Dave Forman, Epoch

Take the Long View

Any peek back at the last twelve months tends to be rather obscured by views of the lip-smacking, credit-crunching recession. Even in the wonderful world of FMCG, some Fast-Moving-Consumer-Goods have reluctantly had to Slow-Down-A-Bit. But life goes on and along with new strategies come new briefs and new opportunities.

Pressures of a declining economy were felt first and more sharply in 3D POS and production. Permanent/semi-permanent POS margins were first in line to be properly squeezed which can be hard to take on top of already high production costs in the UK. Longer pipeline projects began to get shelved towards the back end of last year as clients seriously reappraised their situation for ‘09 and beyond. 3D design fees are often locked-in to production or management so even this fee-based work has become more scarce. Not an easy time.

For me, it’s a good time to be in the South West and, specifically, not in London. Even the sometimes tiresome perception of regional design being ‘cheaper’ than in the City can be used as a useful advantage in the current climate.

Looking twelve months ahead is difficult because the world is changing. Daily life and ‘short-term’ design goes on but there is a sense that these unchartered economic waters should bring opportunities for the longer view. The Government is now crying out for innovative, connected thinking in the public sector and as designers, we have the skills and agility they need. But with so little infrastructure surrounding us and so much emphasis on ‘just in time’ design, who in our SME community is talking to Whitehall? Dott Cornwall should be a useful and timely test-bed for new kinds of partnerships within the region, I hope this example will help us find the way towards a more sustainably prosperous future for Design.