We believe that the next few years will be demanding. But we see nothing to be afraid of, only opportunity. There are millions of SMEs in the UK that don’t engage with design yet need designers’ skills to innovate and grow. To engage with them you will need new skills, too. So we encourage you to become more than designers, to help you develop as entrepreneurs - because your agency is a business-business not just a design-business.
We have four principles:
1) Sell creativity not outputs – Designer Breakfasts is about using design strategically, to solve business problems and create opportunities
2) Entrepreneurship – see yourself as a business person. Learn the language of business
3) Take your vision and ideas to SMEs to help them innovate and grow
4) Co-ownership and co-creation – SMEs are cash poor. Be prepared to use innovative engagement models. Aim for shares and a seat on the board.
There are exciting things in the pipeline and opportunities to get involved.
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September 23 Breakfast: Sebastian Conran
Sebastian Conran, previously head of product and branding design at the Conran Group and with a background at Wolff Olins and Mothercare, now runs Sebastian Conran Associates, collaborating with international clients to create products and user experiences. Sebastian will talk about the secret of product design success and whether the arts and sciences are immiscible. Tickets will be available in August.
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We are now releasing free podcasts of our breakfasts. To find our March breakfast with Maxine Horn CLICK HERE and for our February breakfast with Franco Bonadio CLICK HERE. For our January with Sir George Cox CLICK HERE to listen in.
Design Week covered our July breakfast with The Brand Union’s Glenn Tutssel. Click here to read the story. Glenn argued that small is beautiful, big is beautiful, but it’s all about the art of weaving and how multi-disciplined teams will shape the future. For a detailed review of the session click here and to download Glenn's presentation click here.
The impressive Designer Breakfasts speaker list features the best designers in the business. Previous speakers have included Charlie Hoult, Michael Wolff, Theodora Manzaris (creative director for the Athens Olympics), former Pentagram partner John McConnell and Adrian Shaughnessy, art director and design commentator. Check out our previous events.
- Most wanted
Take part in the new forum - Kitbag
Here's a nice little gizmo for your MacBook... - At the moment most designers are engaged as suppliers... they respond to the client's brief.
I don't think we get real innovation using this structure - The creativity process
Are you a dreamer, a critic or a realist?
“Designer Breakfasts manages to be extremely useful as well as extremely accessible - I always come away feeling optimistic and with new ideas to make my business more effective."
"Joe Ferry, Virgin's head of design, was clear and accessible and he tailored his Breakfast specifically at small businesses."
"The events are deliberately small-scale which means you can contribute easily during the session and continue the conversation afterwards."
"I realised other designers share the same experiences and that I'm not on my own."
"I came to Designer Breakfasts because it had more to offer than just networking."