DBA’s new class of membership

The Design Business Association is set to admit in-house design teams and design managers to its membership.

The move was announced on Monday at the association’s annual general meeting, when Paul Priestman, director of Priestman Goode, took over as DBA chairman from former Interbrand chief operations officer Lynne Dobney.

Priestman, who says the new membership class ‘reflects where design is going’, is introducing a ‘vertical structure’ within the DBA.

The core membership will be design groups and in-house teams. These are flanked by design managers on one side and a second new membership class, young individual design staff employed by DBA member companies, on the other. Events will be organised for each group, with communication planned across all three.

Meanwhile, Enterprise IG executive creative director Jon Turner, Fitch managing director John Mathers and Lippa Pearce managing director Giles Culver joined the DBA board of directors at Monday’s AGM, replacing Dobney and Elmwood head of brand innovations Greg Taylor, who have completed their stints on the board.