Australian design – all dressed up and no place to go

There are exciting opportunities and tremendous challenges ahead for the Australian design industry.

Design is slowly moving up the agenda, for the three tiers of government, for businesses and for consumers. But there are threats.

A rapidly evolving Asian business environment means that change must happen faster if Australian design is to compete in the Asia Pacific region.

The Creative Business in Australia report shows that many Australian design businesses are fragile and lack the basic professional and business skills needed to survive in a regional competitive environment. This will become increasingly apparent as Australian design faces greater competition from cheaper outsourced Asian alternatives. With the rapid build-up of design education in China it’s only a matter of time before that market develops a mature approach to design and starts offering sophisticated solutions at a much lower price. The rapidly growing Asian middle class is creating a need for designed products and services

Competing in this new design paradigm within the existing and emerging markets of our region will be a challenge. Is our industry up for that?

The industry lacks a focus

The Australian design industry is served by a small number of dedicated design associations responsible for industry development. Unfortunately, none of these bodies has universal support and they suffer from low engagement (demonstrated by comparing member numbers to registered design businesses).

This is not a criticism of those associations and the people who run them. With a small population of designers and design businesses it’s not possible to sustain a highly active design industry association without substantial membership fees. It’s a catch 22. Designers won’t pay higher membership fees until the associations prove they can get traction with design clients and promote design. The associations can’t achieve this without more revenue.

But they need to change and catch up with the industry. A recent workshop advertised for the ‘commercial art and design’ industry is an indicator of how far they have to go.

Design education doesn’t help

Sustainable designers obviously need to be good at designing but they also need to know what can be feasibly produced within a business strategy that delivers competitive advantage.

These skills are not taught in design courses. Again I don’t blame the universities and the people teaching in them. The funding model for university education is based on pushing students through, with little contact time and funding.

Design education needs to be more closely integrated with current design practice so that students understand the realities of design practice along with applied creative and technical skills.

Here’s a solution. The massive skill-base in studios could be tapped to offer a completely new model of design education. Imagine a situation where studio owners can offer on-the-job training to develop skills specific to their needs. Students could transfer their HECS fees to pay a design studio to give them relevant industry based skills whilst also earning a part time wage. Radical? Maybe that’s what we need.

Low level of professional development

Recent research by the DBC found that design employers are reticent to provide on-going formal training and professional development for their employees. They also don’t undertake professional development for themselves.

Added to that, post graduation, many designers are disinterested in developing new skills (apart from applied creative and technical skills).

A solution

The industry needs a rethink. We have allowed it to survive on an outdated model of selling time and materials. A vast majority of design businesses still operate this way. They produce great work but undersell the impact it has for clients. We need to move the discussion from design value to design impact.

Greg Branson