In recent years, design approaches to policymaking have gained popularity among policymakers.  However, a critical reflection on their added value and on how contemporary ‘design-thinking’  approaches relates to the classical idea of public administration as a design science, is still lacking.  This introductory paper reflects upon the use of design approaches in public administration. We  delve into the more traditional ideas of design as launched by Simon and policy design, but also  into the present-day design wave, stemming from traditional design sciences. Based upon this we  distinguish between three ideal-type approaches of design currently characterising the discipline:  design as optimisation, design as exploration and design as co-creation. More rigorous empirical  analyses of applications of these approaches is necessary to further develop public administration  as a design science. We reflect upon the question of how a more designerly way of thinking can  help to improve public administration and public policy.