British Design Council

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History and Context

The Design Council Slide Collection has its origins in the Photographic Library set up by the Council of Industrial Design (CoID) in 1945. The CoID had been established by the British government the previous year "to promote by all practicable means the improvement of design in the products of British industry", and to this end it sought to foster a critical awareness of design among manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

As part of this broadly educational role, the Council built up a collection of slides illustrating various aspects of design, and eventually a separate slide library was formed. During the 1950s and 60s the CoID gradually broadened its scope to encompass most areas of design as well as technical and management issues, and by 1972 (when the CoID was renamed the Design Council) it had also become heavily involved in the field of engineering design. These developments were reflected in the contents of the slide collection, which continued to grow until 1990. Following a review of the Design Council's role and functions in 1993, it withdrew from many of the services it operated, including the running of the slide library. However, the Council recognised the historical significance of the material in the slide library and sought a suitable new home for it. As a result, the collection was deposited on permanent loan to the Manchester Metropolitan University in 1995. The collection comprises almost 22, 500 images and covers most areas of design. The majority of images show products of various kinds (including tableware, furniture, lighting, toys, domestic appliances, textiles, wallpapers, office equipment, engineering components and machinery), but other areas of design such as architecture, town planning, interior design, graphic design and corporate identity are also included. Due to the national role of the Council, the emphasis is mainly upon British design from 1945 to 1990, but there are also many images illustrating design from other countries and from earlier periods. Furthermore, the collection contains a large number of original and unique images that record directly many of the Council's own activities, including its annual design award scheme introduced in 1957, and the various exhibitions and other events that it organised or contributed to in the UK and abroad.