Design business coaching

ONE MINUTE ON THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN Design Business Model Canvas Want more? Design Business Model Canvas, explained in The Business of Design the only book to detail the how and why of running an Australian design business. Produced by The Design Business Council. Available here Business Model Canvas. A video that explains the basic [...]

Rules for working for free Here's a story about a designer and her brother. He (let's call him Hugo) is CEO of a not-for-profit food-rescue organisation. She, (let's call her Ella), is the founder and creative director of a design firm working in the healthcare sector. It's June. Most not-for-profits are competing for end-of-financial-year tax-deductible [...]

When you have that 'stuck' feeling So it’s been nine months now since I started my new job. I only hesitate for a moment now when I’m asked where I’m from. Design Business Council nearly slips off my tongue but not quite. It’s tough after 33 years – Mackay Branson design was so much part [...]

  ONE MINUTE ON THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN Competitive advantage Want more? The Business of Design, (page 104 - 123) published by The Design Business Council. Available here Designing demand workshop. Inhouse workshop that shows how to develop a competitive advantage and strategies to get more work. See more here. Designing demand Program. An 8 [...]

Why studio management comes before design Being a great designer doesn't automatically bring in clients. Nor does it transform a once-off client into returning revenue. When you boil it down to the basics, you've got to sell before you get to design. We sell ideas using design that gives clients an outcome – it may [...]

A strategy that turned a loss into a profit I had the best week in Perth. One of my meetings was with a designer I have been mentoring for the past 12 months. Over a coffee, Frankie explained how this year’s financial figures proved she has successfully transformed a loss-making part of her business into [...]

A scholarship for female startups Design is a great career for both sexes. Working in design makes it possible to combine any mixture of doing, producing and managing. Strange thing is, research continually shows that women are more likely to be doing and men seem to be managing. We want to help change that… Our [...]

Working in design plays with your head ... Two things happened last week worth sharing. The first was part of our regularly 'design yak' - a breakfast meeting of like-minded designers. During the discussion (we have a topic each month) a designer shared her frustration at losing a project on price. Yep, happens all the [...]

Read your website and socials through the lens of a client who is researching, looking for a new design partner. It’s astounding how similar everyone sounds.

Photo by Jordon Opel on Unsplash Hunters and farmers I’ve always found it incongruous studios need to ramp-up new business activities when we are busiest. Seems bonkers, but research proves it time and again. Sustainable businesses need constant client renewal. One would think, with all that research, someone must have found some kind of formula [...]

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash Persuading others (to do what you want). In a world of co-creating and collaborating, the ability to persuade others to your view point is a really valuable skill. Would you be surprised if I told you that forcefully arguing your point of view is the least effective way of [...]

Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash Too black for Snapchat. It’s easy to think that bias is embedded in ‘others’ – people like Donald Trump, Pauline Hanson and Today Tonight producers. Truth is we all have unconscious bias and we all unknowingly embed our bias into design. Think you don’t? That could be worse – [...]