We call our library
‘The Design Business Review’
It’s a library of articles about the business of design.
The articles are based on real questions from real design businesses — pricing, positioning, client management, mental wellbeing, and the research we've done into what actually works. Many originated from knowledge earned from 30 years running a studio, and updated with research and insights from mentoring sessions with Australian designers.
New articles land every Wednesday morning AEST, straight to your inbox.
Got a topic you’re interested in but can’t find? Let us know… we might be able to help.
Low maintenance businesses don’t exist
To be sustainable, businesses need maintenance because, like gardens, because they are continually growing and changing.
In today’s market design skills are not enough
In a difficult market, the agencies that win won’t necessarily be the ones producing the best-looking work.
A back-of-envelope benchmark worth doing even if your agency is thriving
Life can get very complicated for founders. Grab a calculator and give me 20 minutes and you’ll reveal if your studio has a profit leak and what to do about it.
Time for a change
Designers earning the majority of their salary ‘on-the-tools’ need a change. They have a problem because now anyone can now do what previously only they could.
Changing the way clients look at your pricing
You quote the same fee and deliverables and one client signs without blinking. Another baulks and asks you to “revisit the numbers.” What changed is the framing, not the price.
Juniors still have a role in our industry
Hiring ‘junior’ designers was previously based on proficiency. That’s increasingly irrelevant but hiring them is more important than ever. Here’s why…
Your design has impact. But…
Every design project creates impact, whether the designer or client chooses to recognise it or not. The challenge is to understand what that impact might be.
Got 60 minutes?
Don’t wait for a ‘planning’ or ‘strategy’ day to do some analysis. Snatch 60 minutes and tackle on of these tasks… you’ll be amazed what you can achieve.
Marketing has a measurement problem. Designers are paying for it.
New research confirms what many designers know: the old ways of working aren’t cutting it anymore. Let’s look at what’s changing and what successful studios are doing about it.
What if design has become a luxury?
You know the thing most client’s are worried about when commissioning design? That the result will flop and they’ll be embarrassed in front of their colleagues because they backed a loser.
Profiting from change in the design industry
While others dwell on the changes disrupting the design industry, you focus on the things you can change. Introduce a toolkit that helps manage costing, pricing and profit.
Why we’re selling risk management not design
You know the thing most client’s are worried about when commissioning design? That the result will flop and they’ll be embarrassed in front of their colleagues because they backed a loser.
Marketing, AI and designers
As marketing becomes more strategic, design agency clients will need agencies that can help them make better decisions, not simply produce more content. This article discusses 4 ways creative businesses can help clients.
Nobody wants to meet anymore — is that a problem?
It’s happening everywhere – clients are refusing to meet, they’re requesting designers ‘just send a PDF’. That may be a problem for some, but not everyone.
If you’re newer to this or working solo, take some comfort: you are not alone.
Sometimes there’s no trick. A client just says no.
Will AI commoditise your business?
For the past two years, the Design Business Council has been researching how AI is changing the commercial landscape for design businesses. We’ve spoken with agency owners, analysed business models, examined pricing strategies, and explored how AI is reshaping the way clients buy design
5 tasks worth 30 minutes of your time
It can feel impossible to put aside a day or even half a day to work on your business. Instead, why not build a repertoire of quick business moves you can squeeze between other ‘must do’s’?
Here’s 5 activities guaranteed to move the business dial … it’s pretty amazing what you can get done in half an hour.
Busy? Profitable? Burnt out?
When we ask creative agency owners how things are going we often hear the same answer. “We’re busy, not profitable enough and feeling burnt out”
Busy and profitable don’t mean your business is healthy.
In our work we see agencies looking at financial performance and team wellbeing as two completely separate issues.
The social cost nobody talks about
There’s a silent change that has crept up on the creative industry. It’s not about tech, nor is it about $.
It’s not even about clients.
It’s about isolation.
Early in my career getting a job out the door required a small army. Now I can do most of the roles myself. Is that a good thing?
Busy may not = profitable
Busy and profitable are very different things. A busy diary can be one of the most dangerous indicators in a design business. Activity feels like progress but keeping an eye on some key metrics tells you whether progress is real. Here’s 2 key business metrics worth measuring – and what they look like for high-performing Australian design studios.
You’re not an imposter, you were just never taught this
There’s a moment most designers recognise: you present work with confidence and all goes until the discussion moves to budget. Your confidence evaporates. All going well until the conversation moves to budget and any confidence evaporates.
That’s not imposter syndrome.
That’s a knowledge gap. And it’s not your fault.