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.
A design wayfinder
8 January 2012
In future planning authorities, applicants (and their advisers) and local communities will be expected to take responsibility for securing good design, and for taking the opportunities available to improve an area. Design Council...
Design for innovation
1 December 2011
To coincide with the Government’s Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth 2011, we’ve published our own set of facts, figures and practical plans for growth. The purpose of this design plan is to bring the design elements of...
Living Well with Dementia Design Challenge research report
26 November 2011
This research report was produced as part of Design Council's Living Well with Dementia Design Challenge. This document was written to inform and inspire those interested in the Design Challenge, it doesn't provide exhaustive...
10 lessons for reducing violence and aggression in A&E
10 November 2011
In this guide we present ten key lessons for those seeking to reduce violence and aggression in A&E departments.
Improving patient experience in A&E
10 November 2011
This guide, Improving patient experience in A&E, looks specifically at eight patient-centred areas of A&E and suggests design improvements drawn from the Reducing violence and aggression in A&E: Through a better experience...
A&E Design Challenge: The Project Report
1 November 2011
Recognising the significant human and financial costs of violence and aggression towards A&E staff, the Department of Health partnered with the Design Council to explore how design could be used to alleviate tensions in A&E...
Triggers of violent and aggressive behaviour in A&E
11 October 2011
Our research identifies nine sets of triggers that might contribute to the occurrence of violent and aggressive acts in A&E. Ethnographic research teams conducted several hundred hours of observations within NHS A&E departments,...
Perpetrator characteristics
11 October 2011
Our research identifies six sets of characteristics displayed by individuals who become violent and aggressive in A&E. Ethnographic research teams conducted several hundred hours of interviews with a wide range of NHS staff and...
Facts, figures and practical plans for growth
22 January 2011
This report, published to coincide with the government’s 2011 Innovation and Research Strategy for Growth, sets out our facts, figures and plans for growth of the UK design industry. The purpose of this report is to bring the...
Managing green spaces
15 December 2010
England’s parks and green spaces are being managed in a context which is changing fast and fundamentally. Councils are being given greater autonomy to determine the services they provide to their communities, but this autonomy...
People and places: Public attitudes to beauty
15 November 2010
People and places: public attitudes to beauty focused on Sheffield as a city that has experienced recent significant change. It aimed to address what beauty means for individuals, for places and communities, and for society. The...
Multi-disciplinary design education in the UK case studies
1 November 2010
These case studies are one part of a wider range of activities undertaken by the Multi-disciplinary Design Network, which was set up in 2006 to support a key recommendation made by the Cox Review for the establishment of...