20/11 /2006
Interview David Griffiths
London / Mumbai


1. Could you please introduce your self and your career in a few sentences ?
What is your position now , your agency strategic positioning and organization ?

I have a background as a client of design, mostly with Royal Mail (The British Post Office) as well as contributing to design education since 1990 as a visiting lecturer. I now work in the UK (project management consultancy) and India (design management consultancy). In India I work with colleagues at the Aliagroup helping clients understand how to best use design and also advising other India design consultancies on their development.

2. You have a design subsidiary in India in France we dont have much information about India could you tell us more : Are there many design consultancies in India ? Where are the best design schools in India ? Are there design promotion centers in India ?

Design in India is at a very early stage of development as a commercial service. There are very few design schools – less than 500 design graduates a year and around 3000 trained designers for a population of 1bn people. However, Indian designers are ambitious and many are self-taught. The best design schools include the National Institute of Design (NID), the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) and the design schools at the Indian Institutes of Technology such as IIT/Bombay. Design Management is taught at both NID and also MICA, a specialist management school.

There are probably less than 20 design firms of significant size with many industrial and IT companies having in-house designers to meet their needs. Of course India has one of the world’s richest artistic and cultural histories – but that is not the same as commercial design which many designers confuse. There is almost no design promotion activity yet of the type that European designers would recognise – for example the UK’s Design Council and German’s Red Dot Award.

3. Could we start first with your initiative “ Insight India 06” a seminar you are organizing next september in Soho ,London . The event is co - sponsored by Style Vision a consumer trend specialist in France . What is the purpose of this event and what are the main issues on the future of India for designers ?

This is a joint venture between Onio Design, a leading Indian design firm and Style Vision. I am facilitating the client sessions. The aim is to help non-Indian firms appreciate the opportunities of the Indian market and also avoid the classic mistake of imposing Western solutions on a cultural complex market and society.

The key challenge for Indian designers in the next 5 years will be to take advantage of the opportunities. GDP growth of 7-8% pa and growth in some market sectors of 20-50% pa means they are struggling now to meet the demand from clients! Add in a desire to improve the quality and professionalism of their services whilst not simply copying the West and you have a rich cocktail of challenges and opportunities.

In the present globalization , I believe designers have to be more aware of macro economic issues in order to understand in which directions their industry is going .
You have a unique keen interest for these macro economic issues and I would like you to share with us your insights and experience on two important issues: design & the creative economy and outsourcing design in emerging countries

4. You are outsourcing design in your indian office . Could you tell more on how you manage to divide the work load between your london and your Mumbai offices ? Is it a reliable business model considering the software and technology investments needed for managing design briefs with different sites ?

At present outsourcing of design work is really focused on the latter stages of the design lifecycle – artwork and implementation activities. Our joint venture in the USA is at a more advanced stage of development and has a proven track record of high volume, time sensitive and accurate production. It will be a few years yet before Indian designers are a major force in the front end of design work: research, strategy and concept development. However, these comments only apply to projects outside of India. Within the Indian market they already doing this type of work, the Aliagroup for example is the lead brand agency for the global rebranding of Air India – the sort of project that in the past a Western agency like Landor would have done. What European designers fail to appreciate I believe is that as a client I would spend most of the project’s budget on detailing and implementation – exactly the area that Indian designers can win work in. What good is it to win design awards if 80% of the project budget is spent later in the project lifecycle – it’s only good if you are happy to be a small European design firm who likes to win awards!

5. What about design talents and expertise ? I understand you are recruiting designers in Mumbai . What are the benefits to go to India for young designers here in Europe ? Do you have multi national team in Mumbai ? What job positions do you offer ?

The rapid growth of the Indian economy is creating a demand for more branding work and therefore more design projects. Importing European designers who want to work in India for 1-3 years allows Indian consultancies to accelerate their development by accessing up-to-date knowledge. For the European designers it is a great way to get some wonderful professional experience and live in an interesting country. I have a several design firm clients who are recruiting at all levels from new graduate to Creative Director.

6. Considering now your expertise of design in the UK and referring to the recent study “ Creating value :how the UK can invest in new creative business” , a research conducted by NESTA (www.nesta.org.uk ) . This study concerns the creative industries such as advertising, design, film& video, interactive software, music,TV & Radio,High Tech .The idea of the creative industries is rather new .Do you agree that the design indsutry should be part of creative industries ?

Yes – design is an industry where we create value and wealth through the quality of our ideas. The challenge of Europe is to create value when our manufacturing costs are so much higher than Asia’s. The Creative Industries are one area where we have headstart over many other countries – but we need to realise that countries like India, Korea and China are interested in developing their own Creative Industries.

7. This study recommends to policy makers to see these creative industries from an economic point of view ? I thought that was interesting since these industries in the past were seen as cultural what is your opinion ?

Many designers often talk only of the Cultural and Craft value that they create – but without economic value being created they will always be dependent someone supporting them. You only have to look at the demand for State support through grants and other forms of subsidy in many European countries. I am not arguing against the cultural aspect – only that it is not the full story. And it is important to remember that in India there is almost not State support for design – they are self-supporting and challenging business people!

8. Another issue in these creative industries is growth and performance , especially since employment is falling in some areas such as advertising Is this also an issue for the design industry ? What do you think of the performance of the design industry as compared to the other areas ?

The picture is very positive for the future of design: but it is about knowledge and thinking not just the craft aspect of design. Many designers fail to appreciate their role as problem solvers and only think about the craft of design. Also as companies and governments start to focus on the idea of improving the design of services – since services are only 70% of GDP in every European country – new opportunities will open for designers and design in the service economy.

9. In the design industry, many creative owner -managers take an “organic “ approach to the growth of their business. Do you agree with the conclusions of the study ,tha t creative businesses need a greater awareness of business strategy skills and related core skills such as financial planning and private investment seeking ?

A big problem for the design industry – assuming that you are happy to call it an industry and not a profession – is that many design firm owners just want to run a “lifestyle business” – they don’t want to grow a large profitable enterprise. That’s okay for them, but it is not okay for the European economy if we want to create wealth, jobs and the ability to raise the taxes we need to pay for our welfare state.

10. Finally on the subject of skills needed for designers , what do you think of this other british initiative “Keep Bristish design alive.com “ .This is very stimulating to see the design profession meet and discuss together around a “ design skills advisory panel” on the issue of the British design agency in 2020 .Did you take part of this initiative ? What do you think of the panel suggestions : concerning design education gap between design schools and industry standards or the necessity of a design professional accreditation system ?

I presented to the Design Skills Advisory Panel who produced the report about Indian design. I think it is a very important project since it is looking at the issue of professionalism in the design industry – not about creativity.

We need to ensure our design firms and in-house design studios are professionally run with good quality management skills, project management, strategy skills, marketing knowledge etc. to enable design solutions to have a significant impact.

Many design schools are not in touch with the reality of today’s design profession and the knowledge and skills needed for the challenges of winning in the industry. Equally designers have the responsibility to give back to the design schools since they have the best knowledge of the current market for design.

Regarding accreditation we live in a world where people (clients) want reassurance about the capabilities of the companies we buy from. That is a broader question than just creativity, I don’t believe you can give accreditation for creativity.

My contact details for your readers are:

David Griffiths
E: email@davidgriffiths.com
T: +44 7753 466 039

Thank you very much