The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented changes to our lives during 2020 and will continue to do so in the future. Design has a key role to play in not only creating products to ensure safety from the pandemic, but also in the creation of complex systems, new technologies and new physical environments that enable us to carry out our lives and protect populations in the future. Four key phases of the pandemic have been identified that enable us to categorise design contributions in terms of their maturity, to look backwards, reflect upon what we have experienced collectively, but also forwards in terms of where we go from here; Reaction; Adaptation; Recovery; Resilience. Case studies from a range of design disciplines and from differing global perspectives, will illustrate these phases and the role of design in the pandemic.