This section is about the numbers of designers and design businesses in the UK. It shows where design businesses are based, how long they have been trading, the disciplines they cover and who they employ
185,500 people work in design
Every year the government conducts a survey of 172,000 households in order to provide information on the UK labour market. The Labour Force Survey of 2003–04 records that there are 134,000 designers working in the UK. In addition there are a further 51,500 design directors and managers who are not included in these figures. This means that total design employment is 185,500.
- 62% of designers are under 40
- 61% of designers are men
- 6% of designers are from minority ethnic groups
So who are these people? The Labour Force Survey 2003–04, which does not include design directors and managers, paints a picture of a relatively young, male-dominated workforce: 30% of designers are in their 20s and 32% are aged between 30 and 39. The majority of designers (61%) are men. This figure is even higher among freelances, where 79% are men. Of all designers, only 6% are from minority ethnic groups.
There are, however, signs that these demographics are changing. Of the designers employed in new companies (operating for less than three years), 9% are from minority ethnic groups, while women make up more than a quarter (27%) of freelances who have been in business for less than three years.
Nearly a third (30%) of designers have been working in the industry for less than 10 years, and 19% have been involved for more than 30 years.
There are 47,400 freelance and self-employed designers in the UK
The design sector in the UK is made up of:
- 12,450 design consultancies employing 60,900 designers and 348,300 non-designers
- 47,400 self-employed, freelance and non-employing designers
- 77,100 in-house designers in 5,900 businesses with 100 or more employees
31% of design businesses are based in London - that’s 20,436 businesses
Whether it’s a web designer on the Isle of Mull or an interior design firm on the Isle of Wight, there are designers and design companies in all regions of the UK. However, almost half (47%) of them are based in London and South East England. Almost a quarter (24%) of design consultancies and just over a third (35%) of freelance designers are based in the capital, while about one in six design consultancies (18%) and freelance designers (16%) are located in the South East.
In-house design teams are more evenly spread across the UK, but again the largest proportions of these are to be found in London and the South East. The North West, however, is holding its own: 12% of the UK’s in-house design teams are located there.
Four out of ten (40%) larger design consultancies, that is those with more than 250 employees, are based in London, with a further 27% in the South East. Scotland is home to 11% of larger consultancies.
Nearly two thirds (65%) of the in-house designers—in businesses with more than 100 employees—are in the private sector. Almost all of the rest (30%) are in the public sector; only small numbers work in the charity, voluntary or community sector. This division of in-house teams is relatively constant across the regions, although London has a disproportionately large share of these design teams.
59% of design consultancies employ fewer than five people
Large design consultancies are relatively rare and the design industry is overwhelmingly characterised by very small businesses: 59% of design consultancies employ fewer than five people and a further 23% employ five to ten people.
This is true of every design discipline, but it is particularly the case in interior and exhibition design and in digital and multimedia design. Nine out of ten (91%) of all design consultancies in these disciplines have fewer than five employees. On the other hand, businesses that offer product and industrial design services or communications services tend to be among those with more than 250 employees (7% and 6% respectively).
In-house teams tend to be larger than consultancies: half of in-house teams comprise five or more designers, while only a quarter (24%) of consultancies do so.
More than half of all UK design businesses work in communications, digital and multimedia design
The UK design industry includes a wide range of disciplines. Designers are creating everything from consumer electronics to corporate identities, interiors to interactive interfaces and fabrics to Formula 1 cars. In this survey we have grouped these as:
- Communications design
- Product and industrial design
- Interior and exhibition design
- Fashion and textiles design
- Digital and multimedia design
- Service design
You can find a more detailed definition of these disciplines in the Definitions and Methodology section.
Many consultancies and freelances work across more than one discipline. For example, 50% of all businesses working in communications also work in digital and multimedia design. In-house teams dominate product and industrial design.
In other areas, design businesses generally work in just one discipline. For example, 57% of product and industrial designers only work in that discipline.
The number of design businesses working in each discipline varies regionally. The concentration of design in London and the South East is reflected in their predominance in every discipline. Within this general picture the South West and West Midlands have a relatively high share of product and industrial design businesses (12% each) while interior and exhibition design is similarly strongly represented in the South West (14%) and the East Midlands (13%).
Chart 3
Proportion of businesses working solely in one discipline
| Discipline |
% |
| Product & industrial |
 57 |
| Communications |
39 |
| Fashion & textiles |
37 |
| Digital & multimedia |
31 |
| Interior & exhibition |
27 |
| Service design |
6 |
One third of freelance designers and more than a quarter of design consultancies have been in business for less than three years
As well as being characterised by very small businesses, the design sector in the UK is predominantly made up of very young businesses.
This is particularly true in digital and multimedia design, where 45% of businesses were set up in the last three years.
There are regional variations among young businesses too. The concentration of design activity in London and the South East means there are, by definition, many more new companies there than in other regions. But proportionately there are fewer start-ups in London and the South East than in any other region apart from the South West. Nearly half (45%) of design businesses in East England, 43% in the East Midlands and 42% in Scotland were established in the last three years.