UWIC DFIM - Nick Gerrard

E & PP - Networking

Networking is essential to all industries and no successful company can exist in isolation but how does the design industry go about facilitating contact between people working in the sector? Design has the reputation of being an area where who you know is as important as what you know or what you can do but I learned last week that the doors of many Cardiff based companies are more closed then open where the ‘competition’ is concerned. There are social networking schemes of various sizes in most regions of the UK and a list of some of those with a web presence can be found on the Design Council’s Website (http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/Directory-Listings/Networks/?PageNum=1%26subjectarea%3dDesign+networks). I might have hoped for a more complete list; I searched for North East based networks and uncovered 0 results when I know for a fact there is at least one major network operating up there. Its called Codeworks and I’ll cover it in more detail later. The networks that are listed including the Somerset based ‘Design Enterprise Network’ (http://www.designenterprisenetwork.net/design_events.html) and the South West’s ‘West of England Design Forum’ (http://www.wedesignforum.co.uk/events_xmas_party.asp). Both organisations sound quite formal with events being centred around speeches at hotels or function halls followed by wine and nibbles. ‘The West of England Design Forum’ even has an annual meeting where the elect a new president, vice president and chancellor! Their most recent event was themed around the question ‘who is designing our future?’ and featured speeches from the founder of a successful local design company and John Savage, chief executive of Business West and the Bristol Initiative. The event seemed to have had a positive response and the soundbites provided on the website certainly sound enthusiastic; “It was an excellent event – good band, drinks, people... and conversation!” one managing director gushed while a Senior Communications Consultant was similarly pleased “great night – lots of heated debate which is always good!” she enthused. This is what I would term a very traditional networking model and it does seem to have a bias towards well established and larger businesses despite its stated objective of seeking to provide “a network for designers and other related professionals: employers, employees, self-employed, students”. The events themselves seem very formal; I imagine row upon row of suited MDs and CEOs intently listening to a fellow MD or civil servant discuss the finer points of service sector commerce in the region. It’s interesting to consider how a student attending a function might feel. Could they confidently approach the bigwigs milling around the cocktail sausages believing that they had something that would be of great value to them? I reckon the setup of these functions would be quite intimidating to a lot of people and entering a function as a ‘new face’ would require a good deal of nerve while the theme seems so vague that it’d hardly lend itself to conversation starters. But through the choice of a neutral venue and a definite nod towards the socially lubricating qualities of a few glasses of wine after the speeches they seem to have come up with a formula that’s a big hit with the powers that be in the West.

Although it’s not widely known England’s rejuvenated Newcastle area proudly regards itself as something of a mini Silicone Valley with a large body of new media companies prospering in the area. The majority of these are linked by membership of the Codeworks Connect scheme and I know from personal experience that it has had a remarkably positive effect on design in the region. They run a student placement scheme in which they match suitable companies and graduates for 10 week trials, paying half of their wages after which they are proud to report that 90% of the graduates are offered permanent positions, and several people who I studied with in Newcastle found good jobs through the scheme. The main site is located at http://www.codeworksconnect.net while the networking socials are arranged through http://www.thinkandadrink.com (very much like the Geordies to get the drinking element prominently in the title!). Both sites require members logins to access members only areas in which you can find out who’s planning to attend upcoming events and even identify someone who you’d like the event organizers to organize an introduction to. Alongside more formal events reminiscent of those run by The West of England Design Forum they have social meetings in a bar on Newcastle’s trendy Quayside where there is no agenda other then having fun and a varied program of creative workshops such as a recent ‘Innovation Lab’ where ten local companies were invited to work with the BBC on ideas for new programming. Many of the events would cost between 50 and 100 pounds to attend as a non member which is quite steep but Codeworks members go free so you wouldn’t need to attend too many to get your moneys worth out of the membership fee [£70.50 a year for graduates and new startups up to £1000 for North East based multinationals]. The scheme is very vibrant and has proved popular with Newcastle’s designers and I like how the website promotes a much more relaxed and inclusive feel then The West of England Design Forum. When I was a student and a member of Codeworks I never worked up the nerve to attend any of the events as I always had the suspicion that it was quite cliquey, rightly or wrongly I didn’t believe I could just waltz into one of their nights as a student that no-one knew but on the other hand they do a fine job of turning students into fellow designers. The website is quite vague on the point but I don’t believe they receive any government funding and I’m fairly sure that they employ at least two full time staff so the membership fees must generate a significant amount of money. It is a first class network but smaller companies and freelancers would have to weigh up whether the service is worth the cost.

My suggestion for a similar network run in Cardiff with no funding would be to take the meetings out of a formalized atmosphere and hold them in a fashionable city centre bar like Buffalo of Milgi. It’s no-one’s turf, and I believe people would feel more relaxed and open then they would wondering what to wear for an event at a posh hotel. Each gathering could be themed around an area of emerging technology, similar to those we covered in our CCS sessions so that the people who are important at the events are those with that specific knowledge and those who want it. The event would be more democratic and inclusive this way; a student might have cutting edge knowledge that a bigshot MD is dying to find out and by theming the nights in this way there is a far higher chance that people with similar interests have a chance to meet. I was also a fan of the suggestion for a showreel of work to be projected throughout the evening as an icebreaker and a constant talking point. Admiring and discussing fresh design work would keep the conversation flowing until everyone had a chance to get a few rounds in.

posted by nick_gerrard @ 3:35 PM