Here’s a nice growing/rooting/soil metaphor on the Zun Partners website. (I’m a potato, so I gotta like it)
What distinguishes zun partners from other design and communication firms?
We work from the inside out. Our work grows directly out of business strategies. We are not decorators who make things pretty. We are business partners who root abstract esthetic concerns deep in the rich soil of strategy and planning.
(italics added)