The Business of Design: Making Money with Good Looks
Elegant toasters selling for less than $25 in mass market retailers. Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired furniture for cats. Hundreds of hours of television, all focused on one theme: Design and how it is changing our lives. “Everyone desires it now,” says Susan Sobbott, president, OPEN from American Express, in voicing the theme of an American-Express sponsored roundtable discussion, “The Business of Design.” Held in mid-October at a midtown Manhattan theater, in front of a crowd of hundreds of interior designers and others working in allied fields, such as architecture, the event brought together four design powerhouses to share their thoughts on the fine art of making it big pursuing an ethereal business: Michael Graves, Barbara Barry, Kenneth Brown and Cecil Hayes.
One reality: money is flowing into design and that is making the business particularly tantalizing. Not only do we want design, “now we can have it. Design has been democratized,” says Seth Godin, best-selling author and the moderator of the discussion. A take-away concept from the panel is that nowadays design has permeated so many areas of our lives and so many retail avenues — including, for instance, Target Stores, where Princeton, NJ-based architect-designer Graves has hundreds of low-cost items on sale, from toasters to toilet plungers — that it is well within the economic reach of most of us. “Design is on all of our minds,” says Sobbott, whose Open group focuses on empowering small business, designers very much included. “What an exciting time to be part of this industry.”
But then there is the question of succeeding, of getting a toehold in the design industry. Florida designer Cecil Hayes related that when she was getting started she borrowed $6,000 and rented a storefront in a strip mall. She had no work, but she sat in front of the window at the store’s entry and she drew, and drew, and drew some more. People walked by, some stopped, and they were puzzled by the woman who was drawing — but eventually some came inside the store and that was when Hayes sold them on the idea that she could design a truly special living space for them.
Design, of course, is not always about the art per se because this is an industry where customers commission works that they will have to live with (or their customers will, in the case of retailers who work with designers). That does not necessarily mean the clarity of the designer’s vision has to get lost, however. “Tell the truth,” says Barbara Barry, a Los Angeles designer who has won innumerable industry accolades for her cutting-edge work. “Believe in what you do. Yes, sometimes you have to compromise,” in producing work that the paying client wants, but when the designer sticks with telling the truth, “you feel good about what you are doing.”
The business’s crucial irony, added Barry, “is that the biggest challenge is finding time to design.” That is because so many other chores — telephone calls from clients, reviewing invoices, preparing bids — fill a designer’s day. But stay in touch with the design instinct and it happens, says Barry. So many designers struggle to make a living, what is it like to really make it? That question went to Graves — probably the most successful designer of his generation — and he did not hesitate in his response. “When you think you have made it, you might as well give up work and go golfing. Every day I wake up and I cannot wait until I begin drawing. I know I have not made it.” He added a pithy description of his dream project: “It’s the next one., because that is my next challenge.”
Can a young designer genuinely, realistically aspire to be another Graves, Barry, et. al.?
One particularly exciting idea that surfaced at the roundtable: the once formidable stranglehold on helping new designers climb to prominence that a handful of magazines enjoyed is no more. “The Internet means you can put up your own blog that explains who you are and shows off your work,” says Godin. When the big magazines scorn a newcomer, no sweat. The 21st century is about self-promotion and the Internet is everybody’s tool kit, suggests Godin.
How to start down that road? “If you take away just one idea from tonight that will revolutionize your business, make it this,” says Barry: “Write up a paragraph about yourself, your vision, what you stand for. That is what will set you apart.” Potential clients have one big question on their minds: What is your design vision? Don’t make them guess, says Barry. Tell them who you are and watch the projects roll in.
Designing Success
Secrets of the design superstars just may work for entrepreneurs in all fields. Boil down the advice from “The Business of Design” panelists and here is a road map that will work in any industry:
• Set yourself apart. Prizes go to those who stand out.
• Tell the truth. Truth is the residue of good work.
• Love what you do — love it enough to want to keep doing it.
• Know who you are well enough to write it up in a single paragraph — that brevity and clarity is what wins customers.
Starting November 7, visit OPENforum.com to view a webcast of the panel discussion, and participate in a series of Live Q&A sessions with Seth Godin, Barbara Barry, Cecil Hayes and Michael Graves.
