The Design Council

The Design Council is the national strategic body for design and has existed for more than 60 years. In that time our remit has changed quite a bit. Some of the things we used to do are now provided by other organisations. Some of the things we do now are new services that we have developed because the UK needs different things than it did in 1944.

We believe design can help people to do what they do, better.  Our goal is to help UK managers become the best users of design in the world, supported by the most skilled and capable design professionals. We're funded by the UK government, and we promote the use of design throughout the UK's businesses and public services. We demonstrate that design can play a vital role in strengthening our economy and improving our society

Our work is divided into five areas:

• We influence national policy, making sure design is at the heart of government thinking.
• We direct a programme of design support for UK businesses.
• We initiate new thinking on ways to design public services around the needs of people who use them.
• We run a programme called Designs of the time (Dott), which gets people involved in exploring how design can improve their lives.
• We provide the UK with authoritative design research, knowledge and signposting. Indeed, this website aims to offer information, advice and debate for all users, buyers, students and practitioners of design.

our Business Plan for 2006-07

We're making progress in moving design to the heart of national life. Our Business Plan for 2006-07, National Design Policy in Practice, sets out how we're going to build on our successes over the next year.
It gives details of the work we'll undertake to drive business competitiveness, improve public sector performance and strengthen training, education and skills development for the design sector. And the Business Plan also outlines our goals for the year.

our Corporate Plan

The role of design is essential to the process of generating the new ideas and ways of doing things that will improve all our lives. We have developed a new programme to improve business performance and enhance public services through a demonstration of the practical power of design.

This Corporate Plan sets out our new programme - the challenges we face and how we intend to address them. It describes the new delivery mechanisms we will introduce in a reshaped organisation, the measures we will use to assess the impact of our work over time, and the costs of implementing the plan.

for more information, please check our website or contact:

Design Council
34 Bow Street
London WC2E 7DL
United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)20 7420 5200
Fax: +44(0)20 7420 5300
 

page last updated: 24 Sep 2008