The Design Institute of Australia launches national advocacy campaign via Clemenger BBDO to count Australia’s designers in the 2026 Census

The Design Institute of Australia (DIA) has partnered with Clemenger BBDO for a landmark national advocacy campaign, Write DESIGNER, ahead of the 2026 Census. The campaign responds to a surprising reality: despite contributing an estimated $67.5 billion* to the Australian economy each year, there is currently no reliable baseline count of how many designers actually work in Australia.

 

Running across TV, digital and social platforms, the “Write DESIGNER” campaign empowers Australia’s design workforce to label themselves as “designers” in the upcoming Census on August 11, helping establish the first national benchmark of the country’s design community.

At the heart of the campaign is a 60-second TV commercial, featuring the voice of ARIA award-winning hip-hop artist and frontman of 1200 Techniques, N’fa Jones, a score by electronic music composer Jonah Gabriel, and many of Australia’s leading designers, studios and businesses, all contributing their talents to highlight the breadth of the nation’s design profession.

Jones’ voice sets the scene for the film, opening with the words “You can’t. Can’t hear, can’t see, can’t breathe, can’t be heard, can’t feel seen.” A range of Australian designers, including internationally acclaimed industrial designer Marc Newson, fashion house Romance Was Born, PACCAR Australia (the designers behind Kenworth trucks), Ludo Studio (the studio behind Bluey), RØDE Microphones, coral reef designer Reef Design Lab, tech company Blackmagic, air quality visualisation tool designers, Portable, wayfinding creator Büro North, indigenous designer Balarinji, jeweller Blanche Tilden, food packager Wonki and interior designers Carr and Tonkin Zulaikha Greer, and many more answer the call.

The film moves from the human body, presenting a hearing aid, a vision-testing tool and a defibrillator, then outward through the air we breathe, the tools of creative life, culture and the economy, an aircraft painted with 40,000 years of Pitjantjatjara storytelling, Bluey, and a Kenworth truck. It then passes through sustainability and the built environment – from coral reef restoration and wayfinding, to an interior and a building designed for belonging, before closing on the most intimate acts of design and making: a vessel by Alfred Lowe and a necklace by Blanche Tilden.

Nationally, design has long been one of the most economically significant, yet consistently underestimated communities. It is estimated design-related industries and workers contribute more than 3.5% of GDP* to the Australian economy.

The 2026 Census presents a watershed opportunity for Australia’s design profession. For the first time, Census data around the design workforce will be coded under the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Occupation Standard Classification framework, establishing the first national benchmark of the design workforce within its own dedicated occupational group.

With the Census just over a month away, the Write DESIGNER campaign encourages every designer to identify themselves by their specific design profession when answering the question: “What is the person’s occupation?” Designers can use a recognised design occupation within the new framework group, 242 Design Professionals.

As the peak body for designers across the country, the DIA has been advocating for the profession and its practitioners for decades. Its work has been instrumental in introducing the change to Census data collection, which will be fundamental to supporting designers to thrive both creatively and commercially.

Says DIA CEO, Simone LeAmon: “Write DESIGNER is more than a campaign; it’s a collective act of advocacy for Australia’s design profession. Every day, designers challenge assumptions, solve complex problems, create value and transform ‘you can’t’ into ‘you can.’ This campaign is about uniting an entire profession around a single moment that only comes around once every five years. By ensuring designers are accurately counted on Census night, we’re building the evidence needed to strengthen advocacy, inform decision making and government policy, and secure greater recognition for design into the future.

“For more than 80 years, the DIA has advocated for the value of design, because we know the impact it has on Australia’s economy, society and culture. Clemenger’s creative team, along with musicians, designers and business from across Australia, have united to produce a memorable and meaningful advocacy campaign that showcases the depth of creative thinking of Australian design and the innovation that simply wouldn’t be possible without our design workforce. We know Australia is designed every day – it’s time we counted the people behind it.”

Says Clemenger BBDO Executive Creative Director, Giles Watson: “We’re surrounded by what designers make possible, yet the people who make it happen have stayed invisible. We’re turning this census into a moment to celebrate a profession built on challenging assumptions and solving problems most people never see, and just as importantly, a moment to finally get designers counted, credited and recognised.”

A full list of recognised design occupations and alternative titles is available on the DIA’s Write DESIGNER campaign page or via the ABS website.

*Source: IP Australia, Defining Design, 2020.

Client: Design Institute of Australia
Chief Executive Officer: Simone LeAmon
Agency: Clemenger BBDO
Artist: Steve Leadbeater
Music: Jonah Gabriel
Voiceover: N’fa Jones

 

 

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