1944
The Council of Industrial Design was founded in 1944 by Hugh Dalton, ‘to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry’.
Hugh Dalton, seen here on the left, was President of the Board of Trade.
1945
The Design Quiz presented readers with photographs of different furniture and product designs and asked them ‘ Which do you prefer?’ They could then compare their choices with those of an expert panel.
1946
The Council presented the morale-boosting Britain Can Make It exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Punch magazine called it ‘a post-war opportunity to gaze into a brilliant shop window’. More than 1m people visited in just 14 weeks.
1947
The exhibition Enterprise Scotland opened at the Royal Scottish Museum in 1947, organised by the Scottish Committee of the Council of Industrial Design. It featured exhibition design by James Gardner who had overseen the design for Britain Can Make It.
1949
Design magazine was launched to influence and inform professional designers, business managers, buyers and educators. It would run until the mid-90s.
1951
The Council played a lead role in the national Festival of Britain exhibition, choosing all the products on show at London’s South Bank, where displays included the Homes & Gardens Pavilion.
The Live Architecture exhibition in East London featured a show house, a school and a shopping centre. There were also displays in Glasgow and Belfast, and two touring exhibitions, including a boat that toured ten major British ports.
1953
Commemorative designs for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Council appointed a Coronation Souvenirs Committee in 1952 and a Coronation Medal Panel was formed by the Council, the Royal Mint, Federation of British Industries. Manufacturers were invited to submit designs to either.
1955
The Design Centre symbol, designed by Hans Schleger, was a pioneer of corporate identity in 1950s Britain.
1956
The Design Centre opened to feed growing public interest in design after the Festival of Britain. Based at Haymarket, London, it was the Council’s headquarters as well as a showcase for British design.
1957
The Design Centre displayed what the Council considered ‘good design’ – examples were chosen by weekly selection committee meetings, and they were included in a database that in 1958 was renamed Design Index.
1959
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Prize for Elegant Design began recognising products that stood out from the largely functional designs of the time. The prize – today the Prince Philip Designers Prize – aimed to stimulate a manufacturing sector still shaking off post-war austerity, and also reward designers, who at that time went largely unrecognised.