Design in the North East
The headline
North East businesses are less convinced about the value of design than the rest of the UK is.
Design often plays a marginal role, and businesses are less positive than elsewhere in the UK.
But there are positive signs. While only 6% of the region’s businesses rate design as integral to their operations, 19% think it is crucial to their success.
The details
What role does design play in business?
Only 6% of North East businesses see design as integral to their operations. Only a further 19% see it as significant.
UK averages 15% and 22%
Nowhere else are businesses less positive about design.
How important is design to success, compared to other factors?
Businesses in the North East rate design's impact on business success in the same way most businesses in the UK do. 19% believe it’s crucial to their success.
UK average 15%
Of course, traditional factors are also essential to success.
For example, 66% of the region’s businesses rate financial management as crucial. And 45% point to operational management, compared to 66% on average.
How do businesses use design to compete?
Half (50%) of North East businesses believe that, over the past decade, design has become more important in helping them compete.
UK average 46%
While this belief mirrors the picture nationally, it falls some distance behind the most positive regions such as the East Midlands (68%) and South West (65%).
Only one in six businesses (16%) in the region increased their investment in design in the past three years. Also, half (49%) don’t invest at all.
More than four out of five of the region’s businesses compete on the basis of the price or cost of their offer. This is the highest proportion in the UK. Other grounds for competing – such as innovation (7%) – are substantially less attractive than in the UK as a whole.
How many businesses have developed new products or services?
Only a quarter (26%) of North East businesses have developed new products or services in the past three years.
UK average 40%
Along with Northern Ireland, businesses in the region are the least likely in the UK to develop new products or services.
What types of design do businesses use?
Compared to the rest of the UK, the North East makes less use of every type of design. 53% of businesses, compared to only one in three elsewhere, haven’t used any type of design we surveyed.
UK average 32%
This differs significantly from other regions where design is used far more. For example only 17% of East Midlands businesses haven’t used any of the types of design we surveyed.
Do businesses use designers?
Over half of businesses (57%) in the North East employ or commission designers.
UK average 55%
In some aspects of design employment, the region falls just short of UK averages. Fewer businesses have design departments of their own. However, two in five employ a designer internally.
Where do businesses apply design?
North East businesses use design less than average. Almost half (46%) of businesses don’t apply design to any of the areas surveyed.
UK average 24%
Regional portrait
At £34.2billion, the North East’s gross value added (GVA) is the second lowest in the UK (after Northern Ireland). It represents just 3.4% of the UK’s overall GVA.
In recent years the region has embraced new industries such as automotive, microelectronics, biotechnology, and new and renewable energy.
One NorthEast is the regional development agency. Its investment in R&D and its strong commitment to design are driving forward the region's economic prosperity.
Innovation and diversification sit at the heart of the Regional Economic Strategy (RES). The objective is to yield greater economic growth in the forms of:
- Business expansion
- Increased exports
- New knowledge and know-how
- More inward investment from multinationals
- More high-tech start-ups.
The strategy identifies the following sectors as being strategically important over the next ten years:
- Automotive
- Food and drink
- Defence and marine
- Energy and the environment
- Chemicals and pharmaceuticals
- Knowledge intensive business services, such as banking, finance and legal services
- Tourism and hospitality
- Commercial creative
- Health and social care.
For more information on the North East, please visit these websites:
How can I use this information?
If you're a business intermediary
There is certainly scope to increase design’s profile in the region. One in five of the region’s businesses rate design as crucial to their bottom-line success (19%). Yet their poor take-up of design doesn’t yet support this belief.
There are ways to change this. Rather than seeing design’s low regional profile as a problem, it could be used to spur businesses to match other regions. Our survey offers a number of comparisons that could help, such as the East Midlands.
For example, only 26% of North East businesses have developed new products or services in the past three years. In a region such as the East Midlands, this figure more than doubles (54%). And comparing the two regions’ respective contributions to national gross value added (GVA) – 3.4% versus 6.5% – shows another near doubling. While the two statistics may not be directly linked, they could help you argue that by taking steps such as developing more new products, the region could potentially improve overall.
If you're a design business
At first glance the region seems less receptive than others to buying design services.
There’s a lot of convincing to do. But there can only be opportunities for you to grow your service offering. For example, while 64% of East Midlands businesses use digital and multimedia design, only 19% of North East businesses do so. If you offer these services, you could look to persuade businesses to use them more.
Convincing clients to do more in these areas will benefit both you and them. Other parts of our survey, such as What design can do for your figures and The link between design and better business performance could help you make the case.
And as well as the results of this survey (which look at what your clients are doing), we’ve also looked at what your peers are doing. The business of design is the first comprehensive survey of the design industry.
Among other things, the research compares the supply of design services in your region to that in others. This complements the demand for services discussed above, and should further help you discuss these issues with your clients.
If you’re a design educator or student
For researchers, this region could be a good benchmark against which to measure any future improvement in the impact of design, as the potential for improvement is greater than most.
Students interested in a career in design could look at our report on The link between design and better business performance to help them persuade businesses to take them on.