Design - from award-winning work to innovative thinking that gets results

With its commercial edge, our award-winning design service is driven by a desire to help you make a connection with your customers and communicate with them effectively. We use fresh thinking on design to help companies like yours invigorate their products and packaging, achieve competitive advantage and contribute to their bottom line.

Get more from consultancy

Our product and packaging design consultancy group, Design Futures, has proved its commercial focus time and again, working with organisations including Astracast, Gillette, Kenwood, Marks & Spencer, Northern Foods, Umbro and Unilever.

• named Design Team of the Year 2015 at the UK Packaging Awards
• won the Innovation of the Year award at the UK Packaging Awards 2013
• took a top prize at the UK Packaging Awards 2012 for a carry pack for cupcakes

Because Design Futures is based in a university research department, we’re perfectly placed to create a custom team of experts who are the best fit for you and your business needs. From human-computer interaction designers to usability specialists and applied physiologists, we’ll make sure that you have the right people working on your project.

What services will benefit your business?

• product concept design – fresh ideas to capture customers’ imaginations
• appearance and ergonomics – magic ingredients that create outstanding products
• product development – translating great ideas into great products

Looking for design insight in health and social care, sport or manufacturing?

• Lab4Living brings together the University's expertise in design, engineering, ergonomics, health and rehabilitation to offer a fresh perspective in health and social care
• our Centre for Sports Engineering Research (CSER) has a proven track record of product design and testing in the sport industry, working with brands including Adidas, Prince and Gilbert
• if you’re looking for materials and engineering expertise, work with the team at our world-ranking Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) for fresh insight and to make sure your products meet all your design requirements

"The Sheffield Hallam team has provided an exceptional service to us and it has been a pleasure to work with them throughout, from initial concept to final conclusion. We now have something of worth which we feel will open up the entire market for us, both at home and for the export market."

James Ormston, Mother’s Chutney

See our portfolio

Find out more – download our brochure (PDF, 3MB)