The design sector includes well over 8,000 companies who work for clients in the media, consumer goods and industrial sectors. Almost every third company in the local creative scene is part of the design market. However, upheavals in the publishing world and the consumer goods industry mean that these sectors are becoming less important to the design industry, according to Lukas Cottrell, Managing Partner of the Peter Schmidt Group. “It is important to build and maintain strong relationships in Hamburg and on international markets. Designers should think beyond pure graphic and communication design. Consultancy skills are gaining importance, as IBM shows. The company brought several designers on board during its transformation from a PC manufacturer to a software group. “It started with products, then consulting, and now we have designers in every unit right down to HR,” says Carlo Schulz, Director, Design Research at IBMx, who is one of more than 3,000 designers in the company worldwide.