Objective
Build the UK’s capacity to innovate and deliver world-class brands, products and services by supporting the effective use of design in business and the public sector.
Designing Demand is our programme of transformational business innovation services that works directly with the leadership teams of UK firms. The services use mentoring and peer-to-peer support to help management teams build organisation-wide design capability and deploy it strategically to improve business performance. Our role is design enabler rather than design consultant. Organisations identify design opportunities to help them perform better and they develop the confidence, capability and processes to take forward their design projects.
Our internationally recognised research and evidence shows that companies that value design as a core strategic and business process perform better. For instance 83 per cent of companies which say design is integral have reported market share increases, compared to the UK average of 46 per cent. Also, 82 per cent of design-led businesses have opened up new markets through the use of design in the last three years, compared to only 42 per cent of businesses overall. We believe there is scope for similar improvements in competitiveness and performance across business and the public sector.
Over the last four years we have supported more than 1000 firms. We have proven, codified methods and processes that are constantly being evaluated and improved. We also have a growing national resource of more than 50 Design Associates with extensive expertise in management and design who provide front-line mentoring to business leaders. External evaluation has provided consistent evidence of bottom line impact across all services.
We depend on a wide range of private and public sector partners for the funding and delivery of Designing Demand. In particular this includes all the English Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) who are central to providing Designing Demand direct to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as one of a simplified suite of national business support programmes.
We've developed Design Bugs Out, a challenge to furniture and technology designers and manufacturers to make hospital furniture that helps reduce healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) like MRSA or C.difficile.
Find out more about the challenge and its results
Public Services by Design is a new programme that the Design Council is developing to enable and inspire innovation within public services. The development phase of the programme was launched at a Design Council workshop ‘Towards Better Public Services by Design’.
Find out more about the programme and view a video of the workshop.
If you would like to become involved with the programme, or nominate a particular project to be involved in this development phase, please email us at: publicservicesbydesign@designcouncil.org.uk
We're part of a Design and Technology Alliance set up by the Home Office to deliver designs that tackle crime. In May 2008 we ran a workshop to discover what potential there is for designing out crime from hot products like mobile phones. We've also compiled a detailed set of case studies and expert opinions to help you. Find out more
We have worked with Isis Innovation on a pilot project that offered design support to start-up technology businesses at Oxford University. We are now working with DIUS and other government bodies to extend design support to more technology transfer offices (TTOs) and get more evidence of the benefits of collaboration between TTOs and the design industry. Find out more