It was written by James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Nicky Wire, and produced by Dave Eringa and Mike Hedges.

[6] The next line, 'then work came and made us free', refers to the German slogan Arbeit macht frei that featured above the gates of Nazi concentration camps and which had been used previously by the band in their song "The Intense Humming of Evil" on the album The Holy Bible.

Various slogans promoting compliance and domesticity clash with scenes of fox hunting, Royal Ascot, a polo match and the Last Night of the Proms representing what the band saw as class privilege.

Interviewed in 2014 by NME for their "Song Stories" video series, singer and guitarist James Dean Bradfield recalled that the lyrics had come about as a blending of two sets – "Design for Life" and "Pure Motive" – sent to him by bassist Nicky Wire.

The song "rescued the band" after the disappearance of Edwards, with Wire describing it as "a bolt of light from a severely dark place".

[citation needed] Taylor Parkes from Melody Maker named "A Design for Life" Single of the Week, writing, "A rock ballad of mammoth scale, shadowed by massive and foreboding storm cloud strings, hinged on a recurring, lurching chord change that suggests only endless and unresolved anguish, it has, inevitably, a gravity beyond their intention.

[19] In August 2016, American music publication Spin Magazine ranked "A Design for Life" at number 31 of the "96 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1996.

[18] The Cardiff Arms Park Male Voice Choir performed a version of the song, in front of the band, which Wire described as "spine tingling".

Seeing one of our lyrics – "Libraries gave us power", from A Design for Life – inscribed on the opening plaque was in its own way as affecting as playing the Millennium Stadium.