Reports & Resources
Explore our work from previous projects.
Search our extensive back catalogue to learn more about what works in design, including emerging trends and practice, as well as policy position papers about how to increase its use.
Design Bugs Out
3 February 2015
Launched in August 2008, Design Bugs Out was a design challenge run in partnership with the Department of Health and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency. Its aim was to bring designers and manufacturers together with clinical...
Building for Life 12
30 January 2015
Building for Life 12 (BfL 12) is the industry standard for the design of new housing developments. Design Council Cabe firmly believes that housing should be attractive, functional and sustainable – this guide presents how using...
NHS Blood and Transplant
22 January 2015
In 2013, NHS Blood and Transplant worked with Design Council to create a tool that would better explain the career opportunities for staff and prospective recruits so it could attract and retain the talent needed to become the...
University of Aberdeen
15 January 2015
In 2010, the World Health Organisation calculated the global economic cost of mental illness as US $2.5tn a year, with 5% of adults worldwide suffering from the most serious forms of psychiatric disorders. Brain scans and DNA...
University of Bristol
14 January 2015
The Intelligent Needle In 2011, collaborating researchers from the University of Bristol, the University of Exeter and Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had developed a fibre optic device capable of performing Raman...
Viper Subsea
27 October 2014
The design project we undertook is one of the most important investments we’ve made. It enabled us to effectively communicate where we wanted to be as a business. Max Nodder, Business Development...
Knee High Design Challenge: Making great things happen
20 October 2014
This publication explains the Design Challenge process and the ideas which were developed for the Knee High Design Challenge. The report was produced to coincide with the public launch of the six products and services developed as...
Owlstone
31 July 2014
What we learned from the Design Council continues to benefit the business, even all these years on. Making our technology intelligible to a wider audience and adopting a user-led approach has been invaluable. ...
Sugru
1 July 2014
We needed to articulate what was different about our technology. It wasn't that we didn't know, but we didn't know how to say it easily. Jane ni Dhulchaointigh, Founder, Sugru Sugru is a...
Designing the Digital Economy
14 May 2014
A new independent report published by the Design Commission warns that the UK’s digital economy will not fulfil its social or economic potential without a concerted focus on design. Amongst 17 recommendations, the report calls...
Social finance in the UK: designing the experience for ventures
7 April 2014
Social Finance in the UK: designing the experience for ventures is a qualitative research project in collaboration with Cabinet Office to outline the needs of social ventures when accessing funding. The report is the outcome of...
Active by Design: designing places for healthy lives
24 March 2014
This guide, part of our Active by Design programme, makes a powerful case for taking action to tackle twenty-first century health problems through the places we build. Our Active by Design programme responds to the rise in...