The potential of design to achieve real change

Design Council is the government’s advisor on design. Our mission is to make life better by design. We work with people to create better places, better products and better processes, all of which lead to better performance. We commission research, develop programmes and influence policy to demonstrate the power of design. We bring together non-designers and designers from grassroots to government and share with them our design expertise to transform the way they work.

Enabling sustainable living is one of our three key priorities outlined in our Strategy 2020-24. As part of our work to improve design standards and promote sustainable development, we have been conducting research into design for net zero, at the same time as developing – through our own programmes of work and engagement with our Design Council experts – frameworks that support designers to come together to work on complex topics. This work can then be used by the 1.69m people working in the design economy in the UK1 as well as those elsewhere, the design students who will join them soon, and businesses and commissioners wanting to take a design approach to achieve their sustainability goals and climate commitments.