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What kind of impact would a dot.com crash have on your business? ‘E-commerce is important for all growing brands. If e-business came to a halt, where would future growth come from for brands?

What kind of impact would a dot.com crash have on your business?

‘E-commerce is important for all growing brands. If e-business came to a halt, where would future growth come from for brands? Design is at the forefront of developing e-brands. A crash would mean design would have a new role to play in inspiring new channels for brand growth.’

Peter Hollingsworth, Managing Director, Brown ID

‘Designers have a responsibility to the on-line companies they work with in creating well-designed websites that differentiate them in the industry. But it’s important for people like us to work with committed businesses that will weather any storms. Those focused on genuine services and products will be less affected by short-termism: to survive, they must look to the long-term and strive for quality over the fast buck.’

Ajaz Ahmed, Managing Director, AKQA

‘Absolutely none. The dot.com industry must not be confused with the Web or Internet as a whole. Even if we are about to see some spectacular crashes involving a variety of dot.com players, the Internet will still grow and flourish as a media-rich channel for designers everywhere.’

Shaun Evans, Director, Qudos

‘I don’t foresee an imminent crash, rather a shake-down to those dot.com companies which offer a distinct customer benefit. Recent high profile casualties, such as lastminute.com or boo.com do not have anything materially different to offer and are not the sort of company we would invest in. Internet companies are an extremely important part of our business. We work for several start-ups, and favour global organisations which understand the importance of on-line branding. At the height of the dot.com furore, about three weeks ago, we were receiving 101 flaky proposals for every good one. Things have cooled down now.’

Patrick Smith, Managing Director, Enterprise IG

‘The dot.com revolution is wildly exciting and impacts on all aspects of the design industry, but in a complementary, not displacing way. A dot.com crash would be tragically disappointing, but would not have a profound impact on our consultancy.’

Gary Browning, Chief Executive, BDG McColl

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