The project is one of ten new awards that will help to develop the AHRC's Digital Transformations theme.
Professor Catherine Moriarty, the university's Professor of Art and Design History and the project’s principal investigator, said: "If you don’t know how something is made you are less likely to understand what it means. The relationship between constructing digital materials and questioning their place in the information ecosystem is exactly the same."
The project Exploring British Design will "amplify the content, skills and expertise of the university’s Design Archives and those of its project partners, the Archives Hub at the University of Manchester and the Design Museum", according to Professor Moriarty.
Working with co-investigator Jane Stevenson at the University of Manchester, the aim of the project is to promote digital literacy by encouraging researchers to explore archival structures and the depth of detail held in design archives.
Professor Moriarty, Curatorial Director of the 91¶¶Òõ Design Archives, said: "This will transform the exploration of design by connecting design-related content in different archives across the region and the world."
The AHRC said the awards were designed to "take digital transformations research to another level".
Professor Andrew Prescott, the AHRC Theme Leader Fellow for Digital Transformations said: "These new awards will give projects from the Digital Transformations theme a chance to enhance the value and impact of their research by, for example, new collaborations with international partners, taking the research in a new direction or engaging with non-academic audiences."