We place design at the heart of growth and renewal in Britain

As one of the world’s leading design institutions, we are a centre of new thinking and insight into new ways to do business. We actively show how design can help build a stronger economy and improve everyday life through practical demonstrations and by supporting private industry and the public sector. In turn we invest in the future of UK design.

For over 60 years the Design Council has promoted design for the public good. We are a government agency with a Royal Charter, funded by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills.

How we work
We connect decision makers with the right design help to solve their problem. That might mean working directly with a business's top team, giving them the skills to spot how design can help them. It could mean advising an academic research team on how to commercialise their new technology. Or it could mean creating a new way for people in public services to work with designers and other experts to generate ideas rapidly and cheaply and make real progress in solving difficult national challenges.

Our history
The Design Council started life in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design. Over more than 60 years Britain has seen massive social, economic and technological change. We've changed too, though we've always fought to make design central to Britain's economy in a way that has been imitated around the world.