This exploration of UK design has proved to be a very useful exercise and has added to our knowledge about how design companies operate.
Ruth Flood asks: what are the big talking points for the future?
- What have the effects of recession actually been on design and can recessions ever be good news in disguise for designers? Have hard times helped design businesses to trim back and focus their services? Has the downturn enabled smaller consultancies to pick up great staff and accounts? Or has selling design become even more difficult and do more businesses think they can do without it?
- What does the growing number of micro design businesses mean for the industry? What are the new challenges they face, and what distinguishes them? How should they promote themselves and get recognised? How should they be represented and is there a risk that they’re too small to show up in the research?
- Do design companies need to develop new business strategies beyond their local and national design networks, or are networks the lifeblood of the industry? Will they continue to grow and develop? Thanks to new types of connectivity like social media, design bodies have a wider audience beyond their core membership. Is there an opportunity for the professional design bodies to use new types of connectivity to raise profile and revenue? Can social media, for example, take them beyond traditional membership models?
- How can designers change how they work? What are the alternatives to the traditional day rate and fixed fees when it comes to getting paid? Can design businesses collaborate more often on bigger, more strategic projects that add value to the ‘triple bottom line’ – profit, sustainability, and social need?
- The design industry performs poorly on formal training compared to other professions – does that really matter? Will tighter finances mean there is more on-the-job learning, and is that a good thing? How can freelances be helped to continue their professional development when time and money are in short supply?
- What are the barriers to entry into the design industry? How can the industry make entry easier and ensure more women and people from ethnic minorities have a fair chance to get a foothold? What’s really going on in design in all the regions around the UK? Are some regions developing specialities? Is it more viable for freelances to operate outside London and what does that mean for the industry at large?