New DBA identity to show change of tack

The Design Business Association is to introduce a new corporate identity, created by Coley Porter Bell. It will be launched at the association’s agm on 28 September. DBA communications director Clare Anderson, managing director at Wagstaffs, has overseen the project.

A new website, designed by Deepend, will also be unveiled at the agm, to be held at the Design Council in London.

DBA chairman Colin Porter, co-founder of CorpBrand, declines to comment on the identity before the launch, but it is believed to include colour. The black and white marque created by The Partners in 1992 is now deemed “inflexible”.

Porter will step down as DBA chairman at the agm, as Interbrand Newell and Sorrell chief operating officer Lynne Dobney takes the helm. Both Porter and Dobney say the new identity embodies a change of tack for the DBA. Porter will explain the vision at the agm, and it is expected to have design effectiveness at its core.

Dobney plans to push effectiveness in all aspects of design, from the way design businesses are run to the way they serve clients. She is keen to forge links with other bodies interested in design, including the Government and the Marketing Society, as well as overseas organisations.

She pledges “to link members’ needs with the needs of industry and clients and other organisations” and “to build an international perspective”.

Several DBA directors are due to step down at the agm, having completed their three-year term, and replacements will be elected. Porter is among those leaving, after five years on the board, but he will stay involved in the DBA’s Design for Good initiative, which he launched as chairman. Under the DBA’s “alumni” system, past directors can continue to play an active role.