The fast-paced nature of the design business means that you probably spend most of your time, energy and resources looking after your clients' needs, not your own. In our current, increasingly competitive marketplace where supply far outstrips demand, no design business will survive for long - let alone grow and develop - without a really effective marketing programme. It is no longer enough for you to provide a good product and simply hope for the best. Potential clients need to know exactly what you can do for them and what makes you different from your competitors. Existing clients need to...

The design sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, and now covers a wide range of specialist disciplines from branding and communications to product, commercial interiors and digital. Yet design firms often lack long-term vision, strategies and plans, and research from the Design Council shows that far too many suffer from poor profitability. Shan Preddy believes that the more a design firm knows about business, the more successful it will be, both creatively and financially. That's why she has gathered over 80 design-sector experts from different fields a advisors, practitioners,...