Design Support is the provision of advice, focused promotion, facilitation and mentoring to raise awareness of design issues and to help businesses define and implement their design-related activities. Our team of advisors are all experienced designers who will help you to introduce or develop the use of design with a business but will not actually undertake the design work itself.

There are four levels of support for Welsh businesses provided by Design Wales:

• Level 1 –Telephone and e-mail advice lines
  
  
• Level 2 - Regular & regional brand workshops
  
  
• Level 3 - Industry sector-specific support


• Level 4 - One to one advice from specialist design advisors

Each of these levels is outlined below.

• Level 1 –Telephone and e-mail advice lines
  If you have a specific design-related enquiry that we might be able to resolve over the phone or via e-mail then call 0845 3031400 or e-mail enquiries@designwales.org.uk
• Level 2 – Regular and regional brand workshops
  Called ‘Brand Essentials’, these workshops aim to provide the basic skills needed to understand of your target market, as well as an awareness of the design process required to create and implement an identity, including how to source, brief and manage external design expertise. These workshops are specifically designed for start-up and established companies that have yet to successfully develop an identity or brand.
• Level 3 –Industry sector-specific support
  To increase the profile and effective use of design in specific industry sectors, Design Wales currently runs the following focused support initiatives:

+ Branding and packaging for the food sector
+ Colour & trend prediction for the fashion & textiles industry
+ New product development in the manufacturing sector.

For more information go to Design Sectors.

• Level 4 –One-to-one advice from specialist design advisors
  
We have a team of seven design advisors who can help companies either during a specific design project or to explore how design might be implemented within their business.

The design disciplines and related issues that design advisors can advise upon include:

• Product/industrial design.

• Branding and packaging.

• Graphic design

• Website design

• Fashion and textiles

• EcoDesign

• Intellectual property rights

• Materials selection

• Exhibition design

• Design process

• Consultant selection

• Market intelligence/definition

• Project management

• Design management

• Manufacturing options

• Implementation of CAD

• Recruitment of in-house design staff