Network has spotlight on design skills

Apr 17 2009 by Nicholas Craig, Watson Burton

INNOVATION is key to business survival, particularly in the service economy. The importance of design in such an aggressive market means that it has a major role within many regional and national companies’ strategies in their bid to succeed despite difficult times.

The recent launch of Design Network North, and the planned Design Centre North headquarters at Gateshead’s Baltic Business Quarter, was, therefore, timely and welcome.

These are exciting initiatives. The joined-up thinking behind a new headquarters to nurture small design companies and a network to bring together designers, businesses, agencies and universities is far-seeing. In an industry which thrives on brainstorming, understanding client demand and creating clever solutions, there is an obvious need to collaborate. Bringing about regular meetings is far easier to say than to do, but the Network has been created to make it happen.

The launch of the Network also provided a fascinating insight into the ways in which design has played a huge part in the success of Procter and Gamble brands, Berghaus’ market-leading image and GT Group’s extraordinary growth from family-owned engineering design and manufacture company in Peterlee to a worldwide business, sought out by global-leading names to solve complex problems.

The need for companies to invest in design has been shouted from the rooftops for decades. Progress has often been hampered because it requires a change in culture for some companies – a shake-up of what is seen as a cost and what is really an investment – and a management of innovation from first idea to finished product. It’s a route which demands commitment, but as Proctor and Gamble, Berghaus and GT Group attest, it can transform fortunes.

The region has also nurtured outstanding design talent who have gone on to the sort of dream careers many of us can only fantasise about. Northumbria University’s Product Design graduates include Jonathon Ive, who designed the iMac, and Simon Butterworth, now Design Director with Ford Australia who has headed design at Rover and Jaguar.

New ways to involve businesses and inspire new products and services through the use of design are needed more than ever. It’s great news that the North East is leading the way through the Design Network North and Design Centre North. These initiatives understand the constantly changing environment of design and innovation and provide the resources to allow creativity to flourish and businesses to thrive.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm