A first look at BDF2022 speakers

Ahead of our full speaker drop happening on April 21st at our Gather: Off the Page event, it gives us great pleasure to show you some of what’s to come at BDF 2022, as we celebrate ‘Freedom’.

Speakers for the festival are a combination of folks who fit perfectly with our theme and ones we’re just dying to hear from, curated across three days of talks, workshops, and exhibitions.

Due to the scale of BDF, to aid with navigation and facilitate different attendee interests, we separate the programme into core disciplines that we refer to as ‘Design Districts’.

In 2022 these will be Graphic, Digital, Product & Illustration – with each District focussed on its own main ‘Hub’ venue. These hubs will play host to five free talks per day, along with sponsors, pop-up stalls and information points creating a space for festival attendees to engage with each other throughout the programme.

In Graphic you can expect another heady mix of household names and fresh talent, covering everything from experimental typography to eye-popping collage, from world-leading copywriting to boundary-pushing advertising. Editorial legend (partner of new creative agency Food) Richard Turley is flying in from New York to spill the beans on his varied career and unique approach, a rare and not-to-be-missed treat. We have leading contemporary design icons SPIN studio with us, sharing a new talk responding to our theme of Freedom – expect insights, experiments and envy-inducing work. The legendary artist & designer Morag Myerscough will also be joining proceedings, hot off her stint judging the new Skyarts series ‘The Big Design Challenge‘, and last for now, but certainly not least, Newcastle’s finest – the graphic artist & video director Jimmy Turrell.

The Digital hub will play host to talks from UX/UI designers, animators, front-end developers, CGI artists, game designers and many more. Including talks from Founder & Creative Director of Flow Karl Doran, web design & accessibility guru Laura Kalbag, creative developer and animation wizard Cassie Evans and organiser of Triangirls Liz Hamburger – recently promoted Design Partner at RIVAL. We’ll also be welcoming Elliot Jay Stocks, former Creative Director of Adobe Fonts, currently collaborating on the typography education resource Google Fonts Knowledge.

Whilst our Product hub specialise in designing for the built environment, inside and out. Architects, interior designers, product and fashion designers, crafters and grafters and anyone else who makes awesome stuff will come together to share their thoughts on the future of the industry. Whether that’s Arisa Sudangnoi sharing stories about the super fun new gaming console Playdate or Amy Francis-Smith discussing the importance of inclusive design. We’re going to get a preview Trigger‘s incredible new art installation PolliNations from Angie Bual – set to transform Birmingham’s Victoria square as part of the Unboxed festival this September.

Also joining us will be furniture restorer and TV presenter Jay Blades MBE, best known for his role presenting BBC’s Repair Shop, to tell us about Jay & Co – his Shropshire-based restoration initiative.

Finally, for the first time at BDF, the Illustration district will share the work of many wonderful illustrators up and down the country. We’re delighted to welcome the superb talents of Ashwin Chacko and the infamous wit of Mr. Bingo to the BDF stages – with many more to announce soon.

We hope this preview helps set the scene for another memorable year at BDF in 2022. We of course have so much more to announce, including another 50 speakers! We’re really looking forward to welcoming you from Thu 9th–Sat 11th June.

Full line-up announced Thu 21st April, join us for the big reveal at Gather: Off the Page. Tickets for BDF 2022 go on sale in early May.