often hinges on design has a lot to do with the basic principles of neuroscience. When customers choose between two competing products with similar capabilities, the better-looking and more intuitive one always wins. 

Understanding the underlying neuroscience of human decision-making will empower your team to make more appealing digital products, a distinct advantage over your competition.