D&AD Festival
D&AD Festival is an opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the best advertising and design from across the globe, brought together under one roof for an immersive week of true creative excellence. The festival takes place during three days and one month before the famous D&AD Pencil Awards ceremony, with talks, screenings, workshops and an exhibition of over 24,000 pieces of work.
http://www.dandad.org/en/professional-awards-judging-week/
20–22 April, London, UK
2016 lineup: Ralph Steadman, Annie Atkins, Paul Smith, Ashleigh Axios…
Regular ticket: £185
Beyond Tellerrand
The name ‘beyond tellerrand’ expresses the aim, that everybody involved wants to look a bit further, beyond the edge. The expression is a mix of the English word “beyond” and the German phrase “Über den Tellerrand schauen,” which means “Think outside the box”. The exact translation for the sentence is “Take a look beyond the edge of the plate”. This philosophy is applied through two inspiring days with talks and one day with workshops on design, technology and inspiration.
https://beyondtellerrand.com/
9–11 May, Düsseldorf, Germany
2016 lineup: Tobias Baldauf, Mr Bingo, Val Head, Catt Small, Dominic Wilcox…
Regular ticket: €179
TYPO Berlin
Around the topic “Beyond Design”, this year’s edition of TYPO Berlin aims to avoid talking about graphic design that are readily available on every street corner or visual sensations for itself. The goal of the festival is to discuss about strategy of responsible design and the design of tomorrow.
http://typotalks.com/berlin/
12-14 May, Berlin, Germany
2016 lineup: Jonathan Barnbrook, Brosmind, Tobias Frere-Jones…
Une saison graphique
Every year since 2009, the city of Le Havre in Normandy offers a rich and international selection of talents to discover around contemporary graphic design. Meetings are organized during almost 2 months to allow anyone to understand the artistic productions specifically created for the event by the invited designers.
http://www.unesaisongraphique.fr/
12 May – 2 July, Le Havre, France
2016 activities: 8 exhibitions are organized this year, with openings during the second week of May. On May 21st, don’t miss the full day of guided tours and activities such as a bike graphic parcours or a graphic brunch.
OFFF Barcelona
Among all those amazing events, OFFF was the first created, this year being its 16th edition. As always, OFFF will receive the finest of the creative scene for inspirational talks on two parallel stages, along with workshops, a design market, a food truck, chill out area and more surprises.
http://offf.ws/
26-28 May, Barcelona, Spain
2016 lineup: Paula Scher, Carl Sprague, Hey, Joshua Davis, Digital Kitchen, Signal Noise…
Regular ticket: 163.35€
D’Days
Between the 30th of May and 5th of June, and focus on the subject r/evolution, D’Days will unite this year artisans and designers in innovative formats; motivate you to play sport along the Canal de l’Ourcq; inspire your futuristic souls in the metro; switch on the cold light in the Arts Déco; unveil new talent and make you dance to the sounds of our new daily lives…
http://www.ddays.net/
30 May-5 June, Paris, France
2016 activities: Sound Design Party at the Gaîté Lyrique, Fitness Course by Unqui Designers at Canal de l’Ourcq, Luminor exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Think Life Forum at the Carreau du Temple…
Tickets: Most activities, like the Think Life Forum, are free
What Design Can Do
Some twenty speakers from all over the world and from various creative backgrounds will gather at WDCD to present best practices, broader visions and conceptual approaches in a programme composed around 3 themes: What Africa can do for Europe, What design can do for music and What design can do for refugees.
The What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge called on the global creative community to come up with game-changing ideas for accommodating, connecting, integrating and helping the personal development of refugees. At WDCD Live 2016 the five winners will be announced, who will receive up to 10,000 euros and expert support to develop their ideas into feasible plans, ready for implementation.
http://www.whatdesigncando.com/
30 June-1 July, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2016 lineup: The first names on the line-up include urban expert and journalist Tracy Metz, Nigerian architect Kunlé Adeyemi and Design Indaba founder Ravi Naidoo.
Regular ticket: 250€
Helsinki Design Week
Helsinki Design Week is the largest design festival in the Nordic countries. Held annually in September, the multidisciplinary festival presents design from a number of fields as well as fashion, architecture and urban culture.
Helsinki Design Week annually chooses a theme and as in 2016, the world is full of stuff. designers are faced with a major moral dilemma: what justifies us to design more? Any novelty must be better than what we’ve had before. By this simple logic, the theme for this year is “Better”.
http://www.helsinkidesignweek.com/
1-11 September, Helsinki, Finland
2016 activities: Around 200 events for both professionals and the general public.
Tickets: To be announced, many activities are free
London Design Week
The London Design Festival was conceived by Sir John Sorrell and Ben Evans. Building on London’s existing design activity, their concept was to create an annual event that would promote the city’s creativity, drawing in the country’s greatest thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators to a deliver an unmissable celebration of design.
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/
17-25 September, London
2016 activities: Yet to be announced, the Festival programme is made up of over 400 events and exhibitions.
Tickets: It depends on the activity, however many are free.
The Trojan Horse Was A Unicorn
The Trojan Horse was a Unicorn describes itself as the central organization that psychologically, spiritually, technically, educationally and legally supports the global digital artist and ensures that the world understands and celebrates their artistry and craft. Apparently, many people think so, tickets were sold out in 7 days.
https://trojan-unicorn.com/
19-24 September, Tróia, Portugal.
2016 lineup hasn’t been presented yet
Brief Festival
Brief Festival is a celebration of creativity, an inspiring event that every year brings together some of the best professionals in graphics in Madrid. At Brief Festival you will enjoy workshops, conferences, exhibitions, meetings, projections and much more.
This initiative aims to celebrate all graphic professions and to have them recognized as artistic disciplines that should be shown, taught, promoted and protected. Activities are held over the whole month of October and the conferences take place at the end of October, during three days.
http://brieffestival.com/
27-29 October, Madrid, Spain
2016 lineup: The editors of Art of the Title, French illustrators Violaine et Jérémy, Spanish infography studio relajaelcoco and more conferences to be announced, and also creative tours, exhibitions, party…
Tickets: Most activities are free. The 3 conference days cost 20€
KIKK Festival
The 2015 edition was not a long time ago so nothing is yet announced for 2016 but stay tuned, this is an awesome event worth following.
http://www.kikk.be/
3-5 November, Namur, Belgium
