Design entrepreneurship is a topic that needs to be discussed more. All too often design schools train creatives to be employees and not owners and innovators. I think that's why we often feel trapped by agencies, profits and management when we'd find more creative life (not necessarily money) on our own.

I would add one more thing to your list, probably the most important ingredient for starting something ...passion.

Watch any TV station from 10pm to 6am and you'll see the succesful business model that design entrepreneurship is. ;o)

I agree that this is a subject that should be discussed more. According to the U.S. Department of Labor "Nearly one-third of designers were self-employed—almost five times the proportion for all professional and related occupations."

Given that such a high percentage of us are going to eventually end up working for ourselves, we need to address what skills we are going to need in order to survive. Especially since we don't learn those skills in design schools.

To be sure, if you go to any GD forum or discussion board on the web, you'll see the same basic questions coming up again and again. Contract issues. How to price? How to invoice? How to market a business? Which form of incorporation is best?

A designer can be the most gifted and creative designer around but if they cannot manage simple, everyday business issues, they'll end going out of business.

Watch any TV station from 10pm to 6am and you'll see the succesful business model that design entrepreneurship is.

All right, Mr Cold Water. How about

Jewelboxing

the Plush explosion

Kenn Munk's paper toys

various t-shirt enterprises

posters

type design

Logo Lounge

?!

I don't believe any of these are making anyone rich, but a revenue stream that doesn't directly correspond to the hours one puts is nice to have.

Now where is my profitable idea, Mr Heller?

FYI, my comment wasn't meant to be negative in any way. I admire the design ideas on late-night TV.

I first heard the term "design entrepreneur" in a intermediate-level graphic design class at the California College of the Arts (CCA) taught by Michael Manwaring. During a conversation about what the future might hold for us bright eyed design students, I remember Manwaring saying "You won't really hear people talking about it publicly, but it's really going in the direction of design entrepreneurship, where you have your clients over here, a collaborative partnership with an author over here, a line of furniture over here, maybe a film project over there, which all add up to making a living, but maybe not a single job." (I might be paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it)

After hearing that, I knew I was in the right profession. I have the attention span of a gnat, and having multiple "jobs" would suit me much better than being tied to one all the time.

Now, as a student in the aforementioned "Designer as Author/Entrepreneur" program at SVA, I am in the midst of this phenomemenon on a daily basis. (Chalida has most of it right, but the program is not only about production, although you must produce a prototype of an actual product which could be taken to market. Much of the work is in researching, writing business plans, etc.) The thing that is most stressed is that, as designers, we are in the unique position to see opportunities to solve problems and create products, be they furniture, clothing, books, films or medicine packaging, which can be brought to market independantly of the corporate system, from which most design work orignates.

Having a great idea is only a part of the issue. You can have a great idea, and still end up doing infomercials at 4am in Palm Beach, Florida, if you don't have a business and marketing plan which is better than the idea. As an independant, you are going to be at a huge disadvantage in a market saturated with multinational corporations which pump out mediocrity on a vast scale, no matter how good your idea or product is. You probably can't compete with the big companies, which means your best bet is often going to be niche markets, which are now all the more accessable via the internet. Now that markets have been decentralized by globalism, it is entirely possible to produce runs of a given product and distribute nationally or internationally without needing a massive corporate infrastructure.

In a way, the design entrepreneur fills the role of the postmodern craftsperson, creating original work for small audiences, not unlike a village furniture maker or blacksmith 150 or 200 years ago. You have your little shop with a shingle hanging out in front, and when people want a new bed or a set of horseshoes, they come down and deal with you directly (I speak metaphorically, of course).

What will set the design entrepreneur apart in the already saturated marketplace will be good ideas, and good craft. The vast majority of consumers could give a damn whether something is designed by so-and-so, or is innovative, as long as it it cheaply available at Wal-Mart. But, there are people with discerning enough tastes to appreciate well-designed and produced products, who will seek them out and pay top dollar for them.

Of course, once you have a successful product, Pottery Barn or Target will knock you off, and you won't be able to sell your products any more for what they are worth (I have heard this story several times during the last year from teachers and guest speakers). So you have to stay ahead of the curve, constantly innovating and refining. The hallmark of the great design entrepreneur is the ability to adapt and change, even switching mediums or fields, but always staying ahead of the curve.

> trying to figure out what area of graphic design I wanted to be in. None of the areas excited me as much as “design entrepreneurship” did.

Not sure if this should be taken literally, but design entrepreneurship is not an area of graphic design. Packaging, editorial, web, information design are areas. If you choose to go into "design entrepreneurship" you are choosing a mode of thinking, of conducting business, of taking risks. You can be entrepreneurial in any area of design, but you can't go into entrepreneurship.

With that out of the way, I also think there are a couple of conflicting notions of what entrepeneurship is in this essay: a) turning an idea into a widget that reaps you millions of dollars and b) being an entrepreneur will give you creative freedom.

Both notions are correct in their own way. But I feel "design entrepreneurship" as it relates to our profession is not ultimately addressed in the essay. In the very end Jim Coudal is mentioned and only then does the embodiment of a design entrepreneur begin to take shape. Opening one's own design firm is not entrepreneurial, it might feel like it, but it's really just following a model of operation that has served thousands of other designers. If you look at the things (Photoshop Tennis, MoOM, Jewelboxing, Lowercase Tees, The Show) that Jim has done using Coudal Partners as a sturdy base are the type of things that would fall under design entrepeneurship.

Also, it's imperative to not confuse entrepreneurship with authorship. They are related, yes, and entrepreneurship generally follows authorship desires but they are very different things. A person might have a beautiful coffee table book about, whatever, bird houses, photos, text, illustrations, all done, everything well designed, well written and good to go. That's authorship. Taking the plunge of self-publication and distribution and turning that beautiful idea into a self-maintained product where you have to deal with databases, distribution systems, billing, warehousing, invoicing and other time-hogging activities is entrepreneurship. This distinction might be obvious, so apologies if seems like a silly point, but it's important for students not to confuse this.

Thanks for the comments. Very quickly, here are the CP thoughts on this subject. We see some basic inequities in the traditional 'work-for-hire' process. We have made a conscious effort to try and take greater control of our creative by developing products and brands. We've built a large and loyal audience to the goofiness and experimental stuff that is the coudal site and we are sure that audience is made up of people like us. They have told us so.

So, our entire marketing philosophy for Jewelboxing and The Show and the other things we're working on is wrapped up in our ability to target market to ourselves. We share more than just a studio space with 37signals and their Basecamp product. We share a basic desire to "free ourselves from the tyranny of clients."

Disclaimer: We actually do love our clients. They are open-minded and generous. When we refer to "clients" as a bad thing, we mean those ones we worked for previously.

Excellent topic! A short definition of entrepreneur is the ability to capitalize on opportunity. It's an outside-in approach where the entrepreneur has the ability to see an unfulfilled need in the marketplace and finds a way to profitably capitalize on it. Too often, designers get stuck in an inside-out approach (myself included) where they look at their skills and seek businesses to purchase them--a solution looking for a problem. Whereas an entrepeneur recognizes a problem first, then figures out a creative way to solve it.

Excellent topic! A short definition of entrepreneur is the ability to capitalize on opportunity. It's an outside-in approach where the entrepreneur has the ability to see an unfulfilled need in the marketplace and finds a way to profitably capitalize on it. Too often, designers get stuck in an inside-out approach (myself included) where they look at their skills and seek businesses to purchase them--a solution looking for a problem. Whereas an entrepeneur recognizes a problem first, then figures out a creative way to solve it.

It is very important to understand what it means to be an entrepreneur. Designer or not, and entrepreneur is a class of its own and it is something that requires hard work and a “special” mindset. Not everyone is born to take the challenge, in the same manner that not all of us are born to be freelancers.

I agree with Armin in that opening your studio does not make you an entrepreneur. What will create the difference is the what, where and how you offer your product, and the ultimate success or failure of such a venture.

Is the entrepreneur the one willing to take risks? The one that finds the necessary funding for the project? The one that makes things happen? Or the one that hires all the right people to make things happen? Can an entrepreneur be part of a larger corporation (once it is successful and growing?) or, as I sense from this essay, it is about venturing our on your own, being small and courageous?

Obviously these are just a few of the questions that come to mind, and I hope they are not repeating any previous comments (but I am writing this on the train, in hopes of finding a connection soon to post, but it may be hours before I do so), and many will remain unanswered. But I would be interested in seeing some replies or opinions on how these contradictory thoughts can play in the design entrepreneur mindset.

hi, i would like to be become a desing entrepreneur...or i don't know if i should call it that! i would like to package and market a group of creative persons from different areas of design and art all under a design name. is it a good idea? how do i go about it?