Carol Mackay

In 2018 I made a change.

Thirty-three years after founding Mackay Branson design, I closed the studio and pivoted from client-focused projects to consult to the design industry. I’m now co-CEO of the Design Business Council.

DBC helps Australian creatives manage their business better - more effectively, more efficiently and more sustainably - so they can spend more time designing. Business management is not something you learn at uni. It’s usually learnt on the job and that can be time consuming and – trust me – expensive. We know there are better ways.

Running a design practice, my mantra was:
Design brings clarity to complex issues.
From clarity comes understanding.
Understanding leads to knowledge.
I still practice this belief, but now it’s to help designers de-mystify the complexities of managing a small business.

With the DBC I:

• actively research new ways for designers to work and do business. We talk to design studio owners here and globally.

• write. In 2013 we wrote and published The Business of Design, still the only book about starting, managing and growing an Australian design studio. We wrote a Financial Handbook for designers and we share free content via a weekly newsletter

• network. Our paid gigs supplement monthly networking breakfasts for designers in Melbourne and Sydney to discuss the business of design face-to-face. And we run Unseminars – topical forums to discuss the challenges of running a design practice.

• mentor design studio owners on an as-needed basis to build their capabilities and via formal programs like our monthly Chair program and

• teach. We run short and long programs online, we run workshops in-house and we speak publicly about the business of design.

Like AGDA, the core of our business is around building of a design community. That’s important because over 85% of designers work in businesses with less than 5 employees, many less than 3. That means we don’t have the same support network other professionals do. And it means learning ‘on-the-job’ is harder.

Outside of DBC, I mentor designers directly and indirectly, through AGDA and Womentor, and and I’m an active participant in Never Not Creative.

Oh, and I draw. :)

You can find more information about Design Business Council at designbusinesscouncil.com and designbusinessschool.com.au

An archive of my design work can be seen at mbdesign.com.au.

Experience

Mackay Branson Design

Expertise

  • Communication
  • Management
  • Marketing
  • Strategy
  • Writer

Selected clients

Designers wanting to move into management positions like Design Manager
Studio Manager
General Manager or Operations Manager.

Freelancers wanting to manage their micro-business better.

Design studio owners wanting to hone their business management skills.

Articles