diff --git a/vendor/plugins/design/README b/vendor/plugins/design/README
index 9ab9198..d46e102 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/design/README
+++ b/vendor/plugins/design/README
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ The argument do +design_display_boxes()+ is the content you want to be the main
 content. Almost always you'll want to pass +yield+ (the resulting content for
 the current action) there, but you can pass anything you want.
 
+== Controller subclassing and design
+
+Designs are inherited through the inheritance tree. This way you can for
+example declare the use of a design in ApplicationController and let the other
+controllers abstract that fact that they are using design.
+
 == Storing design information in ActiveRecord models: +acts_as_design+
 
 You can also use ActiveRecord objects 
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/design/init.rb b/vendor/plugins/design/init.rb
index aba8d30..b54b9a4 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/design/init.rb
+++ b/vendor/plugins/design/init.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class ActionController::Base
     @design_plugin_config = config
 
     def self.design_plugin_config
-      @design_plugin_config
+      @design_plugin_config || self.superclass.design_plugin_config
     end
 
     include Design
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/design/test/design_test.rb b/vendor/plugins/design/test/design_test.rb
index af50dfb..035c01e 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/design/test/design_test.rb
+++ b/vendor/plugins/design/test/design_test.rb
@@ -52,8 +52,11 @@ class DesignTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def test_subclass_controller_can_override_superclass_design_holder
     assert_equal 'sample_object', ProxyDesignHolderTestController.send(:design_plugin_config)[:holder]
-    assert_equal 'another_object', InheritanceDesignTestController.send(:design_plugin_config)[:holder]
+    assert_equal 'another_object', InheritanceWithOverrideDesignTestController.send(:design_plugin_config)[:holder]
+  end
 
+  def test_subclass_should_inherit_supeclass_design
+    assert_equal 'sample_object', InheritanceDesignTestController.send(:design_plugin_config)[:holder]
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/vendor/plugins/design/test/test_helper.rb b/vendor/plugins/design/test/test_helper.rb
index ea44229..df069c3 100644
--- a/vendor/plugins/design/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/vendor/plugins/design/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -60,10 +60,14 @@ class AnotherTestDesignHolder
   attr_accessor :template, :theme, :icon_theme, :boxes
 end
 
-class InheritanceDesignTestController < ProxyDesignHolderTestController
+class InheritanceWithOverrideDesignTestController < ProxyDesignHolderTestController
   design :holder => 'another_object'
 end
 
+class InheritanceDesignTestController < ProxyDesignHolderTestController
+  # nothing
+end
+
 class DesignEditorTestController < ActionController::Base
   design_editor :holder => 'sample_object'
   def initialize
--
libgit2 0.21.2