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COMPANY FOCUS: DESIGN LAB
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Designlab has been a pioneer of multimedia product distribution since 1990, and multimedia bureau service facilities from 1996. They have been instrumental in developing hardware solutions with leading software programmers for groundbreaking television graphics such as ITV Weather Forecasting, ITN Election Results systems, and the infamous LiveTV 'Info Bar'.
Designlab's founder, Hilary Lambert, originally trained as an architect - his experience and ability to adopt new technologies and develop new products and markets with enthusiasm and energy has been a critical skill over the last ten years. Daniel Reynolds heads the sales team and the company is privately owned and totally independent, being entirely self-financed. It has a respected blue chip customer base and a consistent and profitable turnover.
What is the nature of your business?
Designlab’s primary focus is the design, encoding, and authoring of feature film material to DVD. The company also provides a comprehensive array of associated services such as project management, sleeve design, duplication, and encoding for internet movie download.
How long has your company been in operation?
We have been doing digital post-production services since 1996. Before then (from 1990) we were pioneers in the development of multimedia technologies designing, distributing, and installing compression and authoring technologies. We effectively equipped many of the major DVD facilities in Soho who we now regard as our competitors.
What has been your biggest job so far?
That's a difficult question because the breadth of our range is so vast. I could mention the 20 hours of Windows Media encoding we did for the BP web site, 20 Merchant Ivory titles, the BBC series Fingersmith and Canterbury Tales, and the Russ Meyer titles for Arrow/Fremantle, and recently Grizzly Man for Revolver Entertainment.
How has the nature of your business changed over the years?
We initially focused on business-to-business multimedia services, before finding a niche, in about 1999, producing DVD titles for major independent video distributors. We are further developing our services to include product packaging designs and PR activities.
What makes your company different from the competition? How do you maintain your edge?
We offer a highly personal service, which is tailored individually for each client. We develop a creative DNA and assist the client in every step of the process. We do not impose our ideas, we listen to our client's requirements and facilitate their directions.
In your time trading, what have been the most significant industry changes you have witnessed?
The rapid impact of digitalization through the 90s, the rise of the PC over custom 'black boxes', and the increased speed of format change.
As far as your business is concerned, what do you consider to be the most significant industry developments of the past 12-24 months?
The low cost of entry-level encoding and authoring tools and the confusion this has created in the professional marketplace. In-house Creativity and QC procedures have become much more important as a result.
Similarly, what potential industry developments of the next 12-24 months are of most concern to you, in terms of the company?
The rise of High Definition DVD formats. We plan to embrace both the HD-DVD and Blu-ray formats and are ready to assist our clients make their first entries into this new marketplace
On a five-year plan for the company, what would be the most important headings?
We see the marketplace moving, in the long term, to providing interactive feature-length content for download, where consumers will directly make their own discs. Standard Resolution and High Resolution DVD and games formats such as UMD will coexist with the gradual rise of movie download, which is constrained by rights issues and broadband constraints.
What does technology mean to the business?
Technologies are our tools: the pencils and pens we use to create and be productive. We carefully analyze every new technology for its usefulness and appropriateness.
What is the single most important piece of advice you would offer to someone starting up in your line of business today?
Keep a cool head.
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