As it is currently configured the Design Museum concentrates on temporary exhibitions that cover the range of its interests, from graphic design and furniture to fashion, industrial design and architecture. Its permanent collection is based in the museum's store, and includes over 1000 pieces of contemporary and 20th century design, as well as a handling collection and a number of archives. The collection include selections of domestic artifacts such as radios, computers, typewriters and, chairs. In addition the museum is taking on the Conran Foundation's collection, and is archiving work commissioned as part of its Designers in Residence programme.

The collection is a key part of the museum's future plans for growth and development, and is currently undergoing a comprehensive restructuring, that includes improvements in cataloguing, a new database and new storage facilities. In the meantime, twenty highlights from the collection will be featured in an innovative interactive wall in the Design Museum's ground floor café. These will include Clive Sinclair's ill fated electric vehicle, the C5, the flawed Hot Berta Kettle designed by Philipe Starck, the recently acquired ambitious One Laptop Per Child by Yves Behar and the omnipresent motorway sign designs by Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert.