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Executive summary
1. The Scottish Executive Analytical Services Unit commissioned, on behalf of the Six Cities Design Festival team within the Tourism, Culture and Sport Group, TNS System Three to carry out an omnibus survey of 2,065 people aged 16 and over throughout Scotland. The research was carried out in September and October 2006 and intended to examine the awareness of, and attitudes towards design of the general public, the importance and value of design, and specifically design in Scotland.
2. When asked to consider what design meant to them, architecture, fashion and interiors were the areas most commonly mentioned by respondents. There was considerable variation by gender, with men more likely to mention architecture, engineering and products and women more likely to mention fashion and interiors. Bad design was most often encountered in architecture and packaging. In terms of things that were well-designed in everyday life at home or at work, items related to product design were mentioned most often, particularly in relation to the home, to entertainment and communication, to transport and to domestic appliances.
3. Awareness of ideas for design in one's own home most frequently came from television programmes, magazines and other people's houses. It was less common to get ideas from exhibitions or newspapers, although there was some variation with age.
4. When shown a list of living designers, respondents were most familiar with designers in the fields of fashion, product design and furniture, although this largely was connected with awareness of individual, high-profile designers. Those aged 16-24, those aged 65 and over and those in lower social grades had the least overall awareness of designers.
5. Attitudes to design generally were positive, with the majority of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing with statements such as 'Poorly designed workplaces reduce the efficiency of the people who work there'; and 'The design of hospital facilities aids the healing of patients'. The majority also agreed that 'Public money should be invested in promoting Scottish design abroad', although to a lesser extent.
6. Respondents believed that Scots were most well-known for design in the fields of architecture, engineering and medical, and least well-known in the areas of advertising and packaging.
7. When shown a list of five products, there was a high level of awareness of which were designed in Scotland, with 77% of respondents correctly identifying those products, though this was mainly due to knowledge of Dolly the Sheep. Only 18% of the respondents incorrectly identified products that were designed elsewhere as being designed in Scotland.
8. When asked about design and architecture organisations and events, respondents were most likely to have heard of The Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City, particularly those who lived in the West of Scotland (The Lighthouse is located in Glasgow). One quarter of the sample had heard of Architecture and Design Scotland. Awareness of the Six Cities Design Festival was very low, with less than 5% of the sample having heard of this. However, as the festival was not launched until the 31 st October 2006, after this research was completed, this is what we would expect.
9. There was strong support for holding a festival in Scotland to support Scottish design, with 80% of respondents saying that this was a good or very good idea.
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