Designers are vital to our work
They provide our support programmes to business and public service managers, they help us demonstrate design's role in tackling national challenges and they run our community innovation projects.
Ben de Lisi, designer of Universal gown, Design for Patient Dignity project
Designers work with us in many other ways, whether it’s sitting on the board of trustees that guides our strategy, running Challenge projects, speaking at events or promoting the value of professional development to the design industry.
Deborah Szebeko, founder of service design agency thinkpublic.
Deborah led a Dott 07 project investigating how to improve everyday life for people with Alzheimer’s, their carers and service providers
Tom Lloyd, co-founder with Luke Pearson of multi-disciplinary consultancy PearsonLloyd.
Tom and Luke were interviewed by us about their career in design for the About Design section of our website.
Helen Hughes, sustainability strategist at Design Bridge.
Helen and a team of designers at Design Bridge created anti-shatter pint glass prototypes, that prevent injuries from being inflicted by glassings, as part of the Design Out Crime programme.
Ben de Lisi, fashion and interiors designer.
Ben designed a new patient gown as part of the Design for Patient Dignity project.
Tom Dixon, one of the UK's most prominent furniture designers.
Tom was part of the judging panel choosing teams of designers and manufacturers to take part in our Design Bugs Out project, which challenged teams of designers and manufacturers to develop hospital furniture and equipment that cuts the risk of infections like MRSA.
Martin Bontoft, who advises clients like the NHS, Gillette and the BBC on how to respond to the customer needs that his research uncovers.
Martin has helped us conduct ethnographic research and with project scoping for the Reducing violence and aggression in A&E by design programme.
Design Associates
Design Associates are our experienced design management experts who, through the Designing Demand and Public Services by Design programmes, work with business and public sector management teams to make them better users and buyers of design. Associates - currently more than 50 - are recruited to a roster to meet demand in individual regions, and a rigorous process is used to select them.
David Townson, co-founder of Innovation Scout, which helps public and private sector organisations respond to people’s unmet needs with better services.
Gavin Pryke, a product and lighting design specialist who has worked for Virgin Atlantic and Habitat and won awards including the Masters Medal from the Faculty of Royal Designers for Industry.
Dee Halligan, a commissioning producer and project manager whose past projects include exhibitions for the Science Museum, the redesign of Marks & Spencer stores and Tate Galleries' digital strategy.
Lesley Gulliver, who has managed projects and led teams delivering branding and design projects for clients such as Motorola, UEFA and Fujitsu, and been a business advisor to creative and digital businesses.
Kate Blandford, who has been on both the agency and client side of design and specialises in brand positioning, having worked as Head of Packaging Design at Sainsbury's.
Neal Stone, a former Head of Design at British Airways, where he worked on the first Business Class flat beds and later Club World, and now heads his own design management practice.
Ian Ferris, who specialises in building insights about customers into businesses' innovation processes and has worked with clients in diverse sectors from luggage and electronics to housewares.