Business of design

Last week I met with one of my regular clients – a studio where I perform the role of Chairman.
In this case, I’m there to help the studio develop new directions – specifically – help them get a swap of new business through the door.

In May 2019, Design Business Council facilitated an UNseminar titled ‘What client’s think’.
We invited three clients to share their views about designers: what they liked, and what they didn’t.
This is a summary of the night written by Serpil Senelmis.

We all know the best way to new business is to get more work from existing clients but it can be hard trying to find new avenues to sell our skill.
This is a new service most designers can confidently add to their pitch.

Innovation whooshes past designers steadfastly committed to producing innovation solutions that keep their clients products and services up-to-date. But while we keep them relevant, who keeps us relevant?

To grow a design practice, it’s obvious that you need a constant supply of work either from existing clients or new clients. We know that 80% of your growth will come from existing clients. And we know that many agencies have clients scattered across a range of industry sectors

In a crowded marketplace, designers need to explore different ways to find new business. Our design value chain, evolved from Michael Porter’s value chain, works brilliantly to identify where an organisation uses design, how effective it is, and the benefits of using more design.

Of all the line items in an estimate of costs, clients seem to question design management the most. They seem to think that paying for design management is like paying for bottled water…

Our industry is rife with prejudices. We are a long way from gender equity when it comes to ownership of large agencies, in spite of equity at graduation. We slavishly follow the bright and shiny new designers and we are ageist.