Design support for your business
Find out where you can get support and funding for your business' design projects
Design is a powerful business tool. It does so much more than make your products and services look pretty. It can make them work better, sell better, and generally transform the way your business operates.
When properly applied, design can unlock your business' potential and help you:
- attract investment
- find new opportunities in existing markets
- compete more efficiently and enter new markets
- find new routes to innovation
- increase turnover and your bottom-line profit
If you're unsure how to integrate better design into your business, this guide will highlight sources of advice and design information, funding for design projects and training support for design.
Sources of advice and design information
Find advice and help to make your small business' design project a success
Expert advice and support can help you make the most of the design in your business. It can help you increase sales, enhance your business' profile and make it more competitive.
Design Council
The Design Council website provides free practical advice on design. In addition to their best practice guidance, you can access networking opportunities and read case study examples of how others have used design in their business.
Arts & Business Northern Ireland
Arts & Business Northern Ireland (NI) supports collaboration between business and the arts. As part of this work, they provide advice and consultancy support to businesses including help with brand development, community engagement and creative training for employees.
Find out more about Arts & Business NI.
Design support from nibusinessinfo.co.uk
Browse through our range of design guides, including:
Funding for design projects
Find funding support for your design project to help improve processes, products or services
If your business wants to use design to improve its processes, products or services, you may be able to get financial support for your project.
Business finance and support finder
You can search our Business Support Finder to find publicly funded sources of assistance. Support may be available in a number of forms, including financial assistance and free or subsidised advice services. Search the Northern Ireland business support finder.
Innovation Vouchers
Innovation Vouchers offer businesses funding of up to £5,000. You can redeem the vouchers against the cost of specialist expertise from universities, colleges and publicly funded research institutes. Find out more about Invest Northern Ireland Innovation Vouchers.
In the video below, Ian Hawthorne - owner of Hawthorne Crafts - explains how his business benefited from an Innovation Voucher.
Recognition for good design
How to get recognition for your design success and capitalise on the opportunities it can generate.
When you successfully apply good design, seeking recognition through awards can be a good way to validate the success of your project.
As well as publicising your achievements, winning design awards and gaining recognised standards could help:
- build your brand recognition
- boost market sales
- increase customers' satisfaction
- create desirability of your products and services
- maximise return on design investment
Design takes many forms so it's important to explore the different award options (eg web design, graphic design, branding or packaging).
Local, national or international design awards
When seeking recognition for your design project, you could enter relevant awards at a regional, national or worldwide level.
To find out more about the benefits design can offer your business, how to manage a design project and how to measure its success, see our guides:
Training support for design
Find support for design training for your staff to help you carry out your design project successfully
When embarking on a design project, you will have to choose a person or a team to lead this work. Most common options for businesses include:
- employing a full-time designer - if you have resources and demand for such a role in your business
- hiring a design agency - as and when required for particular projects
- up-skilling an existing employee - perhaps someone with previous experience or understanding of design, or simply someone passionate about the business brand and its success
Benefits of design training for your business
There are many benefits of up-skilling and building design capabilities of your existing staff. For example:
- An existing staff member will have an understanding of how the business works, how the business sees its product/service developing, at what stage and at what pace.
- They will also have established relationships with colleagues, which can help with efficiency, productivity and teamwork. Employing an agency could mean relationships need to be built from scratch.
By training a current staff member you can also choose who is best suited to the role of in-house designer and decide on what you would like them to specialise in before sending them on design training courses, eg graphic design or web design.
Basic design courses and qualifications are available in all Northern Ireland regional colleges.
Support for learning
The Department for the Economy offers a range of training and development programmes aimed at assisting businesses in improving their workforce's skills. Find support for training your staff.