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About DDC –
Danish Design Center

What we mean when we talk about design, building capacity, and sustainable innovation

dansk design center

We’re a non-profit foundation that works to build capacity for innovation and sustainable growth by design. All the knowledge, material, and resources we produce are open-source and accessible to the broad public. DDC provides services on market terms for training or counseling targeted at companies and organizations. Read more about our projects here.

Design is our method and mindset

How do we keep up in a world undergoing fundamental changes at a speed we’ve only just begun to understand the implications of?

We need genuinely sustainable innovation because it requires us to think and act in new ways. That’s precisely what design can help us do and why we’re here. 

Using design as a method and mindset, we’ve worked with thousands of companies and organizations to focus their innovation efforts by enabling them to do what designers do best: expand their perspectives and zoom in on the needs of humans, societies, and our planet. We empower businesses and organizations to innovate with more significant impact with design knowledge, problem-solving know-how, and hands-on tools

We’ve been in business for over 40 years – a period of major societal transitions. Over the years, we’ve seen how collaboration is key to eliminating the silos that get in the way of innovation. That’s why we design strong partnerships where businesses and organizations work together across industries to drive green, digital, and social transformations with long-lasting results.

Design-driven missions

We use design-driven missions to achieve these complex and long-term transitions. Why missions? When put into play with design, missions can help set a clear direction in uncertain times. They are targeted, measurable, and time-bound. Missions offer a platform for mobilizing resources; they unite and inspire people across businesses, academia, and government to work towards a common goal.

Missions build capacity – giving the people we work with the tools and methods to pursue and realize new opportunities for sustainable growth. They provide a framework for direct participation and learning through experimentation – to the benefit of organizations, society, and the planet.

Our projects are centered around our three missions:

Digital Transition: A Moral Imperative

Designing a society, where ethics are a connected part of our digital infrastructure
Explore

Social Transition: A Radical Approach

Rethinking our social structures and designing inclusive social solutions with human needs front and center
Explore
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Nice to meet you

From project managers, assistants, and accountants to art directors and actual designers, meet the 30+ people that make DDC a lovely place to work and inspiring to work with

Meet the people

The Self-Leading Organization

At DDC, we believe people have the capacity and the willingness to make a positive difference. We believe that people thrive in an atmosphere of inclusivity and shared responsibility and that anyone can lead – or follow – under the right circumstances. That is why we have radically transformed our organization, doing away with middle management, teams, KPIs, and traditional hierarchies. Staff members are free to lead themselves, working in a dynamic, free-flowing project structure – more as an organism than an organization.

We want to lead by example – and continue to teach and train other organizations in similar ways of working.

Read more about our organization and transformation process here.

We believe in people

Our human values are our key management principle. Download the principles here.

More about DDC

We’re honored to serve as Denmark’s official design center. That means we collaborate with more than 2.000 business leaders, designers, and decision-makers – every year! And our efforts are paying off:

  • Companies that work with design see an average of 32% growth on the bottom line and a 56% higher return for shareholders
  • 67% of companies that work with design report that design increases their competitiveness*

*McKinsey Quarterly

DDC uses GDPR-compliant platforms for external communication and marketing purposes. Furthermore, we follow ethical principles for publication, i.e., fact-checking, only publishing approved quotes and content from sources, and hyperlinking to sources if they are available online, otherwise referencing using the author’s last name and year of publication. Our content is, by default, open-source and freely available to all.

Explore more of our work:

Can’t get enough of design and innovation? We hear you. And we have you covered.

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Copenhagen

Bryghuspladsen 8
BLOX, 2. floor
1473 Copenhagen
CVR 3699 4126

Kolding

Dyrehavevej 116
Design School Kolding
6000 Kolding
CVR 3699 4126

Unless otherwise stated, all content on this website is presented under the Creative Commons Attribution License.