Design in the West Midlands
The headline
The West Midlands is comfortable with the role design plays. It’s appreciated and used, particularly in support of the region’s strengths.
But arguably, the region’s businesses are playing it a little safe. Design is often seen as having a limited role, rather than a significant or integral one. And design investment is more likely to have remained static than increased.
Increasing the degree of confidence in design could boost its profile in the West Midlands and benefit the local economy as a whole.
The details
What role does design play in business?
Most (79%) businesses in the West Midlands think design has some role to play in their business.
UK average 76%
While this broadly matches the UK average, the region does tend to see design’s role as limited. Nearly half (45%) of businesses see it this way.
How important is design to success, compared to other factors?
One in six (16%) of West Midlands businesses think design is crucial to their success. That matches the UK average.
UK average 15%
Of course, traditional factors remain more important.
For example, 86% of the region’s businesses rate operational management as crucial. And 77% point to financial management.
How do businesses use design to compete?
In the West Midlands, 41% of businesses believe that, over the past decade, design has become more important in helping them compete.
UK average 46%
Despite this, the region remains tentative when it comes to investing in design. Over the past three years, only one in five (19%) businesses has upped their investment in design. They’re more likely to have carried on investing the same amount as before.
In addition, nearly half (45%) haven’t invested at all. While this is similar to the UK average, it’s still an opportunity for improvement.
Like those in many other regions, businesses in the West Midlands mostly compete on the added value of their product or service (92%). In fact, they’re among the strongest advocates of competing in this way. Only 6% see innovation as they way to compete. This is the lowest figure in the UK.
How many businesses have developed new products or services?
Almost four in ten (39%) of the businesses in the West Midlands have developed new products or services in the past three years.
UK average 40%
On the one hand, this mirrors the UK average. But on the other, it’s some way ahead of some other regions. In the North East and Northern Ireland, just a quarter of businesses developed new products or services.
What types of design do businesses use?
The West Midlands broadly mirrors the rest of the UK in using design. However, product and industrial design is comparatively strong – 24% of businesses use it.
UK average 17%
In comparison, interior and exhibition design is somewhat under-utilised. Communications design is the region’s most popular service, yet only 44% of design businesses in the region offer it. For more information on the UK design industry, see The business of design .
Do businesses use designers?
Over half (57%) the businesses in the West Midlands don’t have any design activity at all.
UK average 45%
The region matches the overall UK picture both in employing designers internally and hiring external consultants. But dedicated in-house design teams are slightly less common.
Where do businesses apply design?
West Midlands businesses apply design fairly consistently, in line with the UK picture. The exception is marketing. Design is applied less here (38%) than in other regions.
UK average 48%
Design is also applied less to internally facing functions, such as workplace design and internal communications.
However, just 15% of the region’s businesses don’t apply design to any of the activities we surveyed. This compares well to the UK average of one in four.
Regional portrait
The region’s economy represents 8.1% of the UK’s total gross value added (GVA). In 2004, the West Midlands’ GVA was £81.7billion.
The proportion of manufacturing businesses is higher in the West Midlands than in the UK overall. This no doubt reflects the region’s industrial roots.
Advantage West Midlands has, together with the Government Office for the West Midlands and others, drawn up a regional action plan. This maps the West Midlands Regional Economic Strategy against the drivers of productivity and employment.
For more information on the West Midlands, please visit these websites:
How can I use this information?
If you’re a business intermediary
We can help you present a case to West Midlands businesses for investing more in design. Our report What design can do for your figures provides evidence of businesses increasing turnover and profit through design.
Marketing might be one activity for that investment. Currently, the region's businesses apply design less in this context than elsewhere.
If you’re a design business
The region’s traditional strengths in manufacturing mean services such as product and industrial design will always be popular.
For design businesses looking to capitalise on already strong markets for design, the focus should be on communications design, digital and multimedia design and product and industrial design.
Others may want to target services that the region’s businesses use to a below average extent. Interior and exhibition design is used by half as many businesses here as it is elsewhere. The region also applies less design to its marketing activities.
Convincing clients to do more in these areas should 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 to them.
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
Tracking any change in investment patterns could be a worthwhile area for further study. West Midlands businesses have tended to keep their levels of investment in design static, rather than increase them. This is the opposite of the usual pattern across the UK.
For students interested in a career in design, businesses in this region primarily use communications design, but they are also strong users of product and industrial design and digital and multimedia design. One in four businesses use these.
Dedicated design departments are slightly less common here than they are elsewhere in the UK, but external agency and internal design opportunities are in line with the UK average.