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
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

Stepping away from the studio
Making your out-of-office message work for you
Here we are in the last week of November … in just a few weeks and many of us will be stepping away from the studio for a well-earned break. For...

What do clients want? ... a survey
Don't guess, help us find out.
One of the Design Business Council’s main roles is conducting research on behalf of designers — researching the stuff Greg and I would have...

What clients want
Designers spend an inordinate amount of time trying to guess what their clients want. Sure, we ask, but it’s fair to say that sometimes clients...

Designers, clients and social media
This post was inspired by a conversation in a slack channel I host.Sarah asked for reviews on social media scheduling software; which led to a...

It's not a client's job...
A majority of clients sourcing design have marketing or communications in their title. They may be an Innovation Officer (especially if the...

A practical guide to surviving
A practical guide to surviving. It is unprecedented times and it’s easy to feel overawed by the scale of this pandemic. But the same way you...

Designers impacting society
On Thursday 19 March we’re doing a virtual launch for the *Creatives Making Morrison Understand* poster submissions. Yep, it was going to be...

Helping clients give feedback
Helping clients give feedback. I’ve got a theory. It is based on the fact that no-one likes to sound like a nuff nuff. And nor do they want to...

Chasing client approvals
Chasing client feedback. Co-creation and collaboration are increasingly central to successful designer/client relationships. Problem is, these...

Building a for-pupose studio
We help studio’s build more sustainable businesses – not just financially sustainable - emotionally sustainable. Studios you want to work in,...

React or respond
Seth Godin wrote about these two words a few months ago. Superficially they mean the same thing, but in reality they’re quite different –...

*Creatives making Morrison understand*
What a summer. Many of us waited, worried and watched Australia burning, asking ourselves what can I do?’ Not everyone has resources to donate...

When to employ?
This month I’ve had similar conversations with a number of design studio owners. The gist of it is: I’m busy. I need help. What should I do?...

Coworking space or commercial lease?
Design studios come in all shapes and sizes. We work from a variety of spaces; from the spare room at home to palatial, commissioned accommodation....

What does burnout look like in a design studio?
In 2016, a survey by University of Chicago found nearly 50% of us say we are often or always exhausted due to work. Added to that, there’s a...

Presenting: this could go one of two ways.
Presenting: this could go one of two ways. Presenting in front of a client is no longer common place.Everyone is busy.Everyone is...

Design Business Council
The Leap
I understand the leap of faith needed to make changes. It takes time to analyse a situationIt takes planning to decide on an action.And it takes...

Perfectionism, the imposter syndrome and designers
Perfectionism, imposter syndrome and designers. This week, more than others, I’ve had/read/overheard conversations about perfectionism and the...

What I learnt from my passion project
What I learnt from my side hustle. Nearly 18 months ago I 'overheard' a conversation on LinkedIn by two colleagues. Well kind of colleagues....

Explaining design
Explaining design. I’ve always thought that being a designer is better than working in PR. At least we produce something tangible. Most often,...

Introducing design debt to a client
Explaining design debt. More people, in more companies, in more industries are using design. That’s a good thing.Isn’t it? In reality it can...

Designers need validation
Designers need validation. It’s sad, but I do think designers need validation. Or perhaps, more accurately, it's clients that seek third party...

How to think like a client
How to think like a client. If you’ve ever wondered what clients want from Australian design studios, we’ve unlocked the secrets. At the...

Getting more work from existing clients
Why websites are like sourdough... OR How to get more work from existing clients... OR all of the above. Most designers understand websites should...

Don't let perfect be the enemy of good
Don't let perfect get in the way of good. I talk to a lot of creatives about the challenge of keeping ‘up-to-date’. Innovation in our industry...

A new way to find new business
A new way to find new business. We’ve uncovered research published nearly 35 years ago that was ground-breaking then, and just as relevant now....

What do you do?
What do you do? Explaining the value of design management. Some clients think paying for design management is like paying for bottled water.They...

We are the sum of our experiences
We are the sum of our experiences. We’ve been working with designers and studios to discover their ‘onlyness’. What they do differently to...

What makes you distinctive to a client?
Marketing your personal journey. Some weeks, if we’re lucky, we learn something new. Might be from talking, or doing, or watching. Better still,...

Design is like baseball...
Design is like baseball. Designers are pitchers and clients are catchers. We’re in planning mode for where we might work ‘away’ this year, so...

Am I a designer who writes? Or a writer who designs?
Am I a designer that writes or a writer that designs?. Some people think design and words are like the chicken and egg conundrum: they are never...

Uncle George is a problem
Uncle George is a problem. Just before Christmas I heard a psychiatrist taking talkback calls about Christmas. One caller – let’s call her...

When it all gets boring
When it all gets boring. Sick of sitting around the table hearing the same opinions from the same people? Apart from being boring, it doesn’t...

Step away from the computer
Step away from the computer. If there is one thing we’ve learnt from hosting two years of ‘designerly’ breakfasts in downtown Melbourne,...

What I learnt about mental health
What I learnt about mental health. This week we hosted an UNseminar in Melbourne. The topic was mental health in the design industry. As they say...

The facts about sprints
The facts about sprints. There is a lot of time invested devising methods to work smarter, more efficiently and more effectively. Some see the...

Rules for working for free
Rules for working for free. Here's a story about a designer and her brother. He (let's call him Hugo) is CEO of a not-for-profit food-rescue...

When you get that 'stuck' feeling
When you get that stuck feeling So it’s been nine months now since I started my new job. I only hesitate for a moment now when I’m asked where...

A scholarship for female start-ups
A scholarship for female start-ups. Design is a great career for both sexes. Working in design makes it possible to combine any mixture of doing,...

Design Business Council
Design does your head in
Working in design plays with your head. Two things happened last week worth sharing. The first was part of our regularly ‘design yak’ – a...

Design Business Council
Are you a hunter or farmer?
Are you a hunter or farmer?. I’ve always found it incongruous studios need to increase new business activities when we are busiest. Seems...

Design Business Council
If I was a client ...
If I was a client. Had an interesting experience these last few weeks. I crossed the line. I researched designer’s websites from the point of...

Design Business Council
Too black for snapchat
Too black for snapchat. It's easy to think that bias is embedded in 'others' - people like Donald Trump, Pauline Hanson and Today Tonight...

Design Business Council
Design is not a cure for cancer
Design is not a cure for cancer. They were the final words Ken Cato’s (soon to be ex) wife said as she slammed the door behind her and left the...

Design Business Council
Keeping Good Staff
Keeping good staff. Arguably the hardest part of running a design studio is managing other people. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted. On...

Design Business Council
Now this is interesting...
Now this is interesting... Greg and I are on a road trip around Tasmania. The twisting, twirling roads make writing a wee bit queasy-making, so...

Design Business Council
If you do nothing else, do this
Start the new week with a plan. There is no better feeling than starting a fresh week with a plan. A clear direction of where you want to go. In...

You can't charge for a plan but you can charge for a strategy
Here I am, just twelve weeks into my ‘new career’ of design researcher (rather than design practitioner), and an area of confusion that seems...
You can't charge for a plan but you can charge for a strategy
Here I am, just twelve weeks into my ‘new career’ of design researcher (rather than design practitioner), and an area of confusion that seems...

Skills new business design managers need
Skills new business design managers need. At one level, getting new business is just about persuading clients to buy from you rather than from...

Design Business Council
Demonstrating good design is good business
Demonstrating good design is good business. Most would assume a company’s value is based on physical and financial assets. Nope. Recent research...

Design Business Council
Skills design managers need
Skills design managers need. So. I’ve spent the past six months using my experience to write an online program on design studio management. Or...

Why some great ideas never see the light of day
Why some great ideas never see the light of day. One of my favourite clients used to embrace everything I presented. He accepted them...

Design Business Council
A year of firsts
A year of firsts. The first studio graduates from the Design Business School.A Western Australian studio has honed its offer, expanded its client...

Design Business Council
Managing creatives
Managing creatives. Managing a team of creative people can be challenging.It’s challenging because universities and private providers are...

Who’d want to be a design studio manager?
Who’d want to be a design studio manager?. Managing creatives is not for the faint hearted – Greg and I certainly learnt that the hard way...

Working from London
Working from London. Just returned from our annual pilgrimage where we pack up our studio and work somewhere else in the world. This year it was...

The stuff you learn while you are learning stuff
The stuff you learn while you are learning stuff. This year I started a Strategy Masterclass to hone my skills. It’s great – I’m really...

Design Business
Taking Design Inhouse
Taking design inhouse. My business has changed/evolved/pivoted in the last two years. I am actively moving from the day-to-day client work to more...

Empathy the key to Selling Design Value
I thank you. Working with great clients on interesting projects is the best feeling in the world. I love building a relationship, working...

Design Business Council
Where do I go from here?
Where do I go from here?. I love podcasts. I like to listen to them while walking, while driving and especially while cleaning – listening to...

Design Business Council
What to look for in a partner
What to look for in a partner. Running any business solo is tough. Running a design business solo has to be one of the toughest. It requires two...

Design Business Council
Knowing your special powers
Knowing your special power and survival tips for graphic designers. I recently spent some time with graduates and while the conversation was...

Design Business Council
When client changes are a good thing
When changes, iterations and amendments are a good thing. For most of my career, client changes have been viewed as a necessary evil. Even when...