Design Business Association Launches Guide to Protect Standards

London, UK (PRWEB UK) 1 June 2011

A database containing the financial details and other confidential data of Britain’s top design businesses is being launched to help protect standards and professionalism in the industry.

The directory, published by the Design Business Association (DBA), includes information about design firms’ turnover, fee structure, corporate policies and areas of expertise. It is aimed at helping clients to identify and access reputable and qualified design services quicker and less expensively than at present.

More than £11billion is spent on external design in the UK every year but there are concern that the sector’s reputation is being compromised by unqualified operators and cheap competition from abroad.

Publication of the directory is intended to ensure potential clients have easy access to the industry’s most reputable firms.

The DBA Directory was launched at an event in City Hall, London last night (May 31) attended by 150 senior figures from Government, the DBA, the Marketing Society and the Institute of Directors (IoD).

Designed and approved by a client advisory panel and containing several tiers of confidential information, it can be accessed by potential clients using security cleared passwords.

Keith Forbes, co-director of Glasgow-based design agency Good Creative and a board member of the DBA, said: “The bottom line for business is that there is now a repository of the best members of the design industry all of whom have proven track records of success.

“Clients now have easy access to the industry’s best professionals, with all their paperwork in order. In addition, the top tier of agencies will have case studies to prove their effectiveness and their ability to provide a return on investment.

“It will allow potential clients to find procurement-ready design consultancies quickly and efficiently, saving them, as well as design companies, a lot of money and heartache.”

There are about 20,000 creative design consultancies in the UK, roughly 1,400 of which are located in Scotland.

“Good communications that get real results and a return on investment come from mutual respect and an honest, long term working partnership between client and agency,” says Forbes.

The directory contains a comprehensive through every stage of the design process – from selection and briefing, through to choosing the design route.

It includes details of design agencies’ rate cards, which vary depending on the agency’s size, experience and overheads. The cost of a brand identity can be anything from £1000 to £100,000.

Notes to Editors:

    Good Creative is now ranked as the UK’s third most effective design agencies after sweeping the boards at the Design Business Association’s annual Design Effectiveness Awards, last month, winning two Gold awards and a Bronze.

    The Glasgow-based consultancy won Gold awards in the internal communications category, for its work on a Scottish Power safety campaign, and in the packaging category after creating a new brand identity for Argyll-based Fyne Ales.

    Good was also recognised in the Interactive and Digital Media category for devising a hugely successful social media marketing campaign for Buchanan Galleries, a shopping complex in the centre of Glasgow. The successes have raised it from 9th to 3rd position in the DBA’s design effectiveness league table.

    Good’s founding partner, Keith Forbes, is a former creative business managing director of the year, a board member of the Design Business Association and has been quoted on lists of the most influential members of the media and marketing industries in Scotland.

    In 2009 Good won a gold medal in the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards for its work on redesigning packaging for Equal Exchange, a producer and distributor of fair trade and organic products. Following the relaunch, Equal Exchange saw a 28% uplift in like-for-like sales and outperformed the market by 37%. Its exports also grew by 300%.

http://www.good-creative.com

For further information and high resolution photography, contact: Carlos Alba on 0141 637 6399 or 07880 505647.

Email: carlos(at)carlosalbamedia(dot)co(dot)uk

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