How BuyDesign works
Discover
Discover designers and original ideas from our global network. Only registered users have access, allowing buyers to discover original ideas and enabling designers to propose ideas directly to brands, retailers, and manufacturers.
Collaborate
Collaborate with our designers through direct briefs, open calls, and pitches – all accessible to everyone. We empower designers to showcase their work to the right audience and assist companies in finding their perfect collaborators.
Trust
BuyDesign reviews user registrations and ensures that designers cannot view each other’s work. We maintain a secure record of every viewed page, providing users with a reliable and confidential platform to share their work.
Key features
Home for original design
We prioritize original design, curating a space that businesses value, and allowing international designers’ work to reach industry experts.
Create your Studio
Buyers can establish their online design studio by adding their preferred cross-category designers to their accounts. With the ability to filter, organize, and brief designers individually or as a group, you have complete control. From your profile, you can conveniently post open calls, create briefs, monitoring agreements, and efficiently manage all your designers in one central location.
Acquire Original Ideas uploaded by Designers
Our central space showcases original designs uploaded by designers for buyers to explore. Designs are categorized by category, space, material, and colour, making it easy for buyers to browse and share with colleagues using mood boards. Buyers can access product information, view designer profiles, and contact designers to secure the rights to desired designs.
Buyers & Designers – A-Z
Explore our comprehensive index of BuyDesign members. Easily filter Buyers and Designers based on location, specialism, or experience level to find the perfect collaboration match. Access detailed profiles and information on Buyers and Designers, ensuring a successful partnership for your next project.
Space to collaborate
Networking is tough, and a lot of great design doesn’t always get noticed. So, we created tools where companies can brief designers, launch open calls, and receive pitches directly
Briefs
Companies can discover and brief specific designers, either as individuals or as a group, and the designers’ proposals will only be visible to that company. Designers can negotiate, accept or decline the brief and will have full visibility of the terms and conditions offered by the Buyer before proceeding.
Pitches
No more getting lost at the back of the wrong person’s inbox. Designers can pitch directly to companies, knowing that their ideas will be seen. Designers can post existing products or create new proposals. Designers can withdraw pitches and return them to their profiles. Buyers can accept or decline a pitch with a personal message.
Open calls
These are open briefs that our designers can respond to. Open calls are listed within a company’s profile. Designers can pitch existing products from their profile, or create a new proposal, and if it’s not successful add it back to the marketplace. An Open Call is a brief to all the Designers registered on the platform. An Open Call is usually used by Buyers when they are requesting product ideas for a general theme, not too specific.
Where work happens
Gather inspiration, share ideas, and develop product ranges as a team. BuyDesign gives teams the tools to collaborate.
Messages
You can’t collaborate on your own. Companies and designers can message each other directly, using the chat/messaging tool. You may wish to talk or meet personally to work together to shape and develop proposals.
Sharing
Buyers can add team members under one account and share with colleagues what they have selected.
Moodboards
Buyers can add products to mood boards and share with colleagues, so your team can see what you’ve selected and understand what you’re looking for. Buyers can create multiple seasonal or category mood boards.
Admin streamlined
You can licence designs, purchase design rights or brief and pay designers. Negotiate and sign contracts, and keep track of your product agreements permanently here.
Contracts
Contracts are always agreed upon and signed between the Buyer and the Designer. BuyDesign only takes payment and a commission. Buyers can create or upload multiple personalised business agreements, and sign and track contracts without leaving BuyDesign. Contract terms are linked to briefs or designs as soon as they’re accepted, they remain attached to the project and, you can always find them in the future.
Viewing history
Designers cannot see other Designers’ work. Buyers cannot see other Buyers’ activity, saved products, agreements or any transactions. Both Buyer and Designer accounts are private. Your work is always secure with us. We use proven technology to record who views your products, providing a secure layer of protection for all users of BuyDesign.
Licensing
Businesses can create new or upload T&Cs, and licensing agreement templates that can be used across briefs, pitches and open calls, so you don’t have to keep creating new agreements — all accessible to you in one place.
Feature FAQ
For Business
How do I create agreements on BuyDesign?
All agreements are between you and the Designer. All agreements are created by you and uploaded on the platform, accepted and signed by both you and the Designer. Agreements can be negotiated and modified with the Designer at any point via chat and messaging.
You can pre-load your standard T&Cs inside your studio terms tab. So you can create a library of your standard agreements, so you can reuse them each time or edit them. This saves time.
Each time you attach an agreement to a product and the agreement is signed, the agreement will always remain attached to that transaction for your future reference. You can always create new T&C when creating a new Brief, Open Call or purchasing a product from the marketplace. You can select and edit ones from a previous agreement and save them with a new name.
How do I view the designs I’ve bought?
Any design your purchase will be visible in your studio space. If purchased from the marketplace the product will appear in your Product tab. Briefs appear in the Brief tab, Pitches in Pitches and Open Call proposals in the Open Call tab. From there, you can download them directly, and access them whenever you like.
Whats an Open Call?
An Open Call is a brief to all the Designers registered on the platform. An Open Call is usually used by Buyers when they are requesting product ideas for a general theme, not too specific. This allows the Buyers to reach out to the Designers to propose ideas based on a loose idea; not all Designers will reply.
Create the Open Call by completing the form Submit your Open Call Your Open Call will appear on your profile Designers will be notified.
Can I message designers directly?
Once a designer has accepted your Brief or Purchase Request, you can message them directly, allowing you to collaborate and develop the product together. You may wish to exchange numbers and call via an online meeting platform or arrange a visit if possible. Even if the project is complete, you can always return to that project and discuss any further details within the chat specifically for that project.
Can I add more people to my team?
Yes absolutely, with the first tier you can have a single user, with the next, three – five, and with the top tier it’s six plus.
Can I invite Designers to my profile?
Yes. Within your studio, you can invite a Designer personally to join your studio. They will receive an email from you to register on BuyDesign
Is it possible to brief more than one designer?
When viewing a Designer’s profile, you can simply add that Designer to your studio by clicking the favourite button. You can add as many Designers as you wish and you can filter the designers in your studio by name, category, location, experience, products and briefs.
You can select a single Designer to brief directly or you can select multiple Designers to brief directly with the same brief.
Moodboards
A mood board is a very good way to create a collection of products from the marketplace on BuyDesign. It can be based on a subject, such as a seasonal collection, material or category.
Create a mood board and add a name and description.
Add products directly from the marketplace or the Designer’s profile.
Share the mood board and invite your colleagues who are registered as Buyers on BuyDesign to view, edit and collaborate on your mood board.
Pitches
Pitches are a very popular feature for Buyers on BuyDesign. Pitches allow Designers to pitch directly to your business an idea they believe you would be interested in, securely and privately. Many companies receive hundreds of unsolicited emails from Designers, which need to be replied to for courtesy and legal reasons.
The direct Pitch feature allows you to.
View all pitches within your studio Pitch tab. Filter by name, categories and more. Reject or accept the Pitch with an automated email (you can always add a personal note)
How do I Discover Designers and products?
You can discover products and collaborate with designers in several ways.
Discover Designers by viewing products
You can view original product ideas Designers have uploaded to the marketplace. You can add it to your moldboard and view it later. Viewing a product will allow you to also view the designer’s profile.
Discover Designers by viewing profiles
View all Designers in the Designers tab. You can view and filter Designers by Categories, Location Experience and more…
Add designers to your studio and brief them.
When viewing a Designer’s profile, you can simply add that Designer to your studio by clicking the favourite button. You can add as many Designers as you wish and you can filter the designers in your studio by name, category, location, experience, products and briefs.
You can select a single Designer to brief directly
You can select multiple Designers to brief directly with the same brief. Invite a designer to join BuyDesign
Invite a Designer to join your studio
Within your studio, you can invite a Designer personally to join your studio. They will receive an email from you to register on BuyDesign.
Feature FAQ
For Designers
Can I speak directly to the Buyer?
Yes, through chat/messaging. Once you have accepted a purchase request, brief, open call and made a pitch. You can discuss directly the development of your design with the company. You may wish to exchange numbers, online call or arrange a visit if possible. The development is between you and the Buyer, as it would be in any other circumstance. BuyDesign is simply here to help you connect, collaborate and protect your work.
What is a ‘buyer’?
Buyers are individuals working in a company sometimes they are called product developers, category leads, and product managers, and they’re in charge of new p for their company — predominately our buyers come from brands, retailers, and manufacturers within furniture, homeware and lighting.
Can I hide my designs on the market place?
Yes, you can. You can upload your design to the marketplace and then hide it. You may want to use your design for another company outside of the platform. You can always make it visable another time.
What ideas can I upload to BuyDesign?
All designs on BuyDesign must be original. You must be the owner and creator of the design. Your uploads can be archived or new ideas.
Can I send ideas directly to companies?
Yes, you can pitch ideas directly to any of the companies on BuyDesign. You can choose to send a design which you uploaded to your profile or propose a new design. Buyers can reply to you directly about whether they accept or decline your proposal. You can always withdraw your proposal at any time.
Is my work protected?
Yes, your work is protected. Other Designers can not view your work. Only registered and vetted Buyers can see your work. When you upload we will record the date and time. We can also see how many views your work has had, and track some additional data such as if your work has been added to a Buyer’s mood board for example. This will help to protect your work and if there is any infringement in the future we can provide you with this data. This can help you litigate any IP infringements.
Does BuyDesign own the ideas i upload?
No, never. It’s your work. Uploaded designs to BuyDesign are never owned by BuyDesign. You have full control. You can hide your designs on the platform and re-activate them at a later stage, if you wish to show another comnpany outside of the platform. Any introductions made on the platform remain on the platform. You can read more in our T&Cs for Designers. But the principle is what happens on the platform should stay on the platform, new introductions or being re briefed by the same Buyer furthermore remains on the platform.
Do we know who purchase the work?
Yes. A Buyer will make a purchase request for a design on the marketplace before any transactions or agreements are made. You will also receive notice of any briefs and open calls where you will be able to review the Buyer’s profile before making a decision. You will receive a notification and you can accept or decline their offer.
Can I re-submit a rejected design?
Yes, it’s your work. If your designs are rejected you can re-upload them to your profile and the marketplace or propose to another Buyer.
Is it possible to view all the registered buyers?
Yes, all the Buyters are listed. You will also be able to filter the buyers and select those who have live open briefs.
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