What is public design?

For the past year, we have been working closely with teams across the Civil Service and wider public sector in the UK as part of a project to clarify the nature and outcomes associated with ‘design’ in the UK government. The UK Public Design Review was initiated in 2023 by the cross-government Policy Design Community and has mostly been carried out by people working across government. It aims to provide an evidence base about the types and value of design across government which at present includes communication design, digital design, service design, urban design and policy design, although these have different histories and institutional forms. One way of joining up this range of activities, skills, methods and tools is to bring it under an umbrella term ‘public design’.

We have helped with ongoing advice about methodology such as reviewing quality of evidence and carrying out analysis. This behind-the-scenes work will in coming months lead to a public output that for the first time clarifies terminology and helps anchor expectations about public design in and for government.

Image from policy sprint workshop run by Policy Lab team, Cabinet Office, 2015