Designers are facing pressure from all around. Design is a global marketplace, more design students than ever are graduating from college while design-savvy clients mean winning business takes more effort and commercial sense than ever before. What keeps a designer ahead?
Legendary product designer Kenneth Grange, co-founder of Pentagram and designer of modern icons such as the new London black cabs and the Kenwood Chef, explains that a life in design means being constantly inquisitive. 'I'm always asking how things are made. You're never too old for that.' He believes that a love of the job is an absolute prerequisite. He says: 'I love construction. I love making things. It's incredibly liberating to make things yourself. I've been called a constructive malcontent. If I don't like something, as a designer, I can do something about it.'
Ross Lovegrove , famous for products ranging from water bottles to plane seats, agrees that a career in design is, to a certain extent, a path of self discovery. 'Learning is a perpetual thing. You do your work then you seek to get educated again. Design is about a certain resistance to what is around you and finding your own path. I believe architecture is leading the world in creativity in that respect. All my furniture is geared towards what's going on in architecture. Modern architects such as Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry have integrity.'
But part of that integrity is managing the relationship between designer and client, thinks Lovegrove. 'You have to have to have chemistry with the client. If I don't feel that chemistry I don't work with them. There are three aspects to this: money, culture and future. You work for money and you influence the clients' culture, and through that you get a future. But some clients simply don't have the culture or the process to deliver that future.'
But architect Sarah Wigglesworth , who runs her own practice Sarah Wigglesworth Architects, says that in presenting their own vision, it's vital the designer isn't allowed to override the wishes of the client. She says: 'The client is very important. I find the arrogance of designers who dismiss their clients' wishes as incredibly obnoxious.'
Likewise, any creative who underestimates the client runs the risk of letting arrogance get in the way of the message, says Naresh Ramchandani , co-founder of advertising agency Karmarama, the agency responsible for the 'chuck out your chintz' and 'Van den Puup' Ikea campaigns. 'I've met lots of people in advertising who believe they are artists and that the work they do is genius and if the client doesn't buy it they are stupid. We are in an age where clients are incredibly bright and know their own products. It's a choice between hubris and humility.'
But finding the time and space to learn is a problem designers face at any stage of their career. Sarah Wigglesworth argues that commercial considerations make learning difficult the further you get in your career. 'I am the brand so I'm doing all the boring stuff,' she says. 'The busier you get the less time you have to think things through. That's why I continue to teach. If I don't give myself that space then practice can be all-consuming. About 98% of what I do is not concerned with design, which is why I have to be bloody good in that 2%.'
At the beginning of their career, designers have plenty of time and space to explore their creativity, but in a competitive environment commercial considerations start early. Simon Waterfall , founder of new media design agency Poke, had to find his way in a discipline that had barely been invented. 'I was originally spotted and offered work through the New Designers exhibition so I called a friend to start a consultancy.
'We borrowed £200 to buy a fax machine. The dining room was our studio. New media didn't exist then. We did everything in our spare time. Officially we were still at school but that professional aspect was parallel to our education. We didn't have elder statesmen to look up to so we birthed it on our own.'
Modern young designers are finding that not only do they have to be flexible about which discipline they work in, they have to be adept at collaboration throughout their career. 'You have to use collaborators if you want to stay small,' says Waterfall. 'At the moment we're pitching to Coke and finding it very political. Whether you get the job or not isn't just about the idea. We're being seconded into (agency) Mother for the project.'
Multi-disciplinary designer Julia Lohmann agrees that collaboration is necessary but difficult.
'I like to collaborate with people and a lot of my fellow students are working that way. As a designer you have to deal with people and when you start out you don't know the rules.'
Another problem for young designers is gaining credibility with no reputation to fall back on. Duo Fabian Hermann and Danny McNeil , who are in the third year at the London College of Communication, have actively sought out placements with agencies such as Pentagram and have been doing commercial work alongside their studies. 'No amount of intelligence can compensate for experience. What motivates us is proving ourselves,' says Hermann, 'to ourselves, the public, teachers and friends.'
While there's no doubt that all experience is valuable, many of the speakers were against the use of students by clients who don't properly value design, simply because they're cheap. 'We have been doing identity work for a music company,' says Hermann. 'We got the work because the company approached the college. They came for slave labour.'
Kenneth Grange feels that colleges should keep such clients out. 'I believe educators shouldn't run design studios. It's against the betterment of students. They need to have a chance away from commercial pressure. Colleges that sell design services attract the cheapest and nastiest clients.'
Sarah Wigglesworth agrees. 'The space you have to think [at college] is valuable. It's not possible to learn business in academia. College is where you learn your discipline without pressure.'
Both Lohmann and Ramchandani think that college is a place for inspiration. 'I call myself a British designer even though I'm German, but really for me it's about London. I've been here for seven years and all my education has happened here. It's where people from all over the world come together.'
Says Ramchandani: 'All my business skills, such as communication, I've learnt on the job. You should come out of education with the desire to do great things.'
Do you have an opinion on any of the issues about business practice or design education raised here? As part of our ongoing work on skills in the design sector, we'd like to hear from you...