This years Cheltenham Design Festival is shaping up to be a truly unique event, and totally different to the previous festivals.

This year delegates will get fully immersed in the world of design, so you can be exposed to new areas of thinking, innovation and process with actionable advice and inspiration from the most diverse group of design talent.

You can come along for 1 day or 2 days of talks from world class speakers, who will show you how design affects all aspects of our lives.

You’ll get big design conference impact, but with the great atmosphere of a festival.

The importance of human-centred design is high on the festival agenda this year, and you’ll learn how this type of design approach is being used to improve our everyday lives.

Here are just a handful of the topics that will be covered during the course of the 2 days:

• The clothes we wear – Patrick Grant, BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee
• Government policy making – Camilla Buchanan
• Our comfort and dignity in hospitals – Yoko Sen
• Public spaces and community wellbeing – Catherine Greig
• Designing our Future Economy – Dr Ambreen Shah
• How you can be your best creative self – Gavin Strange

And that’s not even half of them!

What You Will Learn

You will learn what it means to be a designer in today’s world. How the role is evolving and why design and creative thinking is essential to us in our world. Because design is more than just a veneer. Design can be used to solve complex problems and help change the world for the better.

Here are the 2 big subjects we’ll be tackling at this years festival:

What’s the role of a designer now?

Do we just design things, or do we use our design skills to change the way people think, in order to innovate and solve complex problems?

What’s the role of design?

Is design just what we see on the surface, or does it run deeper? Can design change the world, and how?

How do people, organisations and countries change their thinking on what ‘design’ is so we can address the needs of people and solve real problems.

When & Where

The festival will be returning to the beautiful Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham, with 2 full days of talks on Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd November.

The Sunday Sessions

On Sunday 3rd November you have the chance to get hands on and take part in practical workshops with leading creatives.

From understanding open source software to learning how to create beautiful paper sculptures, there are fun activities for everyone happening across several locations in Cheltenham.

There will also be a free student event happening at Parabola Arts Centre with 2 hours of unmissable talks and insights into a creative career from practicing designers, lecturers and careers advisors.⠀

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They will share they career journeys, experiences and advice with budding young designers and answer any questions they might have about starting a creative course or finding a job in the creative industry.⠀
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This will be a perfect opportunity to learn more about becoming a designer for students from secondary school to university.⠀

Did you know we’re a charity organisation?

The Cheltenham Design Festival is brought to you by the Cheltenham Design Foundation; a charity committed to promoting the benefits of design and creativity to people from all backgrounds, from design professionals to the general public and the designers of the future.

When you buy a ticket to the Cheltenham Design Festival you’re supporting the Cheltenham Design Academy, our free, 17-week Saturday design school, where we introduce 13-16 year old students to the process and practice of design disciplines.

Each week students are led by practicing design professionals and work individually or in teams on projects exploring disciplines from graphics to landscape design.

Offering inspiration and opportunities to young people through design and showing them how creativity can improve our lives.

By coming to the festival you are helping the next generation on their pursuit of a creative career.

Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

On behalf of everyone at Cheltenham Design Foundation, we would like to thank all of our sponsors for their kind generosity and for supporting the up coming festival and this years Design Academy.

We are so grateful for the on going support of our wider community, for sharing our passion for design and for enabling us to continue to promote the benefits of design and creativity.

We would like to thank the following sponsors for their kind support:

• University of Gloucestershire
• SLG Brands
• Monotype
• Cheltenham Borough Council
• Roberts Limbrick Architects
• Renishaw
• AGD Systems
• Factory Pattern
• L’una Design

You can book your tickets to this years Cheltenham Design Festival here.