Design Futures
Designers look into the future and attempt to envisage products and services that are required, desired and suitable for the needs of the user and the environment they occupy. The predictions designers make about the future are an intrinsic part of the design process. The capability of designers to envision and interpret possible social, cultural, technological and economic futures is crucial to the success of their design activities. Their ability to transform the intangible into the tangible is a valuable commodity.
Adopting a multidisciplinary approach to considering the future, designers draw upon methods including horizon scanning, scenarios, trend monitoring, forecasting, cultural probes, future panels, lifestyle narratives, camera journals, ethnography, backcasting, storytelling, personas, and visioning to explore and communicate visions of the future.
Current Research Activities
Project report:
Design 2020 Final Report (PDF, 2 MB)
The UK design industry in 2020
Design 2020 is a research project undertaken by the Universities of Salford and Lancaster in partnership with British Design Innovation. The overall aim of Design 2020 is to explore potential futures for the UK Design industry. It is part of a foresight initiative investigating future scenarios which reveal the threats and opportunities facing the UK design industry over the next 15 years. It is funded by the AHRC/EPSRC’s Designing for the 21st Century initiative.
Project Overview
The overall aim of Design 2020 is to explore potential futures for the UK Design industry. Its objectives are: (i) To research the shape of, and challenges/opportunities facing, the UK design industry over the next decade, and building on this; and (ii) Inform policy frameworks for the sector up to 2020. It intends to develop an understanding of the forces for change and guide the next generation policy, enabling the UK design industry to remain relevant and a significant force within a global design context.
The project focuses on researching the challenges facing the UK design industry over the next decade, and will consult agencies, clients, trade associations and journalists, HEIs, economists and policy-makers via a range of interviews and surveys to provide recommendations for the industry. As such, the proposal supports the AHRC’s call for leading edge design research, which explores new modes of design thinking suitable for the challenges facing 21st Century society. Various government initiatives have looked at technology and enterprise. However, the creative industries, and particularly the 71,000 employees in the commercial design have not received the attention they warrant, despite the fact that creative capabilities lie at the core of the UK’s ability to compete.
More Information
Contact: www.ukdesign2020.org
An Evaluative Framework for National Design Policy Initiatives
The overall aim of the project is to understand national design policy initiatives and the impact on design, related industries and the economy.
Project Overview
The project aims to develop an evaluative framework for national design policy initiatives by: (i) evaluating national design policies and the strategies by which they are underpinned, (ii) assessing their contributions to design activity and national competitiveness, and (iii) developing a model that simulates changes in national design policy and predicts the impact on design, related industries and the economy.
Design has been recognised as a key strategic resource for economic advantage and competitiveness. Analysis of national economic performance illustrates a correlation between design and national competitiveness. This has implications for national design policy as studies have identified a clear link between effective national design policies and economic advantage. Economic advantage and competitiveness is a key concern of all nations.
More Information
Contact: Martyn Evans
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