Design makes a difference

Competitiveness has become the key issue in all that is connected with employability and prosperity. Realising the importance, widespread activity will grow in industry, with government and institutional bodies focusing on how to improve competitiveness.

The effective use of design is fundamental to the creation of innovative products, processes and services. Good design can add value significantly to products, lead to sales growth and enable exploitation of new markets while consolidating existing ones.

It is therefore important that, to achieve these goals in a competitive European market, a National Design Council be set up. The structure should be based on inter-related groups: research, design, education and training, communication, and policy and planning. These advisory groups should offer the opportunity of collaboration and a holistic approach to key issues.

The five main groups where collaboration may be sought are businesses, both large and small, government, education and training providers, the media and design professionals

These people will be committed to influencing the policy makers in government, business and education, with their main objective being that of spreading an understanding of design's vital role in economic and social success.

By investing in research, a broad base knowledge on a range of business issues is built. This will make an impact on design and product development. Research projects will be undertaken between partners, made up mainly from MCAST and the university at the academic level of the research programme and the remaining four groups from the practising side.

As a result, a benchmark developing exercise is created, which will provide companies with a way to see how they measure up against European and international best practice in design development. The inspiring themes for these partnerships will include: Where will future innovation in design occur? What corresponding skills will designers need to meet these challenges? And how can businesses better understand the value added by design when appraising design opportunities?

Design is the key to an improvement in competitiveness which will be the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. One important element the Design Council will provide is first-line advice to SMEs in terms of design counsellors in each main business link.

These will advise on best design influences which can improve in their competitive performance and recommend developments for the year ahead.

It is proposed that the education and training programme at present being delivered by MCAST, in collaboration with Edexcel Btec, City & Guilds, and other internationally recognised qualification programmes, and the Employment & Training Corporation, will promote improvements in both design education and training, and establish a comprehensive action programme in partnership with a wide range of institutions.

A programme called Design Focus in Schools in the UK involved 350 opinion formers from schools, industry and government. Key conclusions from this consultation highlighted the need for the better understanding of design's role in schools and a recognition to its legitimacy as part of general education high quality support for teachers in the classroom and new strategies for improving teachers' skills - the cross curricular application of design skills; so that design - as a way of thinking about problems - facilitates learning in other subjects, the development of transferable skills (especially in Information Technology), through design teaching, to equip future employees.

Similar consultations with industry, business training policy makers, and higher education echoed these findings.

Convincing our industrialists, educators and policy-makers that design makes a difference is no mean task. Communication activities should be launched by the council across broadcasting debates and inter-college/industry projects to establish relevant issues in design to a wider audience.

Media coverage should not be limited to television and media but also to specialised press. We are witnessing increasing distribution of design-related glossy publications, often distributed with daily papers. Communication is a two-way process, and it's important for us to understand the attitudes towards design among all groups with whom the Council will be working.

The gap between attitude and performance should be the main aim for the Council to bridge. The policy priorities should focus on competitiveness and education.

In conclusion, it is a great shame that a strong cultural and class bias exists against design on the part of many fine arts trained academics at University level. Designing and making artefacts does indeed seem to be considered a second best activity by the art world's establishment, a tradition we are reluctant to change.

Effective design genuinely has the potential to transform the economy, to create employment and to raise our country's profile in world markets. Yet some of our most talented students are lured into the commercial fine art world away from the attractions of design. Should we be doing more to encourage them to become designers?

To quote the architect and thinker Walter Gropius: "Artists, sculptors, painters we must all return to the artisanal; there is no substantial difference between the artist and the artisan - the artist is an artisan of special talent."

Our industrialist may mention design's importance but they rarely put money into it. Design is still viewed as a cost. This is where a Design Council can change a desperate situation in the relationship between business and design. What we should aim for is clearly expressed in Hegarty's words:

"There's design to make things work better and extraordinary design, like Frank Lloyd Wright's, which influences how we feel or think about things. Once the great management design divide is overcome, we won't need any more fund-hungry propaganda, however persuasive it may turn out to be.

Patrick Galea, BA (Hons) 3D Design (Leeds), deputy director, MCAST Institute of Art and Design, is also a practising professional designer.