GoSolr Brand Launch

GoSolr built a solar-energy brand from the ground up that has acquired thousands of users in a highly competitive, high-stakes category.

Xfacta worked end-to-end with GoSolr to create the distinctive brand world, intuitive digital tools and communications which framed solar as an upgrade to a modern way of living and achieved +1,013% revenue growth.

Power outages have affected households and businesses across South Africa since 2007, but despite being the most viable solution to the nation’s energy crisis, low trust and awareness were keeping consumers from adopting solar power.

In November 2022 that changed with the launch of GoSolr. The business has reimagined the way solar energy is positioned and delivered in South Africa with a disruptive subscription model, and its brand world has driven trust with a hesitant public. Design was crucial to conversion and differentiation, and to how fast the model was scaled – there was a narrow window of less than six months to establish the brand and digital experience before its launch.

At the heart of the brand’s success in rapidly attracting and converting consumers is a confident and clear customer journey. From the first point of contact to installation, GoSolr’s brand world reassures users throughout the journey, removing jargon and fear from the decision-making process. The visual identity connotes warmth, optimism and reliability, three qualities the market lacked, earning over 100 million media impressions for the brand and shaping how competitors behave.

In a category where most of the competition feels technical and impersonal, GoSolr feels like a human service. At a time of national uncertainty, GoSolr has literally and emotionally given people power. Read more about Gold and Grand Prix winner: GoSolr Brand Launch >

Find out more in GoSolr and Xfacta's video:

Understanding your positioning

• One of the areas design businesses can struggle with is a point of differentiation in the marketplace, but as the role of AI in creativity is increasingly debated, differentiation is more important than ever.
• If you want to understand your positioning, the fastest way is to ask your audience. Talk to a handful of current or recent clients and ask: Why do you really choose us? Where do we add the most value? Where do we feel interchangeable with others? And if applicable; Why did you stop using us?
• A really simple template for agencies wanting to look at their positioning was shared: Among [target market], [x] is the brand of [frame of reference], that [point of difference] because [reason to believe] Eg.. Among [snackers], [Snickers] is the brand of [candy bar], that [satisfies hunger] because [it’s packed with peanuts].
• An alternative fun and useful exercise was also shared: Personify your agency, imagine them at a party. How do they act, speak, what do they say, how do they introduce themselves? Now imagine them towards the end of the party, a few drinks in, what do they do/say differently, what are they passionate about, what topics do they pipe up about?
• Positioning shouldn’t be about flashy slogans, and it is also worth considering how your positioning statement aligns with how people now search online using AI.
• Holding a mirror up to your own business can be hard, which is why impartial, external expert advice can be so valuable. The DBA Experts Register can be helpful in this respect.

Delivering benefits

• One member shared how they came to change the direction of their business as the work became increasingly commoditised, repetitive and unstimulating for the team.
• Being explicit about what they were great at has enabled the business to focus on and charge for strategy work, where there is higher value and margin.
• They are now doing more thinking for clients, rather than more doing.
• For industrial designers whose client contracts often restrict what work they can talk about, one member highlighted their approach to building their business’ credibility and outreach through PR focused projects.
• This activity currently takes up about 10/15% of the team’s time. The projects might not ultimately go anywhere, but the value also lies in gaining press coverage, opening-up client conversations and the professional and personal development it delivers for the team.
• Generating content is valuable. Every designer needs to know how to write and speak about design, their opinions and what they stand for. It’s better to have a stance than to be bland.
• This activity can build your team’s confidence, and if you’re invited to speak at events, judge awards etc, this builds continuous noise about your agency, and aids SEO and GEO. 

Further resources

• A number of books were recommended including: David C. Baker’s The Business of Expertise, How not to come second: The art of winning business pitches by David Kean, and Blair Enns’ Win Without Pitching, along with the 2bobs podcast.
• Fully Saturated: The UK Design Agency Positioning Audit 2025 by Emily Penny and Joel Stein, which showcases interesting branding agency propositions, was also recommended.

There will be no DBA Member Forum in April due to the Easter weekend.

Please do however join us for a webinar to launch Up to the Light’s 2026 ‘What Clients Think’ report on 14 April at 1.30pm. You can reserve your place today

The next DBA Member Forum will take place on Tuesday 5 May at 1.30pm BST (moving from our normal Monday slot to Tuesday, because of the bank holiday). 

Most creative agency founders didn’t start their businesses to maximise profit. They started them to do good work – work they were proud of, work that clients valued, work that built reputations.

The tension tends to show up later. Many agencies producing strong creative work struggle to achieve consistent, healthy margins. Not because the work isn’t good enough, but because the commercial decisions that sit behind that work aren’t always managed well.

At the recent DBA Member Forum, I focused on two places where agencies tend to lose margin. They’re not the whole story, but small changes here can make a noticeable difference.

Accurate and realistic proposals

Many agencies lose margin before a project has even started.

This usually happens at the proposal stage. Work isn’t properly costed, assumptions aren’t tested, or pricing is adjusted downwards in an effort to stay competitive. The result is a project that looks viable on paper but is already under pressure the moment it kicks off.

A common mistake is reusing old proposals without understanding how those projects actually performed. If you don’t know where time was really spent, how many revisions were required, or where delivery became stretched, you’re guessing. Guesswork rarely leads to profitable outcomes.

This is also where timesheets matter. They’re the bane of most agencies because teams don’t enjoy filling them in, and leaders often question whether they’re worth the hassle. They’re there to tell you whether the work was priced accurately. If projects regularly overrun, the issue is usually scope, not delivery. Without that data, you’re pricing on assumptions rather than evidence.

There’s also a tendency to reduce the price while keeping the deliverables intact. This is where many projects start to unravel. If the budget is fixed, the scope has to flex. You have to cut your cloth accordingly.

Designers will always want more time – and rightly so. I’ve never had one say, “You’ve given me too much budget, take some back.” But time isn’t free. If the budget doesn’t stretch, the scope has to adjust.

This is why internal alignment matters so much at proposal stage. There needs to be an honest discussion with the delivery team about what can realistically be achieved within the budget – and a shared agreement that the team will stick to it. Without that buy-in, budgets become theoretical and overruns are absorbed later.

Strong proposals are honest documents. They align budget, scope and resourcing assumptions clearly, and they set expectations internally as well as externally. When teams are involved early and understand the constraints, staying within budget becomes a conscious decision rather than a constant battle.

Getting resource management right

Most agencies default to scheduling when what they really need is resource management. Scheduling is reactive – it deals with what’s already landed. Resource management looks ahead at demand, capacity and skills, and plans before problems show up.

To do that well, you need two things: visibility of upcoming work and a simple, agreed process for allocating people. Without those, you’re not really managing resources – you’re just fitting work into whatever gaps you can find.

The tool you use matters far less than getting that foundation right. Most agencies still rely on Excel because it’s flexible and familiar. Dedicated resource management software can help, but it won’t fix the underlying issue. Once the basics are in place, the tooling becomes secondary.

When this is working, projects start on time, teams aren’t stretched, and the hours you priced into the proposal are actually the hours you have available. That’s what protects margin. It also means you have the right talent on the right work, giving the team the time and headspace to deliver to a high creative standard – not just to hit the deadline.

What this looks like in practice

The way work is scoped influences how it needs to be resourced. And how well it’s resourced determines whether the margin you priced in at the start survives delivery.

When agencies struggle with profitability, the symptoms are familiar – scope creep, the wrong skills on the job, and rework. The causes usually sit earlier, in how work is priced, planned and resourced.

Profitability isn’t about compromising creativity. It’s about setting work up properly so it can be delivered well on time and within budget.

Read other expert perspectives:

In Focus: Staff cost to fee income ratio: DBA Expert Mike Almandras

In Focus: The people story behind the numbers: DBA Expert Aliya Vigor-Robertson

When we look at metrics like gross income per head, utilisation and recovery rates in isolation, they feel like operational or commercial challenges. But when you step back and look at them holistically, these numbers are actually outcomes of how skills are structured, supported and deployed across your agency.

If these metrics are under pressure, it’s rarely just a pricing issue or a client problem. More often than not, it’s a signal about capability, role design or leadership capacity.

This matters because it changes where you look for solutions. If you’re treating falling productivity purely as a finance or operations issue, you’re missing what’s actually happening with your people.

What we lost when we cut

Looking at agencies that completed the DBA In Focus survey in both years, headcount was down just 0.5%, but fee income per head fell by 2.1%. That’s the pattern that should concern us. 

In theory, if you’re removing lower performers or consolidating roles, you’d expect income per head to at least stay steady, if not rise. The fact that it fell suggests that some agencies removed not just cost, but critical capability – the people driving income, managing client relationships, maintaining momentum.

The picture varies considerably from agency to agency. Some grew, some contracted significantly. But the overall pattern points to something important: last year’s restructures weren’t only a cost story, they were a talent and capability one. And that raises uncomfortable questions about which skills and responsibilities are most essential right now, and what happens when you lose them without a plan to redistribute or rebuild that capability.

Who can actually afford to start in this industry?

Junior designers with under three years’ experience are earning £26,000 to £28,000, with some roles falling below the London Living Wage. That’s not just a pay issue; it’s an access issue.

If you’re a graduate with student debt, living in London or another major city, these salary levels make it extraordinarily difficult to begin a career in design. And while it’s encouraging to see more agencies offering internships, pay levels at entry point continue to limit who can realistically afford to join the industry at all.

The question we need to be asking is: what is this actually benefiting? Because access at the start of a career has a direct impact on long-term diversity, retention and ultimately, who ends up in leadership roles a decade from now.

If agencies are serious about building diverse teams, early-career pay needs to be part of that conversation. It’s not just about who you’re willing to hire; it’s about who can afford to say yes.

The structural barriers to women's progression

Women continue to hold only 37% of senior business and department head roles, and the gender pay gap widens significantly at senior levels. The contributing factors are worth restating.

Only 34% of agencies offer enhanced parental pay, and that figure drops to 15% among smaller agencies. These are understandably difficult commercial decisions, particularly for smaller businesses operating on tight margins. But the data reinforces something we see time and again in practice: support through parenthood plays a critical role in whether women stay, progress and ultimately lead within agencies.

This isn’t about judgment. It’s about recognising that structural factors, not individual capability, are shaping who gets to stay and who doesn’t. And if the outcome is that women consistently drop out at mid-to-senior level, we need to be honest about what’s driving that.

When pay can't move, clarity becomes everything

With only 58% of agencies planning pay rises this year, and fewer than half of small agencies doing so, pay pressure is clearly being driven by rising costs and tighter margins. But here’s what agencies often get wrong: when pay can’t move, the biggest risk isn’t the freeze itself, it’s a lack of clarity.

Agencies that are retaining their best people tend to be the ones that are transparent about constraints, progression and expectations, even in challenging conditions. People can handle difficult news. What they struggle with is ambiguity, particularly when it comes to their own future.

If you can’t offer a pay rise this year, that’s understandable. But have you told your team why? Have you been clear about when things might change, or what progression looks like in the meantime? Because in the absence of that clarity, your best people will start looking elsewhere.

Skills, not headcount, will shape what's next

Finally, while much of this data is retrospective, it’s difficult to ignore what’s ahead. AI is likely to have a significant impact on skills, roles and productivity over the next few years, and how agencies approach this will matter enormously.

The agencies that treat this as a people and skills challenge, not purely a technology or headcount one, are likely to be far better positioned for what’s coming. That means thinking carefully about which skills you need to build, which roles may need to evolve, and how you support people through that transition.

The pattern across all of this is clear: the agencies that will thrive aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the most aggressive growth plans. They’re the ones that understand their people challenges are their business challenges, and they’re addressing them as such. Because if last year taught us anything, it’s that capability is harder to rebuild than it is to lose.

Other expert perspectives:

In Focus: Where agency margins are won – or lost in delivery: DBA Expert Manish Kapur

In Focus: Staff cost to fee income ratio: DBA Expert Mike Almandras 

Business performance and profitability

• Staff cost to fee income ratio remains one of the most critical profitability metrics, with 60% being considered healthy.
• Fluctuations in overheads since the pandemic have seen businesses operating closer to 65/70% on staff costs (leaving 10-15% for overheads and 20% for profit) but you need to keep a check on these ratios to maintain profitability. 

Business development and differentiation

• With clients viewing largely undifferentiated agencies as interchangeable, price-led decisions become inevitable. So how do you really stand out in the current market?
• The next DBA Member Forum on Monday 2 March, 1:30-2:30 will explore this in more detail.
• One point of difference for DBA members is to add the DBA logo to your website and Linkedin. It shows that you care about the development of your business, your staff and how you manage your clients and builds credibility and trust. Members can download it here. 
• Ask bigger, deeper questions to uncover the real business problem upfront beyond the brief.
• Define what success looks like and commit to measuring outcomes over time. We can help with this – book in a call. 

Talent, culture and people strategy 

• There’s a trend in design businesses at the smaller end of the scale operating with a senior, core team supplemented by freelancers, reducing the pressure to take on work that might be unprofitable. 
• Conversely, from the conversations the DBA is having with the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD), larger agencies are bucking this trend, taking on more junior talent.
• Entry level salaries below the London Living Wage (£28,860) limit who can afford to enter the industry – and early career conditions directly shape the future diversity and leadership of the industry.
• If headcount reductions are on the cards, be sure to audit the skills you need and where they sit in the business to prevent any unintended impacts on gross income. 
• Where pay rises are frozen, transparency is even more important. Clarify routes to progression and take a more holistic view of reward to keep hold of your top talent. 

Operational effectiveness and efficiency

• Protect your margins through accurate project scoping to prevent the age-old issue of ‘working for free on a Friday’. Timesheets are critical. For smaller agencies, this often starts with disciplined use of Excel.
• Operational efficiency depends on clear internal commitment to agreed budgets. Everyone needs visibility on what was sold, what the budget is, and how to stick to it.
• True efficiency comes from forward-looking resource management, not last-minute scheduling. Visibility of pipeline and capacity ensures you have the right people on the right work.

If you’d like tailored, strategic business advice, please do take a look at the DBA Experts Register. And why not consider booking yourself and your team a ticket to the Design Effect on 10 March to see how design is shaping organisations at a strategic level. The day is designed to create space to step back from day-to-day pressures and engage with the bigger picture together.

Our next DBA Member Forum is on Monday 2 March at 1.30pm GMT. Find out more and join us >

Mauro Porcini, in his first European speaking engagement since joining Samsung as President & Chief Design Officer

Mauro Porcini is Samsung’s President & Chief Design Officer—the company’s first-ever CDO, appointed in 2025 to lead human-centered innovation during a pivotal era shaped by AI. At Samsung, he oversees a global organization of 1,500 designers across mobile, display, TV, and home appliance businesses, with studios in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

Before joining Samsung, Mauro served as the first Chief Design Officer at two global corporations: PepsiCo, where he spent 13 years building a world-class, 400-person design capability across 19 cities, and 3M, where he spent 10 years shaping innovation across multiple business sectors and regions. His leadership at both companies helped redefine the strategic role of design in large-scale, multinational organizations.

Earlier in his career, Mauro began at Philips Design and later co-founded the Italian design agency Wisemad, expanding his influence in Europe’s creative and cultural scene. His early work in wearable technology has been exhibited internationally, including at the Louvre in Paris and the Seoul Arts Center.

Mauro is also an accomplished author of The Human Side of Innovation (winner of the Gold Medal at the Better Future – New York Design Awards), L’età dell’Eccellenza, and Good Design is for Everyone.

Across his career, Mauro and his teams have earned more than 2,500+ global design and innovation awards and numerous international honors. Among his most meaningful distinctions is his title as Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia—a Knight of Italy—bestowed by the President of the Italian Republic.

Lara Lewington, technology broadcaster, journalist and author specialising in AI and health

Lara is a leading technology broadcaster, journalist and author specialising in AI and health. For fifteen years she presented the BBC’s flagship technology programme Click, covering breakthrough innovations around the world. She fronted Panorama’s Beyond Human: Artificial Intelligence and Us, and has hosted tech specials for ITV’s Tonight, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and other major outlets, exploring how artificial intelligence, science and innovation are reshaping our everyday lives. As ITV Lorraine’s resident “AI Agony Aunt,” she regularly demystifies the challenges and possibilities the digital world brings.

Passionate about helping people navigate a fast-changing world, Lara is known for bringing complex technology to mainstream audiences. Her critically acclaimed book Hacking Humanity (Penguin, 2025) reveals the coming revolution in health, where we can understand, track and predict our bodies’ needs like never before, close the gap between ‘healthspan’ and lifespan, and personalise prevention and treatment for a radically healthier future. She’s also produced and presented several BBC documentaries on the topic, unearthing the real promises of the longevity revolution, and the science that could drive us to age better.

Before joining Click in 2011, Lara’s media experience was vast and varied. She was the technology columnist for the UK’s biggest selling weekly magazine, Woman, for four years, and has written for numerous other publications.

Dr Patricia Moore, esteemed leader in the movement of Universal Design and winner of the 2022 World Design Medal

Patricia Moore is an internationally renowned designer and gerontologist, serving as a leading authority on consumer lifespan behaviours and requirements. For a period of four years (1979-1982), in an exceptional and daring experiment, Moore traveled throughout the United States and Canada disguised as women more than eighty years of age. With her body altered to simulate the normal sensory changes associated with aging, she was able to respond to people, products, and environments as an elder.

Since 1990, Moore has designed more than three hundred physical medicine & rehabilitation environments for healthcare facilities throughout North America, Europe, China and Japan. A frequent international lecturer and media guest, Moore is the author of numerous articles and the books DISGUISED: A True Story, Ageing, Ingenuity & Design [2015], and OUCH! Why Bad Design Hurts [in works]. Her broad range of experience spans multiple disciplines of design, working with major corporations.

Moore holds undergraduate degrees in Industrial and Communication Design from the
Rochester Institute of Technology Advanced Studies in Biomechanics at NY University’s Medical School and graduate degrees in Psychology and Gerontology from Columbia University.

Holding a huge range of awards and honours from throughout her career, the World Design Organisation selected Moore for the World Design Medal, presented at the 2023 World Design Congress in Tokyo. Moore is the 2024 recipient of the Sir Misha Black Medal for her significant contribution to design education throughout her career.

Aporva Baxi, Executive Creative Director and Co-Founder of global brand agency DixonBaxi

Aporva Baxi is Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director of DixonBaxi, the global brand agency he leads with long-time creative and business partner Simon Dixon and a world class team of strategists, designers, writers, and makers. The agency helps some of the world’s most ambitious companies navigate moments of change, creating brands with clarity, character, and distinction that are built to perform at scale.

Their studio moves across culture, sport, entertainment, and technology, partnering with organisations such as Roblox, Formula One, ESPN, G42, Tubi, AC Milan, ITV, IMAX, Eurosport, Audible, Netflix, British Land, MTV, and Samsung. Their work is focused on building brands that stay relevant, adaptive, and ready for the future. Brands that draw on their equity, embrace invention, and remain unmistakably themselves as they grow.

He is committed to an open approach to practice through initiatives such as The DixonBaxi Way, Journeys, and the 500 page book REMIX, developed to support creative teams and leaders across the industry.

Aporva serves on the boards of The One Club for Creativity and the Art Directors Club in New York, has judged on the D&AD, Clios, Transform Branding Juries, and speaks internationally at events including D&AD, ADC and OFFF.

He believes meaningful transformation strengthens what makes a brand matter and gives it the imagination and clarity to lead its future.

Stephanie Verschoor, MD – User Experience Design and Digital Solutions at NatWest Group

Stephanie is a marketing specialist and business leader in brand & innovation strategy and creative development. As Head of New Digital Solutions & Design at NatWest Group she is responsible for customer experience design across the full user journeys in Commercial, Institutional, and international markets, across the NatWest Group’s portfolio of brands.

Prior to joining NatWest Group Stephanie led Reckitt’s design and brand communication across consumer touch points, design led innovation (new products and business models) and delivering world class customer experiences for a wide range of well known global brands (e.g. Dettol, Durex, Enfamil). Stephanie was also the business owner for RB’s global artwork management process & system. She was instrumental in building a global strategic design management team in Reckitt’s global headquarters.

Before Reckitt, in 2008, she worked as a lead designer and creative strategist for The Walt Disney Company creating branding, packaging, point-of-sale and digital solutions covering consumer products in fashion, food, stationary, home & toy categories for both the Disney & Pixar group of brands. Based in Los Angeles GHQ with subsequent moves to Munich and London.

Stephanie holds an MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design from the California Institute of Arts (Fulbright Scholar) and a BFA in Graphic Design, Video & 3D from the Arnhem Institute of Arts in the Netherlands. She has been the recipient of many global industry awards such as the Red Dot Product Design Award, the DBA Design Effectiveness Award, IF Gold Packaging Award and Dutch Best Book Design award. Stephanie is a driver of diversity and female leadership.

Simon Threadkell, Group Marketing Director, Brand Design and Customer Experience at Tesco

Simon spent the first half of his career in creative leadership roles in highly renowned Brand Design agencies, most notably FITCH where he was a Creative Director, working with brands in the UK, USA, ASIA and the Middle East.

He delivered effective and award-winning design led brand change for clients such as LEGO, M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Walmart, Target, Orange, Central Food Thailand, Selfridges, Sony, HSBC.

Since joining Tesco in 2010 Simon has held several Brand Design Director roles delivering change across many aspects of the Tesco customer experience. Group masterbrand development, store environment, packaging, marketing communication content creation.

As a long-standing member of the Customer Leadership team, Simon was an integral member of the team who worked on the Tesco brand turnaround plan.

Mark Van Iterson, industrial design engineer and former Global Design Director at The Heineken Company

Mark van Iterson is an industrial design engineer by education.

After 13 years at brand design agency and innovation consultancy side, Mark joined the HEINEKEN Company in 2005 as Global Design Director. His main focus was the responsibility for all brand-identity design, packaging and POS developments for the Heineken® brand worldwide. In the rather traditional beer category, Heineken sets itself apart by its progressive and innovative drive. Design and innovation are a fundamental part of the strategy to enhance and elevate the beer experience, build iconic brand equity, create future business concepts, and engage and excite consumers. As of 2016 Mark was also responsible for making environmental sustainability an integral part of the Heineken brand and its design.

In 2023 Mark and his design team took on the responsibility for elevating the role of design for all brands and innovations in the HEINEKEN company portfolio. This meant ‘building the design muscle’ for global brands like Amstel, Desperados, Tiger, Birra Moretti, Strongbow, and also for dozens of local jewels such as Cruzcampo, Dos XX, Bintang, Zlaty Bazant, Red Stripe, Windhoek, etc.

Next to this, Mark is a frequent lecturer, speaker and juror, for example for Cannes Lions, D&AD, Pentawards, Dutch Design Awards, and DBA.

Kathleen Brandenburg, Harvard Professor and Co-Founder of global design and innovation consultancy IA Collaborative

Kathleen Brandenburg is an internationally recognized founder, thought leader, educator and speaker on the global stage. Kathleen has devoted her career to elevating design as a strategic value for business, organizations, and society. In 2000, she co-founded the global design innovation consultancy IA Collaborative to bring design process and methods to a wide range of industries and sectors, regardless of complexity or scale, and often those traditionally not associated with design.

Today, Kathleen is leading the conversation to elevate design’s impact even further, championing it as the way solve our world’s most urgent problems. A Harvard Visiting Professor of Design for Social Innovation, she is at the forefront of a movement to change the way healthcare understands and applies design, and is the author of Design for Health: The Beginning of a New Dialogue Between Design and Public Health.

Applied to society’s greatest challenges, Kathleen believes that a design approach can be world-changing. Recently nominated by The Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt as Visionary of The Year, Brandenburg has also been named a Master of Design and one of the 50 Most Influential Designers in America by Fast Company. She serves as an Illinois Tech trustee and the board of overseers at the Institute of Design, and is a sought-after speaker on the value and impact of design.

Dr Christina N Harrington, Research Scientist, Google Research – Technology, AI, Society, and Culture Team, and Affiliate Faculty, Human-Computer Interaction, Institute School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University

Christina Harrington is a designer and qualitative researcher who works at the intersection of interaction design and health and racial equity. She combines her background in electrical engineering and industrial design to focus on the areas of universal, accessible, and inclusive design. Specifically, she looks at how to use design in the development of products to support historically excluded groups such as Black and LatinX communities, older adults, and individuals with differing abilities in maintaining their health, wellness, and autonomy in defining their future.

Christina is a Research Scientist on the Technology, AI, Society and Culture Team at Google Research and was a Visiting Faculty Researcher on the responsible AI Human Centred Technology UX team at Google.

Christina is passionate about using design to centre communities that have historically been at the margins of mainstream design. She looks to methods such as design justice and community collectivism to broaden and amplify participation in design by addressing the barriers that corporate approaches to design have placed on our ability to see design as a universal language of communication and knowledge. Dr. Harrington is an Assistant Professor in the HCI Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and the Director of the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab.

Mark Curtis, Former Head of Innovation, Accenture Song, and Co-Founder of Fjord

Mark Curtis is a serial entrepreneur and pioneering design strategist defined by bridging emerging technology with human needs. He co-founded Fjord in 2001, scaling it into a global design powerhouse before its acquisition by Accenture in 2013.

At Accenture, Mark shaped Accenture Song, leading Innovation and Thought Leadership while establishing a Global Sustainability studio. He created the renowned “Life Trends” report and published the book “Distraction” (2005).

Previously, he founded CHBi (sold to Razorfish) and pioneered mobile freemium models as CEO of Flirtomatic. He remains a trusted advisor to executive boards on digital transformation. He now publishes and podcasts weekly as part of Full Moon (www.wearefullmoon.com).

Nicola Tiffany, Managing Director, HMA Digital and Chair of the DBA Board of Directors

Nicola has spent more than two decades in the design industry, most of them at creative and digital agency HMA, where she has played a central role in shaping the agency’s growth and strategic direction. Under her leadership, HMA has developed a strong specialism in health, life sciences, and technology, delivering impactful work for NHS organisations, third-sector partners, start-up innovators, global pharmaceutical companies, and academic research teams.

She also contributes to the wider health-tech innovation landscape, delivering masterclasses and mentoring on digital health accelerator programmes and, more recently, helping to strengthen collaboration between industry and academia through her role on the industry sub-committee for the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Long-Term Conditions (Devices for Dignity).

Passionate about nurturing future talent and highlighting the breadth of careers within the creative and digital sectors, Nicola works closely with local schools and colleges – integrating digital components into design courses, setting live briefs, conducting mock interviews, and taking part in careers events and panel discussions.

Making the first move

• Government initiatives and support for international trade can transform the success of creative businesses operating overseas, as happened in the 1990s with parts of the industrial design sector. We’re currently in talks with government about the UK/India Free Trade Agreement, so if you’d like to be involved, then do let me know. 
• While we might be operating in different political climates today, there are lessons that can be taken from those successes. Engaging more broadly within your own sector, beyond your client base, can help build knowledge and experience across the wider supply chain. What initiatives could you get involved with? Check out the Government’s Business Academy events. 
• International trade isn’t just about the creative industries; it often sits within broader sectors like transport, manufacturing or technology. UK government initiatives, embassies and the Department for Business and Trade actively broker introductions, host targeted events and support sector-specific initiatives. Engaging with these programmes can open doors that are hard to access alone.
• International expansion isn’t right for every business at every stage. Having sufficient scale in your home market, a growth mindset and the ability to absorb setbacks are important to secure before making the leap.
• There’s extensive material to explore on the Government website with regards to selling services overseas.

Mitigating risks

• Breadth of experience within a sector is as important as spreading your risks over time in different geographical areas. 
• Contractually, it’s important to build in protection for your business. Be rigorous on jurisdiction, IP ownership, tax, liability and insurance.
• Set fixed exchange rates where possible, put financial caps on exposure and clarify exclusivity clauses early. One member recommended Wise Business as a good option to set up a multi-currency or international account.
• Successful international expansion also depends on clearly understanding what makes your business distinctive and how to translate that for new markets. One member combined experienced senior team members with locally embedded expertise to merge local governance and culture with the original company ethos and provide continuity. 

Client relationships

• Relationships are as fundamental to success internationally as they are at home. One member noted that while the client-side internal teams often change, they as consultants remained the constant – building trust over many years.
• Investing early in face-to-face time – whether short European trips or longer stays further afield – often saves time and cost later and accelerates building trust.
• Sending the people actually working on the project, not just senior leadership, builds stronger client relationships and develops international experience within your own teams.
• Immersion in the location, team and culture of your client is key to building the best relationships. One member shared the value of sending a trio of strategy, design and client services to work alongside the client – gaining critical insight that can’t be replicated remotely. 
• Being respectful of people’s timezones and public holidays builds trust. Clear communication boundaries can turn differences into advantages – clients often value progress happening while they sleep.
• Cultural sensitivity, language choices and even spelling conventions all signal respect and professionalism.
• Many international opportunities require patience – relationships, trust and commercial returns are often built over the long term rather than through quick wins.