From Metropolis’ “The Year in Review“:

Entrepreneurship is endemic to designers. They make things, and there are many things, from books to apps, from the quirkiest to the most mainstream, being created by designers who now see ways of marketing them directly to an audience through the Web. Unit Editions in London is on the top of this list. They’re working in books, but with a totally new, designer-driven business plan. And let’s not forget Etsy, making it so easy to make, test, and profit. Designers need more revenue streams. Businesspeople may have a good idea for a product; the designer with the same idea simply will make it happen. The distribution networks have changed as radically as they did a century ago with the establishment of interstate roads and railways. Design entrepreneurship is not new, but it’s more accessible because of technology and the new business models it enables.

Heller is the co-chair of the SVA MFA Design: Design as Author & Entrepreneur program.