The sad case of the lost Design Council

You could be excused for wondering just what 10 000 buys these days. Especially if you were involved with the Design Business Association’s annual Directory of Members for 1996/7.

Surely the Design Council has been doing just that. The council paid 10 000 to the DBA as part of a sponsorship deal last year. In return it expected to see a double page spread in the directory extolling the council’s virtues.

The directory, however, contained no such spread. In fact, it contained no mention of the Design Council whatsoever. Even the final page, which thanks the designers, printers, photographers and paper suppliers, forgets the poor Design Council. The finger pointing is still going on.

“When the directory was published there was what the DBA described as an ‘oversight’,” says the Design Council’s communications director Paul Crake.

But DBA chairman Jonathan Sands says the mistake rests with the Design Council. “They didn’t provide us with the information to go in the directory,” he quips.

The two organisations have now come to an amicable agreement on at least one thing. The DBA will provide publicity for the council in “other ways”. We can’t wait, but don’t hold your breath.