Design businesses in Leicestershire and Rutland are invited to take part in a fully funded campaign which will see them promoted to potential clients in the UK and around the world.

Design Leicestershire – an industry driven initiative funded to the tune of £260,000 by the public sector – will be marketed at home and abroad via a website and a book.

Leicestershire is home to one of the UK’s biggest cluster of design businesses outside London - 780 firms were found in a 2004 study.

Businesses in any design field – ranging from architecture to the new media of web design – can register and submit their work to be considered for inclusion at no charge in the 300 page hardback book being produced in 2009. A free directory listing in the book and online is also offered.

But firms must register at  www.designleicestershire.com and submit images of their work by Friday December 5 2008, after which work will be selected by a panel of representatives from design businesses.

Registered businesses will also be invited to participate in networking events which will enable them to explore opportunities to collaborate with each other and with the three Leicestershire universities.

The project is funded to by the Leicester Shire Economic Partnership and the Welland Partnership and is supported by the Government’s foreign trade body UK Trade & Investment. It is also backed by the University of Leicester, Loughborough University and De Montfort University.

Paul Atkinson, of Atkinson Design Associates in Leicester, has been one of the main private sector drivers of the project to date. He said: “The book should be the first of its kind in the UK, linking professional practice with the dynamic research capacity of the three universities. This is important in the UK, but also significant for export and inward investment.”

A total of 15 industry sectors are to be included in the book:
Advertising
Publishing
Marketing
Graphic Design
New Media
Design Consultancy
Fashion & Textiles Design
Product & Industrial Design
Packaging Design
Display Design
Exhibition Design
Retail & Interior Design
Environment & Landscape Design
Urban Design & Town Planning
Architecture

To speak to Kate Beresford, project manager of Design Leicestershire, call 07960 598258 or email: kate@designleicestershire.com