The primary purpose of the DRS, as embodied in its first statement of rules, is to promote ‘the study of and research into the process of designing in all its many fields'.

This established the intention of being an interdisciplinary learned society, taking a scholarly and domain independent view of the process of designing.

However, within a few years, unsuccessful attempts to establish a published journal[6] and fruitless internal debate about the Society's goals led to inactivity.

The DRS has had four honorary Presidents; Bruce Archer, 1992-00; Richard Buchanan 2000-06, Nigel Cross 2006- 17; Rachel Cooper 2017 to the present.

By the late 1970s there was enough enthusiasm, and evidence of design research activity around the world, for the DRS to approach IPC Press (now Elsevier Science) with a successful proposal for its own journal.

[12] To facilitate growth, without compromising the quality of the journal, the editorial board agreed to increase publication to around 50 papers annually.

[13] On July 6, 2023, the DRS Executive Board issued a statement condemning Elsevier's interference, and its treatment of Editor-in-Chief, Peter Lloyd.

A statement published on the Society's website explained this was due to "the unacceptable actions of Elsevier of 1) demanding a seven-fold increase in publications or facing closure; 2) appointing a new Editor-in-Chief without experience of publishing in the journal and without notification; and 3) changing the scope of the journal without consultation either with the editorial team or the Design Research Society.

It also runs a discussion list, which is used for announcements and debate about the core issues of knowledge and methodology in research and practice in the creative disciplines.

A special strand at the DRS conference 2008 and two successful workshops at Sheffield Hallam University (2007) and Nottingham Trent University (2010) served to define the group’s interest in broad questions about human-object interactions – focusing on Objects and engaging with social Practices, which involve Experiences with/ of objects in Networks of relationship.

This group aims to advance the field by creating a community and developing collaborative actions in research, practice and education.

[25] The DRS Sustainable Special Interest Group (SusSIG) aims to nurture design research debates and outcomes that are more holistic in their approach to ecological and social care.