Design Sector

Introduction Industry Size and Composition Labour Force

Business Competitiveness Innovation

Introduction

Companies all over the world recognize that the ability to leverage the creativity and problem-solving skills of designers is critical to their competitive advantage. Design is considered by many jurisdictions around the world as a key driver of innovation, competitiveness, sustainability and organizational effectiveness. The success of Toronto's design cluster arises from the convergence of high creativity and problem solving skills of an expertly trained design workforce, sophisticated clients and the quality standards that have evolved from competitive and cooperative creative endeavors.

In the six disciplines of design - architecture, landscape architecture interior, industrial, graphic and fashion design - Toronto innovators are winning acclaim as they help build global brands, make companies more competitive, plan sustainable communities, enhance quality of life and provide the imaginative fuel for future growth.

Industry Size and Composition

Advanced manufacturers in the GTA have access to a powerful resource: the GTA design workforce. The GTMA research study confirmed that the Greater Toronto Area is a design rich region in North America.

GTA Design Value

GTA is Canada’s Design Hub
With 25,645 designers in the region, the GTA has the highest concentration of expertly trained designers in the labour force of any Central Metropolitan Area (CMA).

GTA Design Workforce ranks #3 in North America
The Toronto region is the third largest centre for design in North America, after New York and Boston.

The Design Workforce is Growing
Between 1991 and 2001, the 4.7% annual growth rate for the design workforce significantly outstripped growth in the overall labour force.

Highly Educated and Skilled Design Workforce
Approximately 85% of the Ontario design workforce has university or college education. Two thirds of these designers work in the GTA.

Access to a Broad Range of Design Skills
The GTA design workforce is based on strong representation from the six design disciplines: industrial, visual communication, interior and fashion design, architecture and landscape architecture.

Highly Creative and Problem Solving Skills
Industrial Designers in the GTA integrate new materials and advanced technologies into innovative new product concepts for industry sectors.

Design Education Infrastructure
The GTA’s four universities and six colleges of technology and advanced learning offer three and four year degrees in design.

Centre for Doing Research
The GTA affords provides opportunities for collaborative design research connecting design faculty and students with researchers in engineering, business, the social sciences and other disciplines.

High Level Expertise in Industrial Design
Two of Ontario’s three internationally-recognized, post secondary institutions offering industrial design degree programs are situated within the GTA.

GTA is a Centre for Graphic Design
Graphic Designers work in almost every sector of the economy in the GTA.

State-of-the-Art Facilities Design
Partnering with designers, manufacturers have been able to introduce innovations to enhance production efficiencies, to improve indoor air quality and to reduce the environmental impacts of building materials, production processes, water and waste disposal.

User-centred Design
GTA Designers collaborate with research institutions and corporate clients on ethnographic research exploring users behaviors.

Universal Design and Human Factors
GTA Designers integrate strategies to enhance accessibility and usability and to reduce human error into the design of technical equipment and consumer products.

Multi-cultural Awareness
GTA designers are able to customize the design of products and services for export to other cultures around the world.

Professionalism of the Design Workforce
GTA Designers meet the needs of clients and often exceed client expectations.

World-renowned Project Management Skills
GTA Designers are hired around the world.

Environmental Responsibility
GTA Designers take a proactive stance in helping companies reduce environmental impacts.

Integrated Approach to Design Process
Architects and Designers work on cross-disciplinary teams within the GTA to facilitate innovative product development and to enhance productivity.

Products of Local Suppliers Informed by Design
Local suppliers to the manufacturing industry work closely with local designers to improve quality and added value of the products and services they provide.

Proximity to Major US Business Centres
The concentration of design and production in the GTA markets 135 million people and can help reduce costs and environmental impacts of distribution.

Key Employers in the GTA

Labour Force

With 25,000 designers working in almost every sector of the economy, Toronto is the 3rd largest city for design employment after New York and Boston and has a strong education infrastructure for design, graduating students in several different disciplines including industrial design.

Top 25 North American Cities for Design Employment, 2001

Note: Source: DIAC, Design Matters (2004), p.4
PMSA: Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area
MSA: Metropolitan Statistical Area
CMA: Census Metropolitan Area
Gertler and Vinodrai (2004), Design Industry Advisory Committee (DIAC),
Design Workforce Study

Toronto is home to 28% of all Canadian designers (compared to only 16% of the total Canadian workforce).

Toronto's design labour force grew by 4.7% from 1991 to 2001, while the overall labour force grew by 1.4% in the same period.

Designers have higher levels of post-secondary education (university or college) than the overall workforce: 34% of designers have a university degree as compared to only 22% and the design sector is engaged in continual training and upgrading, prompting continuous improvement.

Table 1: Employment by design occupation in Ontario’s cities, 2001

Business Competitiveness

In order to better understand how companies in the GTA have leveraged this local design capability to put themselves on the competitive edge, the GTMA launched a case study project in collaboration with Ontario’s Design Industry Advisory Committee (DIAC). In their research, they explored how three different manufacturing companies are benefiting from the local design talent pool and connecting design to R&D, product development, brand management and marketing activities.

“The research confirms that a collaboration between designers and manufacturers can translate into financial success and generate innovative products,” says Principal Researcher Arlene Gould (DIAC). “If we want to continue economic growth within our manufacturing community, it is vital that the GTA supports our unique design talent and nurtures our design industry.”

The companies researched are Umbra, D&V Electronics and Zenon Membrane Solutions, now part of GE Water & Process Technologies. Each of these advanced manufacturing companies, based in the GTA, is an international marker leader in its industry sector. Although these manufacturers operate in very different industries, they all understand the symbolic relationship between management, marketing, engineering and design in a way that many less successful manufacturers do not.

Umbra

Products sold through 25,000 retailers in 75 countries

Integration of design with core business strategy

Savvy control of colour and experimentation with low cost materials

Designed in Scarborough, produced in Shenzhen

Close relationships with mass merchandisers provides market intelligence

Design team’s sustainability research inspires new eco products

Concept store celebrates brand as lifestyle icon

D&V Electronics

Company founder is electronics professor with a design-led vision

User-centred design adapts product testing options to customer needs

Dynamic, interactive web site delivers proprietary customer services and promotes D&V brand worldwide

Over 15% of profits invested in R&D (supported by Ontario tax credit)

Instant “print out” boosts customer confidence in testing equipment

Local university network provides research collaborations & co-op students

Current testing for hybrid vehicles reinforces market leadership positioning

GE Water & Process Technologies: Zenon Membrane Solutions

Ultra-filtration membranes revolutionize water & waste water treatment

Integrated engineering & design vision

Research, innovation and values-driven culture

Decades of innovation celebrated in ZeeWeed in-house museum

Award-winning design for Z-Box Packaged Water Treatment Plant

Acquisition of Zenon by GE expands R&D and market penetration

Seven Best Practices

Outstanding entrepreneurial leadership

Reflecting an innovation & design culture in the workplace

Continuous investment in design-led R&D

Adding customer value through user-centred design

Focus on brand management as well as PD&D

Investment in long-term relationships with designers

Leveraged research relationships and co-op programs in local universities & colleges

Innovation

All four universities and numerous colleges in Toronto offer design programs that ensure a wealth of highly skilled graduates, educating over 3,000 students per year.

York University recently launched Canada’s first Masters of Design in Visual Communication Design. Ryerson University is also planning a new design masters.

York University and Sheridan College Institute offer a unique, joint Bachelor of Design Program in visual communication design.

The University if Toronto offers graduate programs in architecture and landscape architecture.

York University, Ryerson University and George Brown College offer postgraduate courses in Design Management.

Humber College offers a four-year degree program in industrial design and has recently become the first institution in Canada to offer specialization in automotive design within this degree program.

The Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) offers an industrial design program with specialty courses in materials & technology, design research methodologies and interaction designs.

Industry associations provide ongoing skills training programs for practicing designers making Toronto a fertile ground for design innovation and commercialization.

Influential design trade shows/conferences include DigiFest, DesignThinkers, the DX National Design Conference, Fashion Week, the Festival of Architecture and Design, the Interior Design Show, and IIDEX/NeoCon Canada.

The Design Exchange is the only Canadian institution devoted to promoting Canadians' understanding of the value of design across all disciplines. The DX hosts numerous competitions, education programs and exhibitions annually, and holds a collection of the best Canadian materials designed since 1945.