How big are design agencies?
We find that new clients often have the perception that we are bigger than we actually are. It prompted me to look and find some facts on the current state of the design industry (and to put my mind to rest).
Here is some interesting information from the Design Council website:
"How big are design businesses? 59% of design consultancies employ fewer than five people.
Large design consultancies are relatively rare and the design industry is overwhelmingly characterised by very small businesses: 59% of design consultancies employ fewer than five people and a further 23% employ five to ten people.
This is true of every design discipline, but it is particularly the case in interior and exhibition design and in digital and multimedia design. Nine out of ten (91%) of all design consultancies in these disciplines have fewer than five employees. On the other hand, businesses that offer product and industrial design services or communications services tend to be among those with more than 250 employees (7% and 6% respectively).
In-house teams tend to be larger than consultancies: half of in-house teams comprise five or more designers, while only a quarter (24%) of consultancies do so."
Which leads us to Bourn - we currently have 6:
1 Creative Director (AKA Mark, can we just change this, Stringer)
1 Technical Director (AKA Ciaron, think of the search engines, Walton)
1 Project Manager (AKA Mother Cate)
2 Designers (AKA Matthew and Dave, the "artists")
1 Developer (AKA Terence, the biscuit pusher, Burridge)
Also used on a regular basis:
Copywriter
Photographer
Proofreader
Print Manager
CGI artist
Flash Developer
Video Producer
...and a handful of people like you in focus groups
So now you know!
Posted By: Mark
22 September 2009