30 SECOND GUIDE: Design council

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 03:47 EST, 24 June 2011

The Daily Mail City team explains the work of the council overseeing the design of British manufactured products

Paul Weller?

You're thinking of 1980s group The Style Council, led by the now middle-aged lead singer of The Jam.

The Design Council, which began life in 1944 as the Council of Industrial Design, has enjoyed no chart success. Instead it lobbies for the improvement of design specifications in the manufacture of British products.

From the hip: An example of British design embellishing Apple's hardware - a Ted Baker case for the iPhone4

How?

Glad you asked. The organisation was taking part yesterday in Design for Growth, a government-backed initiative that aims to put cutting-edge manufacturing at the heart of Britain’s recovery from recession.

It’s all part of rebalancing the British economy away from reliance on financial services.

Explain...

Martin Temple, chair of the Design Council, points to the success of companies such as Apple. ‘Design has been key to Apple’s success because they have designed excellence into their product,’ says Temple.

And?

Temple reckons that Britain is full of good designers who could be the building blocks of our own business success stories, thus creating jobs.

He also highlighted the £200billion the government spends on procurement every year. Efficient design of products means lower public spending apparently.

Someone ring George Osborne.