01.01.25
Beautility; Making Good Choices Desirable
Purpose & Stakeholder Governance asks businesses to hold a clear purpose and to embed stakeholder interests into decision-making, contributing to a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy.
Since becoming a B Corp in 2022, our philosophy of Beautility has remained the guiding principle that shapes what we make and how we operate. Beautility is commitment to Make Good Choices Desirable. We believe brands hold real power; they shape demand, influence behaviour, and normalise what gets made, chosen and valued. Our responsibility is to use that influence to centre social and environmental purpose, and to make better choices feel as compelling and culturally resonant as the familiar ones.
Inspired by William Morris’s provocation – “Have nothing in your house you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” – we see ourselves as 21st-century inheritors of that idea, updated for the realities of today and the future we face.
For us, “good choices” are rarely simple. They sit at the intersection of craft and utility, our relationship with nature, the emerging questions raised by AI, and the search for alternatives to narrow, extractive models of progress.
Over the past year, we’ve focused on strengthening the infrastructure behind that intention and created our Operating Principles: clearer goals, clearer expectations, and clearer ways of reviewing progress - so purpose becomes a shared logic the whole studio can use, test and improve.
Last year, we set ourselves the goal of regularly revisiting and evolving this framework to stay aligned with the needs of the business and our culture. Through reflection, we’ve come to believe the opposite may be more powerful: holding it steady. By resisting the urge to continually refine – something we’re admittedly very good at as designers – we’re creating something solid enough to embed, trust and work with over time.
How can understanding and alignment with our company philosophy, objectives and ways of working be made accessible and relevant to everyone, regardless of role?
As we look ahead, our focus is on extending these principles beyond the studio; ensuring stakeholder voices are considered, concerns can be raised safely, and our governance team continues to review progress against our purpose and impact.
Purpose and Governance is about building the conditions that make better choices easier to make; consistently, collectively, and over time.
Impact Summaries
INTENTIONS
- Hold our public purpose of Beautility clearly, ensure it is integrated into our strategy, and governed at leadership level.
- Make company mission usable day-to-day: translate mission, vision, goals and expected behaviours into practical tools people can navigate and apply, regardless of role.
ACHIEVEMENTS
- Continued to evolve our “Strategy House” approach - using a unified framework that brings mission, vision, company goals, values and behaviours into one consistent, accessible system.
- Refined our Values & Behaviours into clearer Operating Principles, making expectations easier to understand, easier to engage with, and more useful in practice (including how we make decisions, how we work together, and how we hold ourselves accountable).
- Improved the way expectations show up for people joining the studio, with line managers sharing Operating Principles as part of onboarding materials (and planned further formalisation of this).
- Operating Principles directly linked to having key performance indictors (KPIs) set during appraisals that will help to measure effectiveness and improvements for driving change
THE FUTURE
- Responsible Marketing & Claims Policy
- Publish a short, practical Responsible Marketing & Claims Policy that explains how we make claims precise, verifiable and evidence-based; how we’re transparent about positives and negatives; and how we handle sensitive channels ethically.
- Roll it out internally (brief training + simple “before we publish” checklist), and make it accessible for anyone creating outward-facing comms.
- Stakeholder Map & Impact
- Create a simple stakeholder map that identifies and prioritises: workers, suppliers, customers, investors, local community, and the environment, then define how each is represented or heard (mechanisms, owners, cadence).
- Build stakeholder consideration into decision-making moments.
- Grievance Process & Tracking
- Alongside our existing policy for employees, publish a publicly accessible grievance route, including: what counts as a grievance, steps + target timelines, how resolutions are handled, and how we protect people from retaliation.
- Track grievances (even if “none”), assign accountability, and create an annual summary.
- Include grievance tracking as an explicit standing item in quarterly reviews, so accountability is visible and continuous.
- Strength Governance Accountability
- Ensure Governance monitors the company's purpose, social and environmental impact, and stakeholder considerations at least once a year.