Should British design jobs be given to British agencies?

This week Rob Alderson reflects on the launch of the new Design Museum website and the strange suggestion that the redesign should have been given to a British agency rather than Dutch studio Fabrique. As ever you can add your thoughts using the comment thread below…

The Creative Review comments section can be a rum old place. It is tempting to characterise it as a place where spewing vitriol rubs shoulders with banal platitudes, but that’s unfair as it often throws up a thought or idea I had never considered.

Take this week, when Rachael Steven wrote a good in-depth piece on the new Design Museum website. Someone called Mark commented: “The work is fine but did the Design Museum really have to commission this from an agency in the Netherlands? There are scores of fantastic boutique UK agencies that would have done just as good a job.” Mark’s issue seems to be that Dutch agency Fabrique got the commission; maybe he was annoyed too they brought in Den Haag based developers q42 for the build.

It raises an interesting question; do leading British institutions like the Design Museum have a responsibility to work with British design agencies when working on major projects? Or to put it another way, is it odd that an organisation that champions British design looks beyond these shores when it actually needs design expertise?

There are a few points worth making. Firstly, while it’s at the heart of the London design scene, the Design Museum has always had an international remit, so while Paul Smith and Barber Osgerby have had shows there this year, so have Daniel Weil and Louis Kahn (an Argentine and a Russian-born American respectively).

Secondly the museum often works with British agencies for digital, print and exhibition design; this year for example their use of the brilliant Hunting & Narud for both Designs of The Year and Designers in Residence demonstrates a commitment to British design talent.

Thirdly, and I would say most importantly, they felt Fabrique was the best agency for the job. As head of communications Josephine Chanter told Creative Review: “We selected Fabrique as they had done a lot of work for museums in the Netherlands [the agency has designed websites for the Van Gogh museum, Museum de Lakenhal, Central Museum in Utrecht and the Rijksmuseum]. They understood the particular mix of ticketing, membership, collections and exhibitions that is unique to museum websites, and their work was very strong in terms of design.”

And this is the heart of the issue. We have many terrific design agencies in London and the rest of the UK, and we wouldn’t want them being overlooked for work with foreign clients simply because they’re based here in Blighty. I’d argue that we want to see design work awarded for the right reasons, rather than based on some vague nationalistic zeal.