As the world around us continues to change at breakneck speed, one thing remains constant; the ability of design to create solutions and reinterpret the challenges into new ways of thinking and shaping the way forward.

The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards are the most rigorous standard for measuring the effectiveness of design, rewarding entries that have demonstrated the value of investing in design to drive business and societal success.

It’s the difference design makes.

Over the coming years, we’ll see the power that design has to help navigate the biggest shifts our society faces – how businesses can remain relevant and competitive as major changes take place to how business itself is done, how societies can manage and thrive in the environmental and technological shifts we stand on the edge of.

Throughout this, the DBA will continue to champion and promote, celebrate and reward the achievements of our industry; an industry which continues to punch above its weight.

Right now, we invite you to celebrate client and agency partnerships that have been shortlisted for this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards. The case studies behind these titles listed below contain a wealth of creative expertise and savvy business insight which have propelled their work from simply delivering on brief, to magnifying what was possible, often from humble beginnings.

It has never been more important for all those that work in design to understand the role they play in shaping a future that matters for us all. This autumn we will be celebrating the winners and revealing who has won Bronze, Silver or Gold, at a live event packed with talks, debates, films and dinner discussions. We want you all to join us; a meeting of the creative and business minds that make our industry shine.

Whether you have won this year, in previous years, or are yet to articulate and prove the measured effectiveness of your work, this event will be for every design team that knows they can make a difference.

Join us at The Design Effect on 8 October 2024 at The British Museum, London for an inspiring day of talks, debates, case studies and dinner discussions – including the 2024 Design Effectiveness Awards – curated to illuminate the ways effective design can shape business, society and the world. Find out more and book now. 

The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards will open for entries in February 2025 with a deadline in July 2025. Join us on 8 October for insight and inspiration, and transform how you talk about the value of design.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2024: Winners shortlist

Founded in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards recognise impactful, wide-ranging examples of design that have had a tangible and measurable impact upon business and societal success. Judged by a broad range of business leaders and entered jointly by client and designer, the Awards draw focus onto the role design plays in enhancing people’s lives and delivering competitive advantage for business. Congratulations to the winning agency and client partnerships and thank you to our fantastic judges who brought their insight and experience to rigorously judge the 2024 entries. Find out more information about the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards and view the 2024 judging panel.

“The DBA Design Effectiveness Awards provide clear evidence of how design drives better business results, and how it has the ability to improve lives and shape a better world.

This year’s entries demonstrated solutions to a truly diverse set of challenges and once again the distinguished groups of judges had to work hard to pick the winners. The judging panels consisted of an incredible cross section of Business, Marketing and Design leadership, ensuring that we had a diverse set of perspectives when evaluating the entries. As Chair of these judging panels, it was truly an honour to witness the quality and depth of the discussions triggered by each entry.

The shortlisted winners provide clear and compelling evidence that design can and does deliver value, improving business results, positively impacting society and improving lives. They can be extremely proud of the recognition they have received.”

Sean Carney, Chair of the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Judging Panel 

Firstly, we need to consider the context. 86% of clients consider themselves to be working in a more pressurised environment than five years ago.

This often means tighter budgets, smaller client teams, a more ruthless focus on return on investment and the feeling of having to do more with less. Consequently, clients are generally looking for greater levels of proactivity and added value from their agencies. They rely on agencies more and more to be their eyes and ears, monitoring competitors and trends.

36% of clients would like their agency to ‘push boundaries’ more in terms of creativity that differentiates and disrupts. This is an environment where clients are bound to be more demanding of their agencies. Is it any wonder, then, that fewer clients are giving an unqualified ‘Yes’ to the value for money question? However, before we all begin to relax about the issue and simply blame the wider context, there are some specific factors that we should take seriously.

There are a range of issues, regularly raised by clients in our interviews, that negatively impact upon their perceptions of value for money. These fall into three areas. Firstly, those related directly to costs.

Some clients accept that front-end conceptual work is charged at a premium but question why other types of work, more implementation in character, appear to be charged at a similar rate. Other clients complain of a lack of transparency around how long some tasks really take and who is working on them. Clients also comment that the gold standard approach isn’t always necessary. Some tasks are in the ‘just get it done’ category and don’t need a juggernaut process. They talk about the need for greater pragmatism and a demonstration that the agency is ‘on our side.’

Another bugbear is misalignment on the scope of work and disagreement about what is covered in the cost and what isn’t. This often comes down to a lack of adequate up-front discussions and forward planning. Another concern is that the agency’s day-to-day client contacts may feel that their agency represents good value for money, but senior management disagree. There is a failure to show senior management the value of creativity and the return on investment it can bring.

The second area that affects value for money is the quality of client service. No matter how good the end result, if the process of getting there was painful, then perceptions of value for money will suffer. Clients often mention the difference between simply managing a project versus really driving it. ‘Driving it’ means taking ownership, being totally on top of every aspect, excelling at communications and being forceful with the client when necessary. Failing to drive projects in this way results in more client input being needed. Client time is now at a premium, so anything that impinges on that is a negative in clients’ eyes.

Clients are particularly sensitive to any indication that their business is perhaps not quite as valued as it used to be. Clients often mention any sort of drop in responsiveness or proactivity levels. Another indication is when agency leaders are no longer checking in as much with clients and that feeling of strategic oversight has lapsed. Also, if the agency is obviously doing well and winning new clients, but client service is seen to suffer in any way, then clients can be quick to believe that the agency’s attention and effort is going into new clients at the expense of existing ones.

The third area affecting perceptions of value for money concerns final delivery. The most serious client criticisms are around the promise of the original concept not being fully realised. In other words, it all seemed great in the studio but was it really workable? There is a consequent feeling that the agency either weren’t honest enough in their explanation of the original concept or weren’t realistic enough about its practical application. Unforeseen production issues and problems with third parties are all capable of causing strained agency/client relationships and the accusation that the agency is ‘hiding problems’.

Value for money, therefore, is a complex area and in effect, clients are judging the fully rounded client/agency relationship, not just the work and its cost.

Based on 675 in-depth client interviews, the report offers insight into client expectations and concerns, their relationships with agencies, views on agency new business activity, pitches, websites, marketing content and more. 
 
During the meeting, three key themes of the report were explored in more detail:

• A decrease, over the past 10 years, in client’s perception of agency value for money.
• An increase in in-housing design capabilities.
• The distinction between managing projects and driving projects, with clients wanting to see more driving.

Perceptions of value for money
In 2014, 66% of clients considered their agency to be good value for money. In 2024 that has fallen to 45%. The important context behind that change is the more financially and time pressurised environment that clients now consider themselves to be working in.
 
There are three areas that regularly affect these perceptions:

• Costs – clients understand that conceptual, strategic ‘front end’ work comes at a premium (and this is often where clients perceive the value to be), but feel that often implementation work is charged at a similar rate, without transparency about how long tasks take and who’s working on them. Planning well to avoid misalignment of scope and what has been agreed upon in costs is important. Additionally, there is a feeling that the gold standard, full process approach isn’t necessary every time – agencies may feel that this point is debatable – but being a bit more pragmatic and realising where some projects require just ‘good enough’ is a factor for clients. 
• Quality of client service – when clients are more time pressured than ever before, having to spend lots of time managing things impacts perceptions of value. More on that below.
• Final delivery – problems can arise when what was delivered isn’t quite what was promised in the original concept and the agency hasn’t been honest or realistic enough about its practical application. Additionally, sometimes unseen ‘third party’ problems can create strain, and agencies can be seen to be hiding problems.

In-housing
46% of clients have access to some sort of in-house creative resource, and 22% of those who didn’t stated that their company was considering it. This is often motivated by wanting to save costs, and perceived comfort factors such as it being easier to deal with problems internally if work goes wrong, or a brief is disputed. In-house teams also understand the organisation, its culture and politics and how it operates, and potentially the brand and the market a bit better than an agency can.
 
However, the picture here isn’t one of agency vs in-house; 80% of clients would like to see better collaboration and 95% of clients with in-house capabilities still see the value in using agencies for particular challenges.
 
Clients often would like an agency’s fresh perspective and wider reference points, when working on bigger, more strategic projects. Agencies should focus on explaining where their value lies and building experience of dovetailing effectively with in-house teams.
 
Driving rather than managing
The biggest differentiator between agencies in terms of the experience of working with them is the quality of client servicing. No matter how good the end result is, if the process of getting there was too painful, it’s not considered worth it.
 
48% of clients believe that their agency’s client management is too transactional. Design agency account management can lack assertiveness. Clients would like agencies to be bolder – to drive the project, own it, be on top of it, push the client, tell them when they get things wrong and continue to offer opinions and thoughts and be keen to impress. Agencies are thought of as the experts, and clients want them to be! It’s not about being aggressive, it’s about being organised and having a defined approach to client servicing and client development.
 
62% of clients can recall periods where the agency is obviously over-stretched and under-resourced, and these cracks show. This can show up as a drop in responsiveness, a lack of proactivity, or a lack of checking in from senior agency people. Active engagement is vital for both successful project delivery, and for consideration for future, bigger projects.
 
It is worth having a defined approach to client service, based in understanding the client’s journey with you and the interaction points between you, as well as internal guiding principles of how you communicate, what you do, what you don’t do, etc. This can be really helpful in pitches too, as you can present your approach and reassure clients at that stage that you have thought through both their experience with you, and how you take ownership of projects.
 

There was much, much more covered in the hour – you really had to be there. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum on Tuesday 7 May at 4pm BST, look out for an email from me in a few weeks with more details. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

We’ve captured the conversation highlights from the all the Members’ Forums which have taken place and they can all be found here.

“Produced by Up to the Light, in association with the DBA, the ‘What Clients Think’ report is an indispensable tool for anyone who delivers or commissions design. If you’re agency-side, it will arm you with inside knowledge of what your clients want from you this year. While for those client-side, it’s a unique opportunity to see how your concerns and priorities compare to your peers.

To mark its tenth incarnation, this year’s report also provides a look back across the last decade, covering a time before Covid and even the EU Referendum. Think how much our businesses have been through and changed since then. What trends have unfolded and what can we learn from them to strengthen our client/agency relationships now and in the future?”

Access the report

Watch a recording of the report launch

Watch a snippet from the launch

Further resources for DBA members

The Report’s author Jonathan Kirk also joined us for our April Members’ Forum to discuss how agency/client relationships are evolving, delving further into the report’s findings. You can read a summary of the conversation here. 

 

Get in touch – if you are a DBA member who would like to talk through issues you are facing, or if you are interested in becoming a member to attend monthly Members’ Forum such as this, you can schedule time in the DBA Membership Director’s Adam Fennelow’s diary.

New Designers has been showcasing the work of emerging design talent for nearly 40 years. Founded in 1985, the event has become the UK’s leading exhibition for up-and-coming designers, providing a platform for thousands of graduates to showcase their work and connect with industry professionals.

Explore the work of over 3,000 talented designers across a wide range of disciplines, from fashion and textiles to furniture and product design and discover the latest trends and innovations in the design industry. As the largest showcase of graduate designers in the country, ND offers an unrivalled opportunity for businesses to add such a high calibre of fresh designers to their talent pool. Find the next great addition to your team and streamline your recruiting process.

Week 1: 26 – 29 June 2024 

Fashion & Costume, Contemporary Design Crafts, Textiles, Ceramics, Glass, Jewellery & Precious Metalwork 

Week 2: 3 – 6 July 2024

Furniture, Product Design, Industrial & Spatial Design, Graphic Design, Illustration & Animation, Motion & Digital Arts, Game Design

Since launching the podcast two years ago, DBA Expert and host Claire Blyth has interviewed over 50 of the world’s leading designers, creatives and strategists about their lives in design. 

The podcast lifts the lid on their careers, starting each episode by asking when they first discovered that design was a ‘thing’ they could base a career on.

For some it was the influence and impact of graffiti or album cover art, for others it was a curiosity around packaging design, something else that sparked their curiosity –  many came to it quite late. This is partly why the podcast offers such valuable insights, especially for young people navigating their lives in design, and hearing that it’s not always a linear journey into the exciting world of design.

The series is now back in its fifth season, and kicked off earlier this month with design legend Mary Lewis, co-founder of Lewis Moberly, who joins a host of other big names, such as Brian Collins and Pentagram’s Paula Scher, in sharing her life in design so far.

Mary, in her first-ever podcast interview, shared deep insights into her life, from growing up on a farm in Shropshire, teaching graphic design, discovering adland, and going on to launch the ground-breaking design studio Lewis Moberly. “I was always fascinated by what went into brands to create them; the psychology that was involved really interested me,” reflects Mary during the podcast.

Her interview offers a unique glimpse into the thinking that has propelled her agency to have had such a significant impact within the design industry. “I’ve always been very self-motivated” reveals Mary, “I’m conscious of answering a brief, but I also have to answer to myself. That’s very important.”

Podcast guests this season

Catch up with Emily Rickard, CEO of BUCK, giving her take on the creative industries through the lens of production, fashion journalism, and reality TV, to leading BUCK where she works alongside some of the most talented artists in the world. “There’s a real curiosity built into the culture, which I think is wonderful,” she says, “everybody has the opportunity to learn; I’m still learning every day.”

Emily also points to BUCK’s work on the spectacular movie ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ as being a perfect tool to inspire the next generation of creatives (take a look here). “I’m really passionate about making sure that we continue to push diversity in our industry,” says Emily. “There’s so much untapped potential and talent out there,” she adds, recommending to young creatives that they should “find their own style” and “don’t be afraid to reach out to the companies that inspire you and see if there’s internships available.”

We also have Hamish Campbell, VP Executive Creative Director of Pearlfisher New York, sharing how he came to design fairly late but forged a path that led him to be approached by Pearlfisher to be part of their New York office. He also shares insights on how design students in the UK and the US differ.

Upcoming interviews promise even more valuable insights from industry figures such as jkr’s co-founder Ian Ritchie, Joy Nazzari, founder of DNCO, Joshua Breidenback, co-founder of Rice Studios, and Ekaterina Solomeina, co-founder of Future London Academy.

Subscribe and download ‘My Life in Design’ and please share so the podcast can help inform, educate and inspire young designers to achieve fulfilling careers in design.

One member focused on the development of new business in international markets:

• A realisation that there are too many agencies in the UK competing for the same work led one member to ramp up their work with international clients that ultimately enabled them to open a London office.
• The unique appeal of British design was noted as a valuable asset in international markets.
• There are cultural challenges, and things can be lost in translation, pushing people to speak to each other has been key in overcoming issues. Though the increase in remote working has also meant building relationships from afar has been easier than it was pre-Covid.
• The Department for Business & Trade have a wealth of resources and support and you can find out who to contact in each region here.
• There was a question around how to overcome a lack or experience in the market you’re entering. Answers around going back to the problem they need to solve and showing your expertise. Also, highlighting the fresh thinking you can bring to the table. 

Some other points were made in relation to new business:

• Investing in a dedicated marketing person has been key to one member being able to turn work away. If the marketing flywheel takes two years to get up and running smoothly, could a dedicated hire be the right way for your business to focus on marketing activity that will result in new business? There was mention of previously doing marketing in the gaps which presents all sorts of challenges.
• One member shared that they’ve found marketing much easier now they’ve repositioned and become more strategic – having a clear proposition and a great team to follow it through has led to their success. 
• This isn’t just something you do once and file it away, you’ll repeat this process of redefining your offer over and over. It’s also helped one member to have more confidence in their conversations with senior decision makers. 
• The trigger for repositioning was the risk around having too much work tied up with one client – if that work walks out of the door it’s very bad news.
• One DBA Expert suggested creating a marketing plan that you can sustain over time and that’s exactly what one member has done with their weekly newsletter that has a great reputation.
• Rather than solely focusing on differentiation, emphasis should be placed on being relevant to target audiences, a strategy deemed more effective in engaging potential clients by one DBA Expert.
• Re-watch last week’s webinar for expert advice on failsafe methods for new business success that Blair highlighted in the January Forum and you’ll find we covered emotional consistency in more detail. 

There was much, much more covered in the hour – you really had to be there. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum on Monday 8 April at 4pm BST, look out for an email from me in a few weeks with more details. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

We’ve captured the conversation highlights from the all the Members’ Forums which have taken place and they can all be found here.

• In short, the methodology in the book suggests you shift your thinking from an annualised plan of attack, where you think you have all the time in the world to get things done and quarter four becomes a nightmare (!), to redefining your timeline to shorter periods to encourage high productivity.
• The ideal period he says is a 12-week period that is linked to a longer-term 3-year vision which is ‘scary’ and aspirational. Start with the vision and work back.
• Michael suggests using the energy you have at the end of your year, when time is tight and targets need to be hit, and applying that principle to a 12-week timeframe enables you to achieve more.
• It means you don’t lose track of what you need to do on a daily basis to achieve your goals. 
• Maintaining the energy and momentum over 12-weeks is easier than when you have an annual plan – hit your targets in the first 12-week cycle, you have the motivation and momentum to apply it again and achieve more. 
• Michael suggests starting with thinking about what you want your life to look like, an aspirational goal that is far enough away that you don’t think of how you’ll get there.
• Then taking an ambitious vision that gets you closer to that aspirational goal. Don’t limit yourself, choose something that scares you a bit, because if it doesn’t then that suggests you already know how to get there. An ambitious vision is one that needs you to think differently and creatively about what you do and how you do it. 
• Then you can think about your professional life, how your next 3 years will get you closer to that aspirational goal. Next, plan how each year will look and bring it back to 12-weeks that you measure and track constantly. 
• Things can slip off track if you’re not fully tied to your vision – so that really is the key and tied to your aspirational goal. 
• This methodology works with personal or business goals or a mix of the two.
• Working with the 12-week year at an organisational level aligns the team behind one vision and forces you to confront confusion and divergence, deal with it in the team and make sure your tactics are well resourced and realistic.
• You can buy the book here and Michael kindly offered DBA members a $1000 discount on the Accelerator Programme, reducing the price to $997. 

There was much, much more covered in the hour – you really had to be there. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum on Monday 4 March at 4pm GMT, look out for an email from me in a few weeks with more details. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

We’ve captured the conversation highlights from the all the Members’ Forums which have taken place and they can all be found here.

• Blair gave us the top three habits he sees in businesses that can weather any storm. First up was marketing consistency. You need to know where your next client is coming from, even when times are good. You should be actively seeking new business, even when you don’t have the capacity to take it on, even saying no to good work because you don’t have the capacity.
• Blair used a flywheel analogy – it might be tough to get the momentum going at the start, but once on the move it takes much less effort to keep going. He thinks it can take 2 years to get it spinning well.
• So many businesses have a utilisation issue – they’re probably just a little bit too big. It might seem counterintuitive but turning down new business is a good position to be in. 
• One member asked about the best way to turn work away and Blair suggested remaining authentic and honest. ‘We’re simply not in a position to do this work at the moment, can it wait? Can I recommend someone else?’ More often than not, it will make them want you more. 
• His second insight was that principals are always involved in new business. As your business grows, you recruit people to take over many of the hats you once wore, but new business should be one of the last things, if ever, you fully step out of. 
• Third, and last, Blair discussed emotional consistency. Don’t let anyone see how badly you need the work. 
• Blair didn’t see a difference in these three core principles in smaller or larger businesses. He noted that as firms get bigger, there is more infrastructure built around new business and pitching which, in his opinion, is counter to how it should be.
• As an industry we need to focus our attention on warm leads, the ones that are consistently visiting our websites or reading our stuff. Do you follow up? 
• In answer to a question on how much to spend on marketing – have a listen to this. 
• Blair challenged the audience to be more specific about what they do and for whom – the age old positioning challenge. Though perhaps your business is the exception to this rule?
• And if you’re worried about the ‘bait and switch’ issue of clients buying you as an owner but the work being delivered by others, then take Blair’s advice (which he struggled to take for himself) and communicate well that you hire the very best people to do their work, and you have oversight of everything that leaves the studio.
• If you don’t already subscribe to Blair’s mailing list, sign up here. He’s kindly shared a free chapter of Pricing Creativity with DBA members and some helpful videos too. 
• For more expert advice, members can check out our webinar recording where we look at the four pillars of business success – watch here.

There was much, much more covered in the hour – you really had to be there. Do make sure you join us in our next DBA Members’ Forum on Monday 5 February at 4pm GMT, look out for an email from me in a few weeks with more details. If you would like to attend, get in touch here. 

In our January Members’s Forum, Blair Enns shared his insights into the top three habits he sees in businesses that can weather any storm. In this month’s meeting, Deborah will be shining a light on some DBA Members who are living this reality in their day-to-day work.

We’ve captured the conversation highlights from the all the Members’ Forums which have taken place and they can all be found here.