Is design thriving or dying? - Design Podge 20th anniversary guests weigh in
At the 20th anniversary Podge Design Lunch The Drum asked experts from the design industry one simple question – "Is design thriving or dying?"
With comments from Pearlfisher founder and chief creative officer Jonathan Ford; Kay Koyama-Gore, design director at Contagious; Design Business Association chief executive Deborah Dawton; David Worthington, chairman, Holmes & Marchant and Blue Ink founder and chief creative officer Helen Keyes, the unanimous answer is design continues to thrive in 2014.
People are becoming “more communicative”, and there are “fantastic opportunities" for designers to become entrepreneurs in medium-sized businessesm while design is also playing more of an intrinsic role in the operational side of business, were among the comments and themes of many guests at the Podge Design Lunch, who believed there hasn’t been a better time to work in design.
However, there is room for improvement, as Elmwood’s David Jenkinson pointed out, criticising the “quality coming out of some colleges” - a common bugbear amongst many designers.
Overall, with the Creative Industries Council recently pledging it’s allegiance to the second largest industry in the UK behind finance with an ambitious vision for 2020 it seems the future for designers remains bright.