What does the DBA stand for?

We asked our members to decide what else DBA could stand for. We particularly like Design's Brightest Ambassador. Have a look at the full list and decide which one best sums us up. Full list

Read more comments from our members.

What the DBA does for me:

Home

Rodd Industrial Design

What DBA training did for me:

The Workshop

Wire Design

Ralph

CIPD

What the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards did for me:

Elmwood

Felton Communication

What the DBA does for me

Home
We have been members of DBA since 1997 but since 2003 we have seen enormous change!

At last the new team at DBA are organising events outside of London. This started with a get together of the Bristol area members towards the end of 2003. From that first meeting several of us made some very interesting connections. I know that two agencies got together and formed a strategic alliance in terms of offering structural packaging and brand development under one umbrella.

Our story, is even more intimate, bizarre and trusting. On talking to Caroline Hagen at Reach we discovered that there were some similarities in terms of business size, fees charged, overhead costs, turnover, and ambition etc.

We were both paying external new business companies £2000+ a month for a sporadic and mostly sketchy service.

We had devised a plan. As full-time new business development managers can be expensive, we decided to share an employee. Matthew has been with us since September and works half the week with Reach, then the rest of the time with us. It works, mainly because the two businesses work in slightly different disciplines of design, so we are not chasing the same clients.

Without DBA we would never had spoken let alone forged this unusual link, thank you for making it possible.

Carol Whitworth, Creative Director, Home, Bristol

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Rodd Industrial Design
Over the last couple of years, we have noticed a huge change in the DBA. It now seems more active, vocal and keen to build relationships with its members. As a result, we’ve become aware of just how much it has to offer.

Initially, one of the advantages of the DBA was its organised events enabling us to network with like-minded consultancies. It’s one of the few opportunities we get to meet our peers, build friendships and realise that we all face similar obstacles.

Last year, we entered the member only DBA Design Challenge and were one of five finalists with our design for a more inclusive vacuum cleaner. As well as the eye-opening focus group sessions and presentation events, we fostered strong links with the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre. The Challenge allowed us to expand our business horizons and, as an extra bonus, we’ve received a lot of invaluable publicity.

More recently, we were one of ten consultancies chosen for the DBA/NESTA Business Growth Initiative - a professional training program that analyses your business and offers strategic advice. The practical help sessions have been enormously beneficial - if a little painful in their honesty - and have helped us identify how to bridge the gap between where we are now and where we want to be.

The DBA has a huge amount to offer, but it’s a two-way effort. You really have to get stuck in and use its services as much as possible; not only to justify the membership but also to reap the rewards!

David Tree, Marketing & Business Development, Rodd Industrial Design

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What DBA training did for me

The Workshop
PP1 was really, really great. I loved it in fact! I think it has made me a better Junior Project Manager. I was hoping to receive training/guidance on a range of topics and my expectations were greatly exceeded. The lecturers were fantastic and I learnt so much - I have come back to work and been able to put into practice so much That I learnt over the 4 days (Liz Lydiate would be pleased to see my desk clear apart from the '3 file rule'). As someone new to both project management and design, the lectures on 'time managament', 'the client perspective' and 'the design business and its commercial context' were invaluable. The lecturers were wonderful - special mention to Henry Lydiate who was so passionate and Jeremy Myerson for confirming my belief that 'design does matter'! I feel that I have benefited greatly from the course and as a result I am more confident and productive at work!

All in all, PP1 was not only useful and enjoyable but real value for money. I can't wait for PP2!

Mattie Lafferty, Junior Project Manager, The Workshop, Sheffield

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Wire Design
I guess at Wire, we are like most other small design companies, we loved designing and did what we had to on the business side to keep us in beer. I looked at the DBA courses but immediately acted like a tight designer and convinced myself that I pretty much knew what I was doing. It wasn't until I 'd had another day of grief with a client who didn't understand what we were doing and didn't want to pay us much money that I decided to give it a go.

It's hard to say where I benefited most. I reckon that I took about two new memorable and practical things from just about every course. I 'd won lots of pitches and done loads of presentations over seven years and was really sceptical about the presentation skills course. I didn't want to learn slick presentation tricks and be turned into a big agency smarm ball. I was shocked to learn that you could keep your integrity but present so that clients completely understood you and your ideas. In the next month, we went through three, big, difficult pitches and walked away with all of them. It's massively helped with presenting initial ideas too once the projects started. I'll have to accept what Shan said 'good presenters are made and not born.’

I hate finances and I switch off every time an accountant starts talking but the simplicity and ideas behind the financial planning and management courses have changed the way we operate and monitor our pipeline and growth. The whole experience has changed my approach to the design business. It's a revelation to realise that you can get more creative control whilst making more money. We've now agreed a direction for the company and we'll be expanding into other areas and a new studio in the next year and all without financial risk. We're even about to do our first ever marketing campaign.'

John Corcoran, Wire Design, London

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Ralph
“As a Director working successfully on client pitches and presentations over the last 15 years, I decided to invest in the one day course to evaluate my presentation skills and see if this was training our team should carry out.

As it turned out, I had wrongly presumed that experience, self-belief and great creative were the key ingredients for success. I was most impressed with the training provided and particularly the attention to the physical presentation itself.

A must - especially for those who think they don't need it!”

Matt Button, Director, Ralph, Leeds

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CIPD
'The DBA Professional Practice Course was by far and away the most relevant and useful course I have ever been on”

Chris Chatfield, Senior Graphic Designer, CIPD

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What the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards did for us

Elmwood
“We’re very proud of our ranking in the top three in the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards League Table. The Awards are the global benchmark of commercial effectiveness and we enter not just for the sake of it, but because it gives our clients the proof of quantifiable results they need.“

Johnathan Sands, Chairman, Elmwood, Leeds

Felton Communication

There's no favouritism, no subjectivity, no doubt with the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, just fact - the design solution worked. For smaller agencies it's good to compete on a level playing field as well as prove to clients that their work works.

Roger Felton, Managing Director, Felton Communication, London

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