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The Design Society: A Worldwide Design Community
Connecting researchers, educators, and practitioners worldwide to advance the science and practice of design.
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Welcoming Our Design Society Fellows
We proudly recognise outstanding contributions to design research and leadership with the appointment of DS Fellows. Let us further improve our balance of scholarly excellence and practical applicability through design.
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25 Years of the Design Society
We are celebrating our 25th anniversary as a global community advancing design research, practice, and collaboration since 2000. Join us as we connect, and shape the future of design.
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Special Interest Groups
Join focused groups called SIGs, exploring specific topics or areas of interest within a broader field — from sustainability to systems thinking — through collaboration, events, and publications.
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Celebrating You - New Design Society Awards
We are launching new awards to honour innovation, impact, and emerging talent across the design disciplines.
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Our Conferences
The Design Society organizes and supports a diverse range of international conferences that bring together leading minds in design research, education, and practice. These events serve as vital platforms for sharing knowledge, building collaborations, and shaping the future of design.
Knowledge base
The Design Society has built a powerful and accessible knowledge base for the global design community. Through its commitment to sharing research, we offer a wealth of resources—including conference papers, PhD theses, design case studies and much more — available digitally to its members. These resources are not only searchable and well-indexed through platforms like Google Scholar and Scopus, but also presented in various formats to reach a wide audience. By making knowledge accessible and preserving the intellectual contributions of designers and researchers, the Society fuels innovation, collaboration, and the ongoing evolution of design practice and education.
Our Community
SIGs provide a platform for Design Society members to collaborate on focused areas of research, innovation, and practice within the field of design they are passionate about. They enable members to:
- Collaborate and Network
- Advance Knowledge in their Field
- Access Exclusive Opportunities
- Shape the Community
By joining a SIG, members deepen their expertise, grow their professional network, and make impactful contributions to the design community.
Our Journey
The Design Society is a global, charitable association of individuals committed to advancing design through research, education, practice, and outreach. Our story began in 2000, building on the legacy of the WDK group and the long-running International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED), which started back in 1981. What began as a focused engineering initiative has grown into a diverse, multidisciplinary network that spans the globe. Since then, we’ve gathered biennially in cities like Stockholm, Milan, Stanford, and Bordeaux, and continue to host and support a wide range of design conferences and events.
Join Our Community Now
Join the Design Society Today – Connect, Collaborate, and Advance in Design Innovation!
