Dear Design Doctor I have a company wanting to take my products to a meeting with a very large department store, and they have requested information from me as below: prices per unit when ordered in batches 25/50/100/200/500/1000? to provide lead times on above amount? can i give Exclusivity? Is this product covered by your [...] Read more »
The Design Trust webinar: Speak like a TED Talker, become better at public speaking with Sarah Lloyd-Hughes
Do you find public speaking scary? Most of us do! Whether you are pitching for business, doing a talk, or running a workshop or training session, there is no better way to influence and inspire people and potential clients about your work than through powerful, passionate and authentic public speaking. Sarah Lloyd-Hughes is a coach, [...] Read more »
3 tips to price your crafts from designer silversmith Sidsel Dorph-Jensen
Sidsel Dorph-Jensen is a Danish award-winning designer-silversmith, who studied at the Royal College of London. She designs & makes unique silver tableware, and was awarded Silversmith of the Year 2011. Using her own experiences as a crafter and her love for marketing & running a business, she also [...] Read more »
9 top tips to photograph crafts and jewellery
An image can say more than a 1,000 words, so it is essential that your photographs give out the right message. The 9 tips below show you step-by-step show what to look out for when photographing your crafts, design work or jewellery. 1. Work with a professional photographer Using a professional photographer might [...] Read more »
The Design Doctor: How to write a design brief and design quote?
Dear Design Doctor I am a recent furniture design graduate and a client has approached me to work on a small design project designing and making an outdoor bench. I am really excited, but don’t really know how to go about this. Where do I start? The Design Doctor for this challenge is Patricia van [...] Read more »
The Design Doctor: How to calculate my freelance design rate?
Dear Design Doctor I am a new web designer and need to know how much I can charge for my daily or hourly rate. Do I just charge what others are charging, or is there another way? The Design Doctor is Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust: “Web design is a [...] Read more »
The Design Doctor: How to make terms & conditions for my graphic design business?
Dear Design Doctor I am a graphic designer and I need to make my terms and conditions. Can I just use somebody else’s or do I need to have this written up by a solicitor? The Design Doctor for this topic is Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust: “Terms and conditions [...] Read more »
What is niche marketing? And 8 good reasons why you should bother and not worry about loosing out
There is a lot of talk on small business websites about the importance of creating your own niche. So what is that all about? What is niche marketing? A niche is a focused, targetable part of the market. You are a specialist providing a product or service that focuses on specific client group’s needs, which [...] Read more »
The Design Doctor: I launched … and nothing happened! How do I start selling my crafts?
Dear Design Doctor After 17 years as a freelance artist, I decided to start up my own small business designing and producing silk scarves. With only £1000 to my name I set to producing the first 3 scarves in what I would like to be a larger collection. It’s taken 7 months and I have [...] Read more »
How to prepare for a craft show or design trade fair? The 4 essential stages
Doing a design or crafts show requires a lot of planning and organising! Especially if you haven’t done a show before, you might feel pretty overwhelmed as there are so many things to think about! Would it help you to have a simple action plan and checklist so that you know what to do at [...] Read more »