Objective
Boost high-level skills in design to support a competitive creative economy and a thriving UK design sector.
We will help to implement a national, industry-led design skills plan collaborating with professional bodies, schools and universities. Our role is to provide funding, research and central administration. We will support a Design Skills Alliance of industry and education to raise funds and take forward the plan’s nine practical recommendations across education and the workplace. These activities include a Design Mark for Schools and the development and promotion of training programmes for young designers.
The UK’s design industry is internationally renowned and sought after, and it is a powerful contributor to national competitiveness. But to preserve its lead over rapidly strengthening international competition and remain a global centre of design excellence, UK design must fill key skills gaps.
In particular, designers must develop new capabilities to meet the need for sustainable products and services, as well as new requirements for working in multi-disciplinary teams. To meet the needs of a fast-changing business environment, there will need to be stronger links between design education and professional practice, and more commitment to continuous professional development.
We have played a key strategic role in co-ordinating the research and consultation exercise and delivering the resulting design skills plan, ‘High Level Skills for Higher Value’. Alongside this, we have designed and delivered new courses and curricula including a mentoring programme for future design leaders and new modules for universities. We have supported the development of new university centres in collaboration with the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and provided the industry with forums to debate developments in design practice.
Our work in skills and education is co-ordinated with government departments and agencies including Creative & Cultural Skills (C&CS), the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), BIS, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), HEFCE and professional and educational institutions such as the Design and Technology Association (D&TA), the Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD); and the Design Business Association (DBA), as well as many individual design employers, schools, universities and client businesses.
Good Design Practice is a campaign run by the UK Design Skill Alliance, and we're part of it. We want to help schools, univerisities and design firms learn about design better so that they can keep the UK design industry one of the strongest in the world.
Find out more about Good Design Practice and how the campaign can help you
NextNet is a network of top designers and design educators that's been set up by the Design Council with support from the Cultural Leadership Programme, a government-funded scheme that aims to nurture world class leaders in the creative industries. Leading with Design was an event where two top designers shared with us their tips for the top.
Watch the videos or listen to audio recordings of them speaking.