BRISTOL + BATH x DESIGN BRISTOL + BATH x DESIGN: FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 2016 Final Report November 2016 Challenge: To understand the economic and cultural value of design in the Bristol and Bath region. CHALLENGE: TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL VALUE OF DESIGN IN THE BRISTOL AND BATH REGION BRISTOL + BATH x DESIGN: FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 2016 Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 8 Why is this Important? 10 Why Bristol and Bath? 12 Research Design and Methods 16 History Matters 20 Measuring the Value of Design 44 Findings 52 Mapping the Territory 52 The Designers 58 The Designers’ Voice 66 The Design Business 88 How do Designers and Design Businesses Work? 98 What is Important to Designers and Design Businesses? 120 What Could be Done to Enhance the Design Industry in the Region? 128 The Bristol and Bath Ecosystem 138 Conclusion 152 Outcomes of the Project 160 Recommendations 164 Case Studies of Partners 170 Bibliography 174 Appendix 176 Credits 180 CHALLENGE: TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL VALUE OF DESIGN IN THE BRISTOL AND BATH REGION BRISTOL + BATH x DESIGN: FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 2016 Executive Summary The aim of the project was to collect data on design Why we were selected companies in the Bristol and Bath region, and to gain a better understanding of the economic and cultural value The AHRC and the Design Council have been working of the design-led sector. To do this, our primary research together over the last four years to understand was to develop a range of qualitative and quantitative how design plays a key role in creating economic methods that could gather and then analyse the data. benefits and social value in the UK. They want to explore design research in UK universities and its connections with businesses and policymakers. Why mapping and Bristol and Bath were identified as a thriving area for design and as two of the nine ‘creative hotspots’ understanding design across Britain in the 2010 NESTA Creative Clusters and Innovation report. Since then, the local city is important councils and the West of England Local Enterprise Design has never been properly mapped or Partnership have been keen to support and develop measured. The Bristol & Bath by Design project the growth of related key sectors, including creative [BBxD] contributes to understanding about design and media, advanced engineering and micro-electronics and the different types of values it can bring. and silicon design. At a regional level design is integral to economic activity. It is important for policy makers to understand The team why design companies are here. According to the 2015 Bristol Media Barometer, over 13% of Bristol’s business As a project team we are highly cross-disciplinary, units are in the creative sector. Bath has more creative bringing together researchers and expertise from enterprises per capita than any other area in the South- UWE Bristol, Bath Spa University, and University of West, with 57% more people employed in the creative Bristol. We have worked with key regional partners, sector then the national average. the West of England Design Forum, Bristol Media, Creative Bath, the West of England Local Enterprise Much of the design sector is hidden. It is important Partnership and the REACT Hub. to map design in the region, to demonstrate the networks and clusters of activity. By mapping and evaluating design-led enterprises, we can gain a The aims better understanding of the value of inter-regional co-operation in the sector. These transferable For this project, design is considered in its broadest methodologies can be used to understand and field, with a particular focus on six key sectors evaluate the impact of the design sector in any region. for which the Bristol and Bath region is known: + Engineering, aerospace, product From a national perspective, we can understand and package design the contribution the region is making to the UK + Multidisciplinary design studios economy. It is clear design plays a major role in the + Applied designer-maker studios flow of capital into the UK. Company and national + Content: animation, motion graphics, competitiveness is today inextricably linked with television/film and publishing design. In addition to the financial benefits the + Fashion and textiles UK makes many recognizable products, services, + Architecture, heritage and landscape design artefacts, and BBxD provides an understanding of the source of UK design that contributes to an international export of which we can feel proud. 1 CHALLENGE: TO UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL VALUE OF DESIGN IN THE BRISTOL AND BATH REGION BRISTOL + BATH x DESIGN: FINAL REPORT NOVEMBER 2016 Executive Summary are the primary part of the ecosystem, other Our methods Why is our research different We have found public bodies and organisations play a vital role in facilitating and supporting the design The objective was to capture and understand We have studied the value of design through the 1. Our research has shown that a great deal of sector. They are: education, public sector economic and cultural value in the Bristol and Bath combined efforts of academics from disciplines design work in the region is under-appreciated, and not-for-profit; essential for providing region. Our multidisciplinary methods sought to including design, art, history, creative industries, unacknowledged, or ‘hidden’. space, sharing experiences and ideas, for gain a holistic understanding as to why designers engineering, economics and management strategy. connecting designers with collaborators chose Bristol and Bath, how and where they 2. Design-led companies in the region have and clients and as beacons to promote and worked, their connections across the region, We have undertaken in-depth conversations with increased levels of productivity. Design-led attract designers to the region. and what they needed to grow their business. design companies (from engineering to illustration). companies based in the Bristol and Bath region We used a combination of quantitative and We have used Enterprise Imaging to demonstrate have 3-5% higher turnover than the average 6. Design is integral to a diversity of commercial qualitative methods: the complexity of the design network. The success design companies elsewhere in England and activity in the region in its role as a process for of Enterprise Imaging as a tool to engage and capture Wales. Small design firms in the Bristol and creativity, innovation and problem solving, as + We used statistical analysis and data mining. information about design firms has led to substantial Bath region are 14% more productive than means of communication, and in the value it Using SIC codes for the design industry, data that was not anticipated in the original application. the average small non-design company and adds to the experience of the consumer. we collected financial data from the UK’s 3% more productive than average small design- Office for National Statistics [ONS]. The methodological approach has allowed us to led companies across England and Wales. 7. The long history of design in the region shapes + Using wide-ranging keywords relating organise and translate qualitative into quantitative the character of present-day design enterprise: to design activity, we searched for design data. The project is innovative in the development of 3. Enterprise Images show that designers and from the woollen trade in the middle ages leading companies on the Internet using BS and BA transferable methodologies to evaluate the impact design companies are not creating goods to pioneering experiments at the beginning postcodes. We collected over 3300 company of design in any region. and services in isolation, but are working in of aviation, resulting in a regional specialism names, postcodes, and their website addresses. relationship with a number of regional and in aerospace and the high-tech industries. + We used primary sources from museum Visualising data is a powerful tool that is more non-regional companies and individuals to Concurrent to these activities are the artisan and collections and made a detailed literature compelling than text. In order to convert our data, co-create economic and cultural value. craft industries that have always been present review and survey of the history of design we have worked with designers on a range of info- throughout the centuries as demonstrated by the in the Bristol and Bath region. We made a graphics, website and interactive software app that 4. Across all sectors, designers cited the regional long histories of Bristol and Bath schools of art contextual survey of contemporary design maps designers working in this region. We consider network of flexible, highly-skilled companies and design. activity and research from around the world. these visualization methods to be a very important and individuals that can be relied upon to deliver + We interviewed and recorded designers component of the methodology. a project, as well as a strong community of 8. Good design changes societies’ perceptions. through in-depth online and telephone people that are open to ideas and ventures, Design makes an important contribution to surveys, focus groups, social events and There is no specific literature on the history of design as key reasons for success and for remaining lifestyle as demonstrated by positive regional semi-structured interviews. in the Bristol & Bath region. Our extensive historical in the region. exemplars (e.g. Cameron Balloons, Wallace and + To interrogate the interview and survey data survey has described a clear social and historical Gromit, Brunel’s suspension bridge in Bristol, we used Importance-Performance Analysis context for the region, which demonstrates the 5. Our design ecosystem demonstrates that and the Georgian architecture of Bath). (IPA) and an Enterprise Imaging (EI) technique. richness and diversity of design in its broadest while private companies and freelancers + From the data collected during the interviews sense. The history goes beyond a literature review.