Business
The Business section has a series of articles that detail how a studio can develop better business practice.

Finance
The Finance section will assist studio owners in coming to grips with basics of managing their financial matters.

Marketing
Here you will find a series of articles specifically related to marketing a design studio.

Project
This section gives some practical advice on project management.

Thousands of ways to improve the management of your studio

dmzine contains hints and tips to help you manage your design studio better.

It's not the type of content you will find in management books or university courses – it's a collection of articles based on 25 years experience running a design business in Australia. Every article directly relates to managing a design practice.

We’ve chosen four main areas for discussion.

Business because, like it or not, design studios are small businesses. Just like the corner milkbar or the local garage. Understanding business is not only the difference between success and failure — it’s the difference between treating paperwork as drudgery and the satisfaction of running a tight ship.

Finance is a no-brainer. We all need money to survive. From invoicing to banking, money is the thread that holds a successful business together. Understanding your finances means you can manage your studio proactively rather than reactively.

We’ve included marketing because at some stage, we all need to be able to market a studio. Many studios start from that one large project, or word of mouth, but many falter in the first few years from unsustainable work practices. Marketing can ensure your studio’s longevity.

In our SWOT analysis project management was regularly identified as an area of high risk — an area where there’s a lot to lose, both clients and money. It's an area where there is always more to learn.

So why do it? Why document and publish it for all of our colleagues (competitors)?

Our aim in publishing dmzine is to build a higher level of professional business practice in graphic design. 

Through the Design Business Council we talk to a lot of our colleagues and all have one common problem – getting clients to take design seriously. We believe that in part this is because not all designers are as good at business as they are at design. They work in their business but not on the business.

We also believe we should all give back to the community.
Design is our community and dmzine is how we share.

We hope you enjoy the read.

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