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The overall aims of this study were to examine awareness of, and attitudes towards design within the general public. This specifically related to awareness of design and designers in everyday life, attitudes to the importance of design, and awareness and attitudes to areas of design and design organisations and events in Scotland.

Main Findings

• When asked to consider what design meant to them, architecture, fashion and interiors were the areas most commonly mentioned by respondents. Bad design was most often encountered in architecture and packaging. In terms of things that were well-designed in everyday life at home or 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.
• Ideas for design in one's own home most frequently came from television programmes, magazines and other people's houses. It was less common for exhibitions or newspapers to be mentioned as sources of ideas, although there was some variation with age.
• When shown a list of living designers, respondents were most familiar with designers in the fields of fashion, product design and furniture. Those aged 16-24, those aged over 65 and those in lower social grades had the least overall awareness of different designers.
• Attitudes to design were generally positive, with the majority of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing with 'Poorly designed workplaces reduce the efficiency of the people who work there'; 'Well-designed school buildings and classrooms can help children learn better'; 'The design of hospital facilities aids the healing of patients'; and 'Children should learn more about design in school'. The majority also agreed with the statement that 'Public money should be invested in promoting Scottish design abroad', although to a lesser extent.
• 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.
• When shown a list of five products, there was a good level of knowledge of which were designed in Scotland, with 77% of respondents correctly identifying at least one product. This however was driven by a high level of awareness of Dolly the Sheep. Only 18% of the respondents incorrectly identified products that were designed elsewhere as being designed in Scotland.
• When asked about design and architecture organisations and events, respondents were most likely to have heard of The Lighthouse, particularly those who lived in the West of Scotland (The Lighthouse is located in Glasgow). Over one quarter of the sample had heard of Architecture and Design Scotland. Awareness of the Six Cities Design Festival was very low, as we would expect as the research took place prior to its official launch.
• There was strong support for holding a festival in Scotland to support Scottish design, with more than three quarters of respondents saying that this was a good or very good idea.

Background and Method

The Scottish Executive Analytical Services Unit commissioned a survey of the general population of Scotland in relation to their views on design, on behalf of the Six Cities Design Festival team within the Tourism, Culture and Sport Group.

The research was intended to examine: the extent to which the general public is aware of design; how important design is perceived to be as part of everyday life; the extent to which the general public is aware of Scottish design and designers; and awareness of and attitudes to Scottish design and architecture organisations and events.

The research involved a survey of the adult population of Scotland which was carried out through the Scottish Opinion Survey. This is an omnibus survey run monthly by TNS System Three, using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing ( CAPI) in respondents' homes. Questions on design in general and design in Scotland in particular were included in the September and October 2006 waves of the survey, covering 2,065 adults aged 16 and over throughout Scotland.

Summary of findings

There were three themes to the research: awareness of design; attitudes to design; and design in Scotland.

Awareness of design

In general, 'Design' was most commonly associated with the fields of architecture (50%), fashion (45%) and interiors (39%). There were differences in how men and women viewed design, with women almost twice as likely to mention interiors when asked what design meant to them and considerably more likely to mention fashion. Men were more than four times as likely to say that design could mean engineering and considerably more likely to mention product design and architecture.

There was also some variation in the way that different age groups thought of design. Those aged 16-24 were more likely to mention fashion and those aged over 65 were more likely to mention medical design or public spaces than other age groups. In terms of social class, those in the AB group (the highest social group) were most likely to mention architecture, engineering and products, while those in the DE group (the lowest social group) were most likely to mention fashion and medical design.

When asked to consider bad design, nearly one third of respondents said that they had not been annoyed or been caused problems by bad design in any area. Of those that had experienced problems, this was most likely to be associated with architecture or packaging. Those aged 16-24 and those aged over 65 were less likely to report having had problems caused by poor design, as were those in lower social groups and those who lived in the West of Scotland.

When asked to name three things that they thought were well-designed in everyday life either at home or at work, people most commonly mentioned something to do with the home, such as interiors, furniture, double glazing or central heating. Home entertainments or communications, such as mobile phones, computers and televisions, were next most commonly mentioned followed by items related to transport and to domestic appliances.

More than half of the sample said that television programmes such as 'Grand Designs', 'Home Front' or 'Changing Rooms' were a source of ideas for design in their own homes. Magazines were also a common source of ideas for home design, as were other people's homes. Fewer people said that newspapers, exhibitions or the cinema were a source of design ideas for them. Those aged 55 and over were less likely to mention television programmes and magazines than those in younger age groups, but generally more likely to mention newspapers and exhibitions. They were also more likely to say that none of the sources provided them with design ideas. Those in the AB social group were more likely than those in other social groups to mention every source, with the exception of television programmes, as a basis for their own ideas. Those in the DE social group were slightly less likely than those in other groups to mention newspapers and exhibitions as sources.

Respondents were shown a list of living designers in the areas of architecture, public spaces, interiors, fashion, furniture and products and asked which designers they had heard of. More than 80% of the sample had heard of at least one designer on the list, with Vivienne Westwood, James Dyson, Terence Conran and Paul Smith being recognised most often. Over 70% of the sample were aware of at least one fashion designer, and nearly 60% had heard of at least one designer in the area of product design. However, this was mainly due to the fact that 57% of the sample had heard of James Dyson. Despite the fact that architecture was the area that was most commonly mentioned as springing to mind when thinking of design, only one fifth of the sample was aware of the designers associated with this area. Nearly 15% of the respondents were familiar with a designer associated with interiors, and only 2% with a designer in the field of public spaces. It is likely that awareness of designers in particular areas is associated with how high-profile or how associated with well-known brands the individual designers are.

Women were slightly more likely to be aware of a fashion designer, whereas men were more likely to have heard of designers in the fields of architecture and product design. Those aged 16-24 and those aged 65 and over were less likely to have heard of any designer than those in other age groups, as were those in lower social groups.

Attitudes to Design

In order to assess how important respondents believed design to be in different areas of everyday life, they were shown a series of five statements and asked to what extent they agreed with each one. The statements were: Poorly designed workplaces reduce the efficiency of the people who work there; Well-designed school buildings and classrooms can help children learn better; The design of hospital facilities aids the healing of patients; Children should learn more about design in school; Public money should be invested in promoting Scottish design abroad.

The majority of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed with every statement, suggesting that in general design was seen as an important factor in many aspects of daily life. There was particularly strong agreement in relation to efficient work and learning, with 88% of the respondents agreeing that 'Poorly designed workplaces reduce the efficiency of the people who work there' and 84% agreeing that 'Well-designed school buildings and classrooms can help children learn better'. There was less support for the idea of investing public money in promoting Scottish design abroad, though 55% of the sample agreed with this statement.

Design in Scotland

One of the aims of the research was to examine attitudes and awareness of design in specific relation to design in Scotland. In order to investigate this, respondents were shown a list of different areas of design and asked for which areas they thought that Scots were well-known. Respondents believed that Scots were most well-known in the fields of architecture, engineering and medical design. Scots were perceived to be least well-known in the areas of packaging and advertising. Only 3% of respondents thought that Scots were not well-known in any of the fields of design.

There were some differences in responses by gender, which could reflect the different areas that men and women associated with design. Women were more likely to say that Scots were well-known for fashion design, while men were more likely to mention engineering and medical design. Those aged between 16 and 34 were more likely to mention advertising and packaging and considerably less likely to mention engineering and medical design, while those aged 55 and over were more likely to mention furniture.

To examine their knowledge of design in Scotland, respondents were shown a list of products and asked to state which ones they believed were designed in Scotland. The list contained some correct and some incorrect products. Overall, more than three quarters of the sample were able to correctly identify at least one product that had been designed in Scotland, though this was mainly due to a high level of awareness of Dolly the Sheep. Dolly was correctly identified by 64% of the sample, the MRI scanner by 29% and the Grand Theft Auto computer game by 19%. Slightly less than one fifth of the sample mentioned an incorrect product. Taking these results together, although it appears that the majority of the respondents could distinguish Scottish designs (of which there was high awareness) from designs originating elsewhere, it is important to note that this was largely driven by knowledge of Dolly the Sheep.

Men, those in higher social groups and those living in the West of Scotland were more likely to give a correct answer; however, there was very little difference in the proportion of wrong answers given by any demographic group.

Respondents were asked which of three architecture and design organisations and events they had heard of (The Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City; Architecture and Design Scotland; and the Six Cities Design Festival). Almost half of the respondents had not heard of any of the organisations. One third of the sample had heard of The Lighthouse and just over one quarter had heard of Architecture and Design Scotland.

There were some demographic differences in terms of awareness of The Lighthouse. Men were more likely to have heard of it than women, and those aged between 35 and 64 were more likely to be aware of it than those in younger or older age groups. Those living in the West of Scotland were around twice as likely to have heard of The Lighthouse as those in other areas, and this is likely due to the fact that The Lighthouse is located in Glasgow.

As we would expect since it was only officially launched on 31st October 2006, very few people currently had heard of the Six Cities Design Festival and it would be useful to measure awareness of this event as it approaches. However, there was a very high level of support in general for holding a festival in Scotland to support Scottish design with 81% of respondents saying that this was a good or very good idea.

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The site carries up-to-date information about social and policy research commissioned and published on behalf of the Scottish Executive. Subjects covered include transport, housing, social inclusion, rural affairs, children and young people, education, social work, community care, local government, civil justice, crime and criminal justice, planning, regeneration and women's issues. The site also allows access to information about the Scottish Household Survey.

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