I recently read a thought-provoking article by Andrew Marr entitled ‘Can Good Design Save The Economy’. Upon reading the article, I was proud to be creative industry as the central premise of the article is that the thinkers and creators who play in the creative/design industry may drive the UK’s economy in the future. Apparently, the design/creative industry contributes roughly the same amount to the UK’s GDP as Financial Services. But the article goes further to state that the number of individuals working in the Creative and Design Industries is nearly double that of the Financial Services. To my mind, the natural assumption which flows from these stats is that those working in Design are less business savvy than those working in the financial services industry.
If we really take a moment to think, the central message within the article is common sense. It’s been well articulated by others much wiser than I that our future economy (ie the world’s) will be fuelled by thinkers, professionals doing and creating new things of value which serve a worthwhile purpose and command a fair price from consumers.
But, the people who work within the creative services industry and introduce the ideas and products which every so often change the world are not necessarily the ones who reap the financial rewards. This is because, from my experience, designers are not business people–they’re not corporate. So, while I certainly support Marr’s conclusion that the UK should provide further support to the creative industries, I also feel that a basic level of business savvy should also be added to the curriculum–helping artists, designers and creators of all disciplines to know not only how to make something great, but also how to bring it to the market (or how to select others who can).
Who am I to know? Well, FindGood, we’ve advised artists and designers who have great ideas and aided them to think of their intellectual property through the eyes of those who will consider their wares of value. Through the course of helping them to select an agency, we’ve also helped them to better understand the world of marketing and how to use it to their advantage. Hopefully there are others like us who lend other business skills and savvy to creators and designers…if you do, please get in touch so that we can collaboratively help to drive our industry forward.
