Design and the Market: Assignment part one + NESTA

This week during our 'Design and the Market' lecture we were introduced to part one of our assignment.  We were told that we needed to write a 1,500 - 2,000 word enterprise proposal.  The proposal would also outline the research that needs to be produced over the Summer.

We were also introduced to 'NESTA' -which is the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - an independent body with a mission to make the UK more innovative.  They invest in early-stage companies, inform policy and deliver practical programmes that inspire others to solve the big challenges of the future.

The company doesn't work alone, instead their success depends on the strength of the partnerships they form with innovators, policy makers, community organisations, educators and other investors.  They strive to bring the best ideas, new flows of capital and talented people together and encourage others to develop them further.

We were given a worksheet from the NESTA programme as an exercise to prioritise our own individual values as a method of building them into the plans of a potential business.

''Greatness is not a function of circumstance, Greatness is largely a matter of conscious choice and discipline.''

-Jim Collins

Design and the Market: Icecream Architecture and 'Starter for 6'

Starter for 6 is a highly successful enterprise training programme that supports up and coming entrepreneurs from creative industries across Scotland.  They aim to help turn creative ideas into successful businesses by raising the awareness and profile of talented entrepreneurs in Scotland.


The programme provides successful applicants with the following:

• Four enterprise training sessions that are designed to provide you with the business skills to turn your idea into a reality.  
• Peer Mentoring and Coaching Support
• The opportunity to network and share ideas with like minded entrepreneurs in training sessions and events.
• The opportunity to pitch for up to £10,000 of grant funding at the end of the training programme in order to take your business forward.

Icecream architecture are an example of a company that were able to start up their business by taking part in this training programme.

Icecream architecture successfully pitched their idea and therefore received a grant award of up to £10,000.  Receiving this money gave the company the boost that they needed in order to make their idea a reality.

As part of the interview process with Icecream Architecture, we asked Desmond if he had any personal advice in starting up a business.  He told us that success would be achieved if we oozed creativity, drive and passion in the discipline we are in and had the patience to see the idea through from beginning to end.

As a group, we felt that Icecream Architecture were the perfect example of a company who had great entrepreneurial skills that have been put into action -after all they did take the initial risk to take the 'closed door profession' of architecture and reposition it to a place where people would look at it in a completely different way than ever before.

We were curious about Icecream Architecture as we were keen to find out what they do, why they do it and how they do it well.  This meant that we could really get to know how a business is run and how crucial it is to have creativity at the centre.

Design and the Market: Creativity is just as important as literacy

In a recent lecture we were shown a talk by Sir Ken Robinson (from Ted talks) on the issue:

Do schools kill creativity?

Not only did I find Sir Ken Robinson humourous, but I found that there was real truth in what he was actually saying.

''Every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects...maths & languages, then the humanities and then the arts.  This is the same everywhere.''

He then went on to speak about how 'the arts' could be divided up into: music and art at the top, then drama and dance on the bottom.  Why is that?

He explained that the subject of dance isn't taught like mathematics because educators tend to educate children from the waste up.  This is true.  Who can say that in the next 20/30 years being a good mathematician will make you more 'academic' than being a good dancer...?

''make a job, don't take a job''

-this should become the cry for the creative sector.

In the video, Sir Ken Robinson also states that we need to ''radically review our view of intelligence.''  Jobs are changing.  The top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2014 will not have existed in 2004.

-  Jobs will get smarter and more people focused.

-  We won't ''go to work'' -instead we will connect with work.

We need to embrace this change, and not follow the current 'academic' trends.

Design and the Market: Choosing a company to interview

'Being enterprising means thinking of yourself as a business in your own right.  How do you stand out from the crowd?''

-Hannah Clements

I found this quote to be of great relevance in the design and the market business today.  In thinking about what company would be suitable to investigate and interview for assignment one our group felt it necessary to pick a company that stood out from the crowd.

After emailing a number of architectural /interior /design practices, we heard back from a company called ''Icecream architecture.'' -who really do stand out from the crowd!

The company are called ''Icecream architecture'' because they pro-actively go out and interact with communities and potential clients, just like an ice cream van!  They firmly believe that the most important factor of a successful project is the client/designer relationship.  This is the reason why they strive to make architecture more accessible and stay in-touch with the needs of their client's.

Their entire concept is so unique due to the fact that they want to have a moveable office space so that they can tour different places within the UK to get amongst the people.  Their ice cream van raises attention no matter where they go and causes a reaction amongst children AND adults!  They often get asked ''Do you guys sell ice cream?'' to which they reply, ''No - we sell architectural design, community development, consultation, interactive workshops and service design.''

As part of our assignment we had to set out to find out how a company like this operates.  We had to take the following aspects into consideration:

• how they started up
• how they define their niche
• finance
• how they brand and market themselves
• how they organise and recruit
• how they grow

As a group of four, we carried out as much research as possible in advance on the company before constructing questions that would make up an interview.  We also had to prepare a consent form to concisely explain what our research was and how our findings would be used.

We look forward to constructing a 20 minute presentation to deliver our findings to the rest of our module group.

Design and the Market: Introduction

It's 2012 and it's time to leap into the module ''Design and the Market.''


The aim of the module is to develop entrepreneurial skills and to support development in order to enhance employability and advance independent business vision.


The module promises to give an appreciation of the complexity of enterprise planning and management so that we as students are able to develop our individual and group skills in the design and development of new business ventures.


During the course of this semester we will be attending a series of lectures, participating in seminars and developing our skills in workshops.  Through doing this we should begin to form a clear understanding of the creative economy and begin to look at contemporary business models with a critical eye.


I am particularly excited about the opportunity to work with current organisations and professionals in order to benefit from their knowledge and experience in the design industry.