Once I started my own design firm it didn’t take me long to realize that there were two kinds of design firms: the leaders, and the also-rans. You know the leaders; they’re the ones who are always in the news with some cool high profile project. It turns out many of these â€leaders†are APDF members. When I attended my first APDF event I ended up talking the owners and managers from these firms and I was blown away by their willingness to share what they had learned about running a successful design business. I later found out this is what the APDF is all about; leading design firms learning from each other. The APDF believes this is the best way to raise the business performance of individual firms and the industry as a whole. Is that worth $1,495? It was for me.
Tom McLinden, co-founder and Chairman of EVO Design, was last year’s APDF President, and has served on the Board for many years.