DesignsMarket has announced its membership of the Design Business Association (DBA) in a wire release, a move that matters to association and institute professionals as digital platforms look to trade bodies for standing among established design businesses. The company said it aims to engage with design businesses, industry professionals and organisations strengthening the commercial foundations of the creative sector.

The DBA was founded in 1986 as the trade association for the UK design sector. Its membership includes more than 350 design consultancies and design driven businesses.

DesignsMarket is a digital design platform that connects independent designers and creative professionals with potential customers. Its contact address is in London.

Ludmila Radic, representative of DesignsMarket, said, “The design industry is full of talented people with exceptional ideas, but creativity alone does not always translate into commercial success. Independent designers need visibility, opportunities and a business environment that recognises the value of their work.”

The membership comes as design becomes a larger and more digital part of the UK economy rather than a niche professional field.

The UK design economy contributed 136.7 billion pounds in gross value added in 2023, or 5.5 per cent of the total, and grew 40 per cent between 2019 and 2023, nearly double the 24 per cent growth of the wider economy, according to Design Week. Digital design generated 81 billion pounds of that value and employs 1.09 million professionals, the same report found.

For the sector, a trade body that admits a digital marketplace alongside consultancies recognises that independent designers now reach clients through platforms as well as agencies. For the sector’s established consultancies specifically, closer contact with platform businesses offers insight into how clients buy design and where independents compete.

The release highlights fair commercial practices for independent designers, which places platform terms within the remit of trade bodies.

Whether platform membership leads to shared standards on fees, intellectual property and commercial terms, rather than a listing in a directory, will indicate how far design associations can bring digital marketplaces into their governance across the sector.

Source: GlobePRwire via FinancialContent / Design Week