We wanted to know more about design buyers so we asked a group of them how they work and what sort of services they buy from the UK and from overseas markets.
In our survey of 120 UK-based buyers of design services, the majority (80%) work in the marketing and communications department of their organisation, with 10% working in a design department.
Just over a fifth of buyers (21%) have previously worked in a design consultancy or as a design supplier and 20% have a design qualification, most commonly at degree level (42%). Almost half of those with a design qualification (46%) have previously worked in a design consultancy or as a design supplier.
We asked the buyers what sort of design services they were buying: was it
- Strategic design: strategic design planning and management across the client organisation;
- Conceptual design: concept projects, creative exploration and idea generation;
- Design production & implementation: working to a specification to produce or implement a given design idea;
- Design research: ethnography work, user research and market research.
The types of service most commonly purchased are design production and implementation and conceptual design, bought by 83% and 80% of design buyers respectively. Strategic design and design research are bought by fewer buyers - 34% and 37% respectively.
Chart 29
Design Buyers said they would consider buying services overseas, but what sort of service are they most likely to buy?
| Level/part of design |
% |
| Design production & implementation |
 83 |
| Conceptual design |
80 |
| Design research |
37 |
| Strategic design |
34 |
Only a very small number of the UK design buyers we talked to – less than 2% – are currently buying services from overseas designers.
Those that are, tend to be larger companies, often with an international customer base or headquarters. The surveyed buyers say they most commonly commission design work from Western Europe, North America and Asia
Buyers most commonly use fairly informal connections, such as word of mouth, networks or relationship-based approaches.
Methods such as tendering, competitive pitching and advertising are used less frequently.
Most commonly buyers purchase services from overseas designers because the buyer’s parent company is based abroad.
Other reasons include a desire to use designers with knowledge of overseas consumers and markets and the need to bring in ‘fresh and different’ ideas. Some buyers look overseas for lower cost suppliers, although this is predominantly a factor in more basic production work at present.
Some buyers of overseas design say they would not be prepared to pay more for UK design because of its quality. This is especially important as the quality of work from overseas suppliers is increasing – UK designers may not be able to rely on charging a premium for UK design quality. This could also impact the decisions of buyers with lower budgets: three quarters of all the buyers in this survey purchasing solely production and implementation services have budgets below £50,000, for example.