Design pricing

Step away from the computer If there is one thing  we've learnt from hosting two years of 'designerly' breakfasts in downtown Melbourne, Australia; it's the value of simply stepping away from your computer to share / talk / eat with other creatives.  As one breakfaster wrote in an email this week: for me, the breakfasts [...]

The facts about sprints There is a lot of time invested devising methods to work smarter, more efficiently and more effectively. Some see the answer in design sprints – methodology aimed at getting more work out of the building, faster. Do they work? Busy-ness looks effective. It looks like you are getting stuff done. When you [...]

Studio culture and job descriptions Much of my work in the Chairman program is with businesses who want to change. I work with forward-thinking studio owners who recognise they can’t keep doing the same thing for the next 10 years. The plans for this change are generally well thought through; they have a positioning to [...]

Why policies and procedures save money. It’s a common misconception that policies and procedures are only necessary when a studio reaches ‘maturity’, be that in structure or in longevity. That’s not true. Well written policies and procedures save money. They are the backbone of a truly sustainable design firm because they allow everyone to work [...]

Do you have ‘design-led’ or ‘design-fed’ clients What is the difference and why should we care; as long as we get design into the company? This was answered by Ryan Hart, principal analyst at Forrester, one of the most influential research and advisory firms in the world. Ryan was talking recently at the Forrester CX [...]

ONE MINUTE ON THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN What motivates clients What motivates clients. Understanding what motivates clients by using an empathy map. Want more? Walk a day in your clients shoes, an article about empathy mapping and how it can be used in a design studio. Read it here I jnow what clients really want. [...]

Monthly meetings where designers talk business. Get up. Get out of your studio and talk business with others. Analyse things that are broken. Explore solutions. Talk to other designers. Collaborate. Share. We’ve run a breakfast session for designers for the past two years. A session where problems are tabled and solved, all over toast and [...]

ONE MINUTE ON THE BUSINESS OF DESIGN Fiscal fitness in a design business Fiscal fitness in a design business. Understanding the benchmarks that will show how fiscally fit your design business is. Want more? The Business of Design, produced by The Design Business Council. This book is written just for Australian designers with sections on [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Photo by Radovan on Unsplash Bored, disengaged designers. Sometimes managing a studio is a little like being the entertainment director of the P+O Cruise ship 'Designer'. It often falls on the studio manager to keep designers engaged, motivated and focussed. And that's no mean feat, especially (as a business owner) having a stable of loyal, [...]

Why does your design business exist? Is it to make money? To work with good clients who appreciate design? To deliver your desired lifestyle? To be seen as a leader in the industry? In working with many design business owners I hear all sorts of answers. The business owners who can answer this question quickly [...]