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Design Economy

What is Design Economy?

Every three years, the Design Council publishes Design Economy: the only publication that provides data on the state of design and design skills in the UK, and their value to the whole UK economy.

Design Economy, with its ambition to explore the role that design can play to build back better and create a more just, healthy and regenerative world, provides us with a platform to do this. We consider the diversity of the design sector, its vital role in levelling up the UK’s regional economies, and the changes that must be made to ensure that design works for everyone.

Read the Green Design Skills Gap Report

Discover the 2021-2024 key findings

Read the 2021–2024 report

We want as many people as possible, from the design community to design commissioners, the business sector to government, to really engage with the big messages from the research and recognise that design is a powerful tool to be used right now."

Minnie Moll, Chief Executive, Design Council

We can see from this landmark research with the Design Council the growth, value and importance of the design sector across the UK and we must continue to advocate for the conditions needed to help design continue to thrive across the country."

Andy Haldane, Chief Executive RSA and Chair, Levelling-Up Commission

The Design Value Framework

We have developed a framework for designers and commissioners to identify and assess the wider social, environmental and democratic impacts of their work.

The framework builds on design sector specific tools, and provides, for the first time, a single framework for the whole of the design economy to use together, and across a holistic set of values. It will also be used in our forthcoming research to assess the value of the Design Economy.

Discover the Framework

Read our previous reports

Design Economy 2018

Designing a Future Economy

Design Economy 2015