Design Week is resting, and we’ll be back soon
Dear readers,
Many of you were disappointed when it was announced that Design Week would be closing at the beginning of 2024. We were too! As the developers of the site, we just didn’t feel wild about getting the job of decommissioning the site. During a chat about the closure, a joking comment about making an offer quickly turned serious. We soon asked, “Could you put us in touch with the right people at Centaur because I think we could buy it?”
Then we saw Jeremy Myerson, the founder of Design Week, commenting that “Surely the Design Week brand could be saved and given new life in the era of 24/7 digital communication?” As friends with Jeremy, who also hails from Liverpool, his words solidified the idea in my mind. I remembered my early career struggles and saw this as a rare opportunity. With the right connections, I believed we could make this work.
You could consider this our wildest impulse buy.
You might wonder what qualifies us to publish for the design industry. We operate under two names: Interconnect, known for technology services and coding, and Standfirst, which provides integrated design and development, primarily for the publishing industry. Over the years we’ve worked with publications like The New Statesman, The Spectator and The Telegraph, gaining valuable insights along the way. We believe we can make this work through solid planning and execution.
We’re glancing backwards, but looking forward
We can’t deny the history and value of the Design Week brand. It’s been hugely important to many in the industry and is clearly much loved. However, there were good reasons why it closed. There’s no denying that bringing it back to its glory days is going to be a challenge. It’s also important to realise that the world today is a very different place to the one in which Design Week previously thrived.
So we have a plan.
Strategically our aim is to help designers sell their design skills, and to facilitate the job of design buyers to find that great design. Some of you will be in the business of selling your work as employees of an organisation, and some of you will be selling it as freelancers. Some of you will be running small studios and others big agencies. Buyers may be working at a small business needing a new brand, or with a huge international brand wanting a new design system for managing the implementation of a huge print and digital campaign. All of it matters and connecting the different sides of the buying and selling equation is critical.
We also intend to find ways of boosting individuals from all walks of life who’ve entered the industry, and finding ways for you to shine in an industry where, sometimes, connections can feel like they matter more than skill. If you have skill in design, we intend to find ways of making you shine brightly in the community.
And to help with all of the above we’re about to start recruitment. If you’re a recruiter, we’re already sorted, thanks, but if you’re an editor or a reporter who’d like to work with us we’ll have an online form available soon and will make an announcement very early next week.
But first tell us what you would like to see!
I’ve been trying to write this as a personal letter. Because I want you to know that there are real people here, who care about Design Week and want to see it add real value to the design community. The thing is, if we don’t serve you well, Design Week will just fade away. We need your help to ensure we serve you well.
Our job is to bring people together. But there are many different ways of doing that. Let us know in the comments what you’d be most excited about Design Week bringing to the market. No limits! We’ll read every single comment you leave. This way, you might just help shape the future of Design Week.
Yours faithfully,
David Coveney
Publisher at Design Week
I love this, let’s champion all designers from all walks of life but I personally get disappointed with the lack of ux and experience content, stories and work displayed out there! Let’s talk about meaningfu, impactful and even the invisible but brilliant user and customer experiences in the world.
Hi Nicola! Lovely of you to leave a note here. We are *so* about this. As part of our research on this acquisition we read the Design Council’s report on the design economy. It showed that between 2010 and 2019 the digital design sector had grown by 138%. In our research we found that this sector is often somewhat sidelined even though, at £53.4bn in the UK economy, it adds up to more than 50% of the design economy.
https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/design-economy/
Am glad to hear reincarnation is in the works. Design Week has been instrumental with keeping me inspired and informed during rough times and employed with its life saving job boards.
Advice for entering the market as a grad or a start-up, as well as the return of the annual Design Week awards publication would be most welcome.
Kindest regards,
Hon Lam.
Thank you Hon for commenting. We’re intending to bring back the job boards, but it may not happen immediately.
I’m hearing you on the subject of advice for startups and graduates. I’m remembering those early years of us going out there as designers and developers and it was tough, and we made lots of mistakes. Mistakes we can hopefully help others to avoid.
I’m sure there are thousands of creatives who will echo the same sentiment about Design Week – we’ve all utilised the job boards to help us get up and running in the early parts of our career, just as we all continue to monitor its fantastic articles and insights as sources of inspiration and knowledge. So to hear it is NOT being lost, means a great deal to many.
As a small agency owner myself, it would be great if Design Week considered providing a project proposals portal that subscribers could access. I know it is a bit of a taboo topic to talk about free pitching – so a portal that presents businesses who are prepared to pay a small fee for agencies who enter a pitching bid for their work would be a better approach.
Thanks Matt – I’m glad to hear that Design Week means a lot to you.
My other job is running a small studio. I feel your pain and I think an untapped need is the facilitation of the connection between businesses who are buying design and those who are selling. Your idea’s very interesting and will be added to the ideas board. Thank you!
It is great news to hear Design Week is to continue!
As an educator I always looked forward to seeing the degree show articles as much as the networking events. I had a great time at several industry shows last year and would never have heard about them if not for Design Week.
Having worked with Design Week for 30 years as a publicist, I really feel its absence now as the title that cares about and is informed about practices and agencies from an industry-insider point of view. Its finger-on-the-pulse, cross-market insights in terms of the full breadth of design sectors – latest thinking and innovations in each / who’s doing what – were unparalleled in ensuring we all had a truly current overview. It’s this voice of authority that’s really missed in this period of absence.
+1 to this comment, Caroline. I also work in PR in the design industry, and have sincerely missed reading Design Week.
If I could add any suggestions for this next chapter, I’d love to continue to see thoughtful articles written about issues facing the design industry, e.g. spec work, copyright concerns and ethical issues with AI, climate change and its effect on design choices. Design Week always did a great job with this type of content.
I too feel the absence of Design Week. Every day I see examples of slap-dash ‘good enough’ design, I enjoyed the insider-view, but I think your plan to showcase smaller, talented shops is an exciting idea! (Please do a parody on Fiverr!)
If I’m honest as a person who’s interested in the industry but not part of it I just have the need to be informed about the news and exhibitions related to design industry as simple as that, I’m from Mexico and we don’t have this kind of media covering that, or at least not in this scale. So what I am trying to say is that I’m glad for the effort of bringing back such a great space like this. Greetings.
That’s great news about Design Week coming back! It’s a shame it had to go, but I’m glad someone stepped in to revive it. I’m curious to see how they plan to adapt the platform for the current design landscape. Especially their focus on connecting designers with design buyers sounds promising. Hopefully, they’ll find a way to recapture the energy and influence Design Week used to have.
Design Week, has always been an outstanding source for news and inspiration for the design industry. It was saddening to hear that it was coming to an end. So, great news that it’s being resurrected! Many designers are now working from home and so Design Week is a vital source of connection for an otherwise disparate profession. I look forward to reading many more articles by thought leaders and being inspired by other designers’ work. Long live Design Week!
Thanks – I loved DesignWeek and have followed it for over 40 years now. In the print version we always looked forward to it landing. At N&N we loved the cleverly critical the letters from readers. it got me two great jobs too. Thank you.
Good luck – are you bringing back the Top100?
This is awesome news David, great decision…
For me, DW is all about:
> Inspiration (for those starting and those seeking their creative fix!)
> Education (pushing the boundaries of creativity, facilitated by innovations and sometimes technology, a reference point for those studying to be creative)
> Championing (promoting our sector / being a voice for the creative gang)
> Business (giving creative organisations a platform to shine and those seeing to tap into great talent!)
I’d love to see pieces on designers at all stages of their careers, including young people from diverse backgrounds working out what their creative lives might look like and late career designers going on creative adventures. Alongside jobs it would be interesting to see callouts for collaboration. And I’d love to see contributors who are themselves designers (Asking for a friend, spotting the editor / reporter form mentioned above…).
This is great news! Designweek has definitely been missed.
I often see advice for graduates and people starting out in design. But I’d like advice for people who have been working in design for a few years, but want to further their career, be more creating or how to get in to a better more creative job.
This is great to hear. At a time when 20% of Schools in England and Wales no longer teach Design and Technology and there is a real threat of the subject disappearing completely we need to present the design industry to all. As a teacher it would be great to have inspirational content that could show students and parents how rich, varied and talented design is in the UK and beyond. That careers in design are a possibility for students. Content that students would find interesting, motivating and useful making Design week a signpost towards the industry would be fantastic to see.
As someone who occasionally freelanced for DesignWeek (a long time ago, when it was still a printed publication!) I was sad to read that it had closed. Hopefully it will flourish after a rethink – it will be really interesting to see how it develops. Good luck with it.
Kudos to you guys! I was gutted to see DW fold – it has been such a source of information and inspiration for an industry I believe is woefully unrepresented. It was the go-to when finding my first big agency break and the benchmark for our own agency output. Good luck with it!
Would love to see a print version, perhaps a bi-annual or a quarterly round-up of what’s been happening in the creative world, around the world.
I think the publication needs to spread its reach further and attract a greater readership from related industries. I own a sign company when I started the business 24 years ago and one of the first purchases I made was a Design Week subscription… but the magazine felt like it was just aimed at design agencies, aspirational for me at the time but perhaps off-putting for others?
It needs to encourage a younger readership; the next generation of designers… practical career advice, how to’s, a reader’s designs section, I can think of so much!!
Looking forward to reengaging with the publication and seeing where it goes.
Good luck.
Indeed good news, especially as a remember it in the 80s and benefited from being on its pages! I would like to see the smaller companies profiled; a focus on talent not technology; the opportunity to see engaging work by others; a balance of content that is not purely digitally obsessed; graduate show features; etc. We need to see compelling design and astonishing ideas and thinking. In a world obsessed by data – brilliant content does matter!
I’m extremely happy to hear this news! Design Week had been one of few go-to resources for logo design and branding news over the years, so I was gutted when yet another freely available online resource had gone.
If there’s anything I can do to help, I would LOVE to be involved. I host a podcast called Logo Geek, written a book called “Make a Living Designing Logos” and run a supporting community too.
Sanity prevails!
Great News! So glad to hear you are coming back!
Please can we have features on other peoples projects and responses to briefs. I really like to see what other designers are up to and also see what styles are in vogue. We are a micro-agency and are scattered all across the UK so don’t get out to events much. The internet is our way of keeping abreast of current design thinking, and what media is the most used at any one time.
Innovation and future thinking is also very useful for us, so we can see what is starting to make head-ways, and we can then investigate further.
Bring back the Top 100 – always used this to benchmark our growth as a business.
TWO POINT
Creative Review CR
Design Week
Despite AI, these two brands kept the aspirational values in the UK’s Design industry exciting and alive . Furthermore, if a talented young designer goes into say WHSmiths (in Wolverhampton) and looks for these two design brands, not only they are inspired, but should their work get published from their Degree Show , they are next to the Big Branded Design Consultants . VOGUE is still here… Anyone can set up an AI page, but to get work published is everything. Getting work into THE BOOK is the cherry on the cake. The BIGGEST MISTAKE that D&AD stopped its annual publication. As the film goes ” An officer and a gentleman” BIG MISTAKE ! BIG MISTAKE ! “
Fantastic that Design Week is returning. I am now an Adobe software trainer as well as graphic designer and the most frequent question I get asked by students is if AI is going to take over their jobs? I reassure them that I think it is a tool, incredibly and increasingly clever, but still a tool. It can never replace human interaction (I hope!) and is something that we all have to engage with and use as part of our creative suite. So I think articles on how AI can be effectively integrated into design processes whilst still retaining the vital human element would be both informative and reassuring.
I’ve always bridged strategy and design, so would love a way that design can be promoted, not simply as a thing of beauty that attracts attention, but as a commercially strategic tool that’s rooted in behavioural science.
Especially the idea that design, is in fact, a sophisticated visual language. One that if used well affects people’s attitudes and behaviours.
This is fantastic news! As a lecturer in FE and HE what I’d like to see is continued access to brilliant, insightful articles on the industry and the work it produces, both newly written and archived pieces. Being able to point students at this resource and getting them to think of Design Week as *the* definitive place to look for the inside track on trends and the industry in general was invaluable. Long may it continue.
Bring back the printed publication!
To do it weekly on the newsstand could be a challenge, but we’ve had some ideas. Watch this space!
The news of the revival of the sorely-missed Design Week has made my whole week! Huge good luck to you, David, and your team. I am so looking forward to receiving the first edition!
i’m so excited by this. glad to see that Design Week is making a comeback as i remember talking to the team behind it often! I’d love to see more features and interviews of both brands and agencies, and more on the acceleration of apps, UX/UI, research into design and how design interacts with other disciplines such as advertising, marketing and (hardest of all) communications/Pr. there’s been a burst of activity blending all this in the fintech space, and the climate change space. new technologies always welcome!
After just leaving another ‘End of Year Graduation Show’ – Design Week is 100% something that students, teachers, industry need, in not only being able to stay informed of what’s happening in the world of design, but to help designers past present and future to share knowledge and learn.
Insta and TikTok can only do so much before the doom scroll takes hold. Having a platform to inspire, inform, and engage, would be a massive benefit.
Great to hear and good luck! I would love to see an updated report on how design affects business success related to design maturity of the organization, like the one Invision did in 2019 — https://s3.amazonaws.com/www-assets.invisionapp.com/The-New-Design-Frontier-from-InVision.pdf
This great news, I’d love to see more on UI, UX and Motion Graphic inspiration but also interviews with a range of creatives from Junior to Senior.
Extremely good to hear the DesignWeek brand will live on.
I’m sure these will be all on your radar, but I’ve had a coffee, so let’s have a go…
Innovative Content Creation:
Expanding into formats such as podcasts, video series, and interactive digital content to engage a broader audience. While the paper versions were great, most DW content was consumed on Mobile / Desktop (in my experience)
Global Expansion:
Tapping into international markets to share design insights and trends from around the world, fostering a global design community. But probably keeping a strong UK focus.
Collaborative Partnerships:
Forming strategic partnerships with leading design firms, educational institutions, tech companies & lead brands to co-create cutting-edge projects and events.
Community Engagement:
Building a robust online platform for designers to connect, share their work, and collaborate on projects, fostering a vibrant design ecosystem.
The letters / feedback loops should/could be one the most exciting parts of the show. (Comments / Letters — feedback visible and unedited… Like this — though be careful not to stray into they hyper critical waters where no idea is seen as a good idea)
Educational Initiatives:
Launching workshops, webinars, and certification programs to nurture the next generation of design talent and provide ongoing professional development.
Sustainability Focus:
Championing sustainable design practices and highlighting innovative projects that prioritise environmental and social responsibility — and that avoid the dull brown paper approach.
Technological Integration:
Leveraging advancements in AR/VR, AI, and other emerging technologies to showcase design work in novel and immersive ways.
Awards and Recognition:
Expanding the scope and prestige of DesignWeek Awards, celebrating excellence and innovation across a wider range of design disciplines.
Design platform for those looking to commission work
Offering services to businesses looking to enhance their brand and product designs, leveraging the expertise within the DesignWeek network.
Exclusives and Insights:
Providing exclusive access to industry reports, trend analyses, and thought leadership pieces that help designers & commissioners stay ahead of the curve — see what’s hot, what’s not and what’s happening. From Graphic to Branding to Digital to Illustrative to Product to Interior to Exhibition, to Thought Leadership…
The lighter side: There is a whole host of amusing things that happen throughout the year. From how agencies go above and beyond to win a pitch, to the silly things that occur at award shows, client lunches or on the way back from a meeting. Without the creeping march of unpleasant gossip, it could be worth looking at some levity alongside the long-form.
PHEW
Very best of luck, we’re all rooting for you.
Amazing feedback Simon – thank you! A lot of what you’ve asked for is in our plans in some form or other, over the coming year. Watch this space!
Hi!
I was also gutted to find out this is over – I got to know Design Week around 2019, but in a physical form as the magazines were provided for us designers by my workplace in Austria. Later, as I switched jobs (and relocated to the NL) I started to read the online version as an inspiration, because I do think British design is extremely high-quality, brave and progressive so it can be a great example (design-wise) for other countries and regions as well. That means I don’t mind the UK focus at all, I think it’s great!
I don’t have many thoughts to add to it content-wise as I was always satisfied with the magazine, I just wanted to show my support and wish you good luck! 🙂
Violetta
Thank you Violetta!
Really interesting to hear your thoughts and how they align with where we’re going. We do intend to bring in features about design trends around Europe and the world, because none of us work in a vacuum and we seed each other with inspiration and motivation.