.design is the extension that tells a client or employer, before they open the link, that they're about to see creative work. It has been in the root zone since January 2015, it's open to anyone, and designers of every kind use it for portfolios, studios and design-system documentation.
PD Hosting is a London company and a Nominet accredited registrar. Your .design is registered the moment checkout completes, shows up in your client area straight away, and stays under your control: you choose where its website and email point. Search for your name below.
Per year. Compare every extension on our domain pricing page.
What is a .design domain?
- Type
- A generic top-level domain (gTLD), delegated in January 2015 under ICANN's new gTLD programme. Source
- Registry
- Registry Services, LLC, which took over in August 2021 from Top Level Design, the company that launched .design. Source
- Who may register
- Anyone, anywhere: there's no need to be a qualified or practising designer. Source
- Registration period
- Between one and ten years, renewable in yearly steps. Source
- Owner verification
- After you register, or change the owner's details, we send a message asking you to confirm your email address. Under ICANN's accreditation agreement, a name whose owner hasn't confirmed within 15 days is suspended. Source
- Public WHOIS
- The registrant's personal contact details are redacted from public registration data. People who need to reach you are given a contact form or relay address instead of your email. Source
- After expiry
- Reminders go out roughly 30 days and 7 days before the expiry date. If the name is then deleted, a 30-day redemption grace period lets it be restored before release. Source
Facts checked against the registry on 9 November 2026.
Who a .design domain suits
The people who get the most from a .design are those whose work is judged visually: a freelance graphic designer in Manchester sending a portfolio link with every pitch, a UX designer applying for in-house roles, an interior designer in the Cotswolds showing finished kitchens, or a landscape architect whose projects need large photographs. For them the address does some of the introducing.
Studios and agencies use it as their main name, and product companies often put their design system, brand guidelines and icon libraries on a .design so that developers and partners have one clear place to look. Fashion labels, furniture makers, typographers and architects all fit too, because "design" covers far more than screens.
- A portfolio to send with job applications and pitches
- A design studio or agency's main website
- Brand guidelines, design-system docs or a component library
- A product, furniture or fashion label's showcase
- A short email address for a freelance designer
Benefits of a .design domain
Context before the click
A recruiter scanning fifty applications sees yourname.design and knows what's behind the link, which is a small but real advantage when attention is short.
Your own name, unbroken
Designers with common names rarely find firstnamelastname.com free, but the same name with .design is often still available, so you don't have to add numbers or hyphens.
Covers every discipline
Graphic, product, interior, garden, fashion, sound and game design all sit naturally under one word, so the address won't box you in if your work changes direction.
Fully under your control
Point it at any portfolio platform or your own hosting, and keep the same address when you change tools. A portfolio link printed on a CV years ago still works.
Choosing a .design name that works on a CV and a slide
A .design address is most often read in places where it can't be clicked: a printed CV, a business card, a slide at a talk, a name badge at a portfolio review. That makes the choice of name more important than usual, and a few habits help.
Use the name people already know you by. If you're a freelancer, your full name is nearly always the right choice, because clients search for you by name after meeting you. Studios should use their trading name exactly as it appears on invoices and social profiles, so nobody wonders whether they've found the right firm.
Read it aloud. Words ending in a vowel or an "s" can run into the extension when spoken. Say the full address on a call and ask whether the listener could type it from hearing it once. If not, consider a shorter form.
Avoid repeating the word. A name like smithdesign.design reads awkwardly; smith.design or smithstudio.design is cleaner. The extension already does the work.
Think about email. A designer who sends invoices and proposals from [email protected] looks established. Every domain we register includes free mail forwarding, so you can start by sending those replies to your existing inbox and add a full mailbox later.
Protect the obvious alternatives. If your clients are in the UK, the matching .co.uk is often worth holding too. Point it at the same site so that anyone who guesses the familiar ending still reaches your work.
.design pros and cons
Works well if
- Your work is visual, and you want the address to say so before anyone clicks
- Your own name is taken in .com but free with .design
- You run a studio or agency and want a name that covers several disciplines
- Your company needs a clear home for brand guidelines or a design system
Look elsewhere if
- Running cost matters most: .design renews at well over the price of a .co.uk
- Your clients are local trades customers who expect a familiar ending: a .co.uk will feel safer to them
- Your agency also sells marketing, development or video: .digital or .media describes the wider offer better
- You'd rather be seen as an individual than a discipline: a personal .me is more flexible
.design compared with similar extensions
| Extension | Best for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| .design | Designers, studios and design systems | The clearest signal of creative work; renews at a higher price. |
| .studio | Creative studios of any kind | Suits photographers, musicians and makers as well as designers. |
| .ink | Illustrators, writers and tattoo artists | A shorter, more artistic word with a hand-made feel. |
| .co.uk | UK design businesses with local clients | The most familiar address in Britain, at a much lower renewal price. |
Register your .design domain
- Search for the name you want below.
- Add it to your basket and choose how many years to register it for.
- Check out. Your domain is registered straight away and appears in your client area, ready to point at your website and email.
Every domain includes DNS management, DNS backup and restore, and free mail forwarding.
.design questions
Do I need to be a professional designer to register a .design?
No. There are no eligibility rules, so students, hobbyists, companies and anyone else can register one. The only checks are the usual ones for any generic domain: we verify the owner's email address, and the registry's acceptable use rules apply.
Is a .design domain worth it for a portfolio?
For many designers, yes. It tells a client or recruiter what to expect, and your own name is far more likely to be free than in .com. Weigh that against the renewal price, which is higher than a .co.uk, and keep the address for years so links on old CVs keep working.
Does a .design address rank lower than a .com in Google?
No. Google has said that new generic extensions such as .design are treated the same as .com in search. The keyword in the extension doesn't give a ranking boost either; your work, page titles and links matter far more.
Can I use a .design with my existing portfolio platform?
Yes. Most portfolio and website platforms let you connect your own domain. You add the records they give you in the DNS manager in our client area, and the portfolio appears at your .design address.
What is the renewal price for .design?
With us, each further year of a .design costs £91.95. That's higher than the first-year price, which is discounted, so it's worth budgeting for the renewal from the start. We email reminders before it's due.
How do I move a .design from another registrar to PD Hosting?
Unlock the domain with your current provider and ask for its auth code, sometimes called an EPP code. Enter it when you order the transfer with us and approve the confirmation email. The transfer usually extends the registration by a year, and its price shows at the top of this page.
Sources: IANA .design delegation record · ICANN registry agreement for .design · ICANN RAA: WHOIS Accuracy Program Specification · ICANN Registration Data Policy · Google on new top-level domains
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