Previous speakers

Located in the mighty Pacific Northwest, the Draplin Design Co. proudly rolls up its sleeves on a number of projects related to the Print, Identity and Illustration categories. They make stuff for Coal Headwear, Union Binding Co., Richmond Fontaine, Esquire, Nike, Wired, Dinosaur Jr, Timberline, John Hodgman, Eaux Claires Music Festival, Poler, Incase, Sub Pop, Cobra Dogs, Jill Soloway, Ernie Ball, Sasquatch Music Festival, Chris Stapleton, Old 97s, Nixon Watches, Patagonia, Target, Megafaun, Ford Motor Company and even the Obama Administration, if you can believe that.

They’ve traveled the world telling their story, with over 350 speaking fiascos under their belt and counting! They co-created Field Notes with their older brother Jim Coudal, and those memo books are sold in over 2,000 stores worldwide, with limited-edition special editions shipped quarterly to a booming subscriber list. Their first book titled Pretty Much Everything came out on May 17, 2016 on Abrams Books, which incredibly, is in its seventh printing. They pride themselves on a high level of craftsmanship and quality that keeps them up late into the wet Portland night.

Pentagram partner Marina Willer is a graphic designer and film-maker who has led the design of iconic brand identities, including the Tate, Serpentine, Southbank Centre, Amnesty, Oxfam and Macmillan, among many others.

Marina studied Graphic Design at the Royal College of Art, where she has subsequently served as an examiner. Prior to joining Pentagram, Marina was head creative director for Wolff Olins.

Her award-winning films have been shown at the Foundation Cartier, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Royal Academy and prestigious film festivals, including Clermont Ferrand and Rotterdam Film Festival. Her critically acclaimed film ‘Red Trees’ explores today’s refugee crisis through the lens of her own family’s story.

Marina is a member of AGI and has been foreman judge at D&AD on several occasions. She was recently named one of Design Week’s 10 people who made an impact on design in 2017.

Graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill is known for his persuasive, up-beat style of communication. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York and has been exhibited in galleries around the world including the Barbican Art Gallery, the Walker Art Center and the Design Museum, London.

Astrid Stavro studied graphic design at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (BA Hons, First Class) and The Royal College of Art (MA) in London, graduating with Distinction.

After running her own studio in Barcelona for ten years, she co-founded the design studio Atlas alongside Pablo Martín, an independent brand and design consultancy working from offices in London and Mallorca. Stavro has an international reputation for idea-based design, applied with exquisite typographic sensibility and attention to craft. Her wide-ranging expertise encompasses the design of brand identities, signage and way finding systems, editorial design, posters, exhibitions and packaging.

She lectures extensively on design related subjects across the globe and has chaired and judged numerous high-profile international design competitions. Stavro’s work has been repeatedly featured and profiled in publications including Eye magazine, Wallpaper*, Creative Review, Print, I.D., Domus, El País and Grafik as well as books by Phaidon, Rizzoli, Laurence King and Thames & Hudson amongst many others. Her work has been recognized with more than 200 international awards.

Stavro has written for some of the top international design Journals and was the Design Director and Editor at large of the British art culture magazine Elephant from 2014–2017, where she continues to be Editor at large. She is currently a Visiting Lecturer at The Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design.

Stavro is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

Trevor Beattie is a British advertising executive. He is a founding partner, chairman and creative director of Beattie McGuinness Bungay (BMB), and was formerly the chairman and creative director of TBWA London.

Considered one of the leading figures in advertising in Britain, he has been responsible for a number of high-profile and sometimes controversial advertising campaigns, most notably the “fcuk” campaign for French Connection and the 1994 Wonderbra.

In November 2011, Trevor launched The Jack and Ada Beattie Foundation in honour of his parents. It supports victims of social injustice by providing grants to both organisations and individuals under the themes of ‘Dignity’, ‘Freedom’ and ‘Sanctuary’.

Trevor has recently moved in to film production alongside his work in advertising, producing the Bafta winning movie Moon, directed by Duncan Jones in 2008. He is also devising the marketing campaign for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Space Tourism Programme.

He has also been involved in the making of Mr Right, Attacking the Devil, Dating Eliza, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and is about to launch Nureyev – an orgy of one, a documentary about the legendary dancer.

Jack Renwick is a multi-award winning designer with a strong passion for ideas. She works closely with clients, getting to the heart of their problem and showing how creative thinking can be the way forward.

Jack runs a creative branding agency, wittily titled Jack Renwick Studio, based in Whitechapel, London with 9 designers who are more talented than her. She has worked on a huge variety of projects over the past 19 years for clients including Amnesty International, British Heart Foundation, eBay, BBC, Nokia, Royal Mail and Stella McCartney and received recognition from most of the world’s most prestigious awards.

Jack originates from Glasgow and is frequently sought out as an awards jury member for her ‘refreshingly frank’ views. She is a Fellow, a board member, an examiner, an advisor, a judge, a writer and a speaker. Jack has earned the title after her name of FISTD but she choses not to use it.

In 2001 Jim co-founded Hat-trick Design, consistently one of the top three most awarded design agencies in the UK (and number one in 2011). He left in 2014 to set up Studio Sutherl&. He has rebranded the Natural History Museum, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis, The Arts Society, Williams F1, Prostate Cancer UK, National Museums Scotland, Welsh National Opera, and Start-Rite shoes. He has designed over 50 stamps to date for Royal Mail including the Agatha Christie set in 2016. Awards include 82 projects in D&AD (the foremost design and advertising competition in the world), with eight nominations and four yellow pencils: and 37 nominations in the Design Week Awards – twice Best in Show. He has judged D&AD eight times (as Foreman of the Branding Jury in 2016), as well as the Design Week, Loeries (SA), Kinsale, Roses, ADNC and Fresh Award schemes.

He is a visiting Professor in Design at Norwich University of the Arts, and has given lectures at many UK universities. He was on the D&AD Executive board from 2009 to 2012 and a governor at Norwich School of Art between 2010 and 2014. He is on the board of The Typographic Circle.

He has published several books, including a children’s book Hide&Eek!, which won a yellow pencil at D&AD in 2014 and Eeormoo? published this year. Studio Sutherl& was the most awarded design studio at D&AD in 2017, and recently came number one in the Computer Arts UK studio rankings.

A graduate from the London College of Printing, Kuchar is an award-winning creative director.

He is the co-founder, co-publisher and creative director of men’s magazine Port. Founder of watch brand Sekford and currently serves as design director of magazines and lifestyle at the Telegraph in London.

Kuchar is recognised by D&AD, Society of Publication Design (USA) and Society of News Design (South America). He has also been a guest lecturer at various institutions and judged on international design panels.

Devita Davison is the Executive Director of FoodLab Detroit, a membership – based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing food entrepreneurs with hands-on business education, a supportive community of like-minded food entrepreneurs and access to the capital they need to grow in order to make good healthy food a sustainable reality for all Detroiters.

FoodLab Detroit has successfully worked to strengthen Detroit’s regional food system by creating a new food economy that acknowledges the importance of justice, community representation, and sustainability. The organization is an example of the success which comes from applying a community-based approach to issues of food injustice.

Eva and Marta Yarza are Spanish graphic designers based in London and founders of the design studio Yarza Twins.

Born in Vigo, they both started collaborating on projects since a very early age. They left their hometown at 18 to study in Madrid, Eva studied BA Fine Arts and Marta studied BA Construction Engineering, then they left to London to complete their MA Communication Design studies at Central Saint Martins.

Eva worked in a couple of studios in London before heading to New York to work at Sagmeister & Walsh, when she came back to the city, she worked for a couple of other studios, Marta was meanwhile working in the city as an Art Director and they decided to join forces and retake their twins energy to create new and exciting projects.

They opened their studio a year ago, and so far they have had the pleasure of working with brands like HP, Smirnoff, FIA Formula E, Universal Music, Viceland and Adobe.

Their work focuses on concept and execution, they use their background in arts and architecture to craft each of their clients’ needs into something relevant, exciting and tangible.

Basak Haznedaroglu is a Director of Design at InVision, the Digital Product Design platform powering the world’s best user experiences. InVision is the cornerstone of the product design process for more than 3.5 million people at tens of thousands of companies, including eighty percent of the Fortune 100 and brands like Airbnb, Amazon, HBO, Netflix, Slack, Starbucks and Uber.

Basak is a multi-disciplinary thinker, educator, designer and mentor for several start-ups across the globe. In her role at InVision, she helps shape the direction of the company’s game-changing tools for product designers. Prior to that, she held roles at Microsoft and Foursquare, where she explored the relationship between media, technology and the human element. She is a huge believer in how design, code and storytelling can synthesise into meaningful and intuitive products and services.

Basak has crafted digital experiences for global brands, organisations, and tech companies such as Puma, Red Cross and LG electronics.

Pablo is the lead designer on Studio and also co-founder of Carbon Health. He gives design workshops and share design tutorials on YouTube. I have a design podcast in Spanish. And he writes silly comics.

Framestore Chief Creative Officer and Co-founder Mike McGee has been in the VFX industry for over 25 years, working across TV on BBC’s Walking with Dinosaurs and Universal’s Feature Film Nanny McPhee, to directing TV campaigns for brands such as O2, ,BBC, Robinsons, Speedo, Next and Andrex.

Framestore is an Oscar-winning creative studio, dedicated to creating extraordinary experiences and combining world-leading craft and relentless creativity with tomorrow’s technology. A global leader in innovation across the digital sphere, Framestore continues to push the boundaries of what is possible within Film, advertising, experiential and Virtual Reality technologies.

Since establishing Glenn Howells Architects 26 years ago, Glenn has built a strong reputation for designing innovative buildings and shaping areas of cities.

He has led the Practice, with studios in both Birmingham and London, to win numerous major design competitions, over 120 awards from industry organisations and built a portfolio of completed projects across a diverse range of building types. He has an overview of all aspects of the practice and regularly reviews all projects during design development and construction stages.

Glenn has been closely involved with shaping the future of some of Britain’s most complex and ambitious regeneration projects. The practice has provided masterplans that have prepared the way for billions of pounds worth of investment such as Paradise in the civic heart of Birmingham, the historic Chapel Street area of Salford and the Royal Wharf project in London Docklands. The Practice has recently worked on a vision for the entire Eastside of Birmingham, an area that’s set to be transformed by the arrival of the High Speed 2 rail link.

Outside of the practice, Glenn chairs the board of the Ikon Gallery and Warwick University’s Building Committee and sits on the advisory board of Birmingham Hippodrome and the West Midland’s regional architecture centre, MADE. Glenn continues to work closely with the RIBA and CABE where he was a member of the 2012 Olympic design review committee. In the academic field Glenn is an external examiner at Sheffield Hallam University and a lecturer at the Centre of Alternative Technology in Wales.

Johanna is a thoughtful and inquisitive Associate Creative Director, who has spent 16 years in the industry, exploring the area where brands and digital experiences meet. Joining Studio Output in 2012 she led the team that reinvented J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore from top to bottom, developing a completely new look & feel for the digital product. She made the BBC Three brand fit for the digital and social channels it inhabits, helped the internal design and UX teams at Auto Trader to shift perception of their brand and recently refreshed The Dungeons brand – the original immersive attraction for unshockable teens.

Immy is a co-founder of Impact Hub Birmingham, a network of citizens, makers, doers, entrepreneurs, activists and dreamers committed to building a better Birmingham and better world. Powered by a 6,000 sq. ft. collaborative workshop in the heart of Birmingham, the Impact Hub is an engine for passion, learning and outcomes where together, the community work to build a better, more fair city. Impact Hub Birmingham launched and successfully crowdfunded over £65,000 on Kickstarter, with more than 650 people backing the #EpicBrum campaign. Impact Hub Birmingham is part of a global association of more than 80 communities around the world in over 70 cities, with over 12,000 members all with a shared focus on creating positive impact.

Immy is a member of Project 00, [zero zero] is a collaborative studio of architects, strategic designers, programmers, social scientists, economists and urban designers practicing design beyond its traditional borders, ventures include WikiHouse, Open Desk, Civic Systems Lab and more.

Immy was one of the original founding team members that produced Birmingham’s first ever TEDx. Over the last 6 years Immy has curated and produced TEDxBrumas licensee including:

• 2012 The Next Revolution at mac, Birmingham (100 attendees)
• 2013 Marking the Map at Millennium Point (350 attendees)
• 2014 DIY at the Library of Birmingham (400 attendees)
• 2016 Power of Us at the Town Hall (750 attendees)
• 2017 Perspectives at Birmingham Hippodrome (1500 attendees)

Immy is also the producer of CityCamp an annual festival to explore together how an ideas community can continue to build and make a more democratic and fair city together.

Previously Immy worked as part of Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

On behalf of 00, Immy is co founding Dark Matter Laboratories alongside Indy Johar and team.

As Design Director at R/GA London, Cris is a key part of the Brand Development team. She uses her creativity and design skills to create brands and brand experiences that foster new relationships with customers. Cris leads design teams that create new brand languages across disciplines from branding, interfaces, interactive and digital platforms, advertising, retail, and packaging. All of them unified by a single strategy and concept.

Cris joined the London office in March 2013 working for a range of clients that include Beats by Dre, Nike, O2, Google, Turkcell, Dyson, Givenchy, as well as new business in both London and Los Angeles office. Prior to working in London she worked in Spain as an Art Director at DDB, Atletico International, Shackleton and BBDO. Her clients included Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT, La Caixa, Gas Natural, L’Illa Diagonal, and Banc Sabadell among others. She is currently leading creative and design for the Ventures Studio in the London Office.

Cris has been involved in projects that have won awards at festivals such as Clio, One Show, El Sol, LAUS, FIAP and Iman.

Originally from Barcelona, she did an Advertising Degree and a post graduate course at the design school Eina. In her spare time, she spends few hours on a ceramic studio in East London making mugs, plates as far away from screens as possible. 

Zoha Zoya is an Experience Designer Director at R/GA, providing design & creative leadership across platforms for global brands, including Samsung, Turkcell, and Heineken.  Zoha’s work at R/GA is at the forefront of interaction design for the age of messaging, machine learning, and the internet of things.

Previous to R/GA, Zoha has refined her experience design capabilities, developing innovative brand and Ecommerce user experiences for a variety of clients and sectors including; Lloyds Banking, Marks & Spencer Global, Heineken International, and GHD Ecommerce Platform. She is currently leading creative and experience design for the Ventures Studio in the London Office.

Zoha is Lebanese by heritage, and moved to London in 2006, accepting the opportunity to complete a Masters Degree in Interactive Multimedia from London College of Communication. Zoha now calls London home, but her international roots have left deposited a world mindset, gifting her a natural ability in embracing and attracting diversity of culture and ideas within the teams she has worked in.

In her spare time, she enjoys Tennis, time with friends and family, and long Sunday lunches, preferably with a glass of wine.

Tom Muller is a Belgian Eisner and Harvey-nominated graphic designer and creative director who works with technology startups, movie studios, publishers, media producers, advertising agencies, and film makers.

During the last 20 years he’s worked across multiple creative discliplines for clients and brands that include DC Entertainment, WIRED, Google, Image Comics, Samsung, Paramount Pictures, Damien Hirst, Universal Studios, Ninja Tune, Sony PlayStation, and MTV.

In addition, he is primarily known for his prolific design work in comics, including numerous projects at Image Comics including Tori Amos’ Comic Book Tattoo, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, VS, Motor Crush, Drifter, and ZERO, his critially acclaimed covers for Valiant Comics’ Divitinity trilogy; and his logo designs for DC and Vertigo Comics.

Named as one of the top 100 designers working in the UK today by The Drum; Tom has spoken at design events worldwide, while his work is regulary featured and included in industry press and publications.

He lives and works in London/UK.

Cheryl Jones is Director and one of the founding members of Grand Union, a gallery and artist studios complex in Digbeth.

Grand Union aims to create opportunities for people to access important and innovative artwork that encourages and enables professional development, and collaborative thinking and learning. It currently houses workspace for 22 artists and presents a lively programme of contemporary exhibitions and events.

Since 2009 Cheryl has successfully developed Grand Union from being run voluntarily by a collective of artists and curators, to an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

Grand Union is now embarking on a capital project that will transform Junction Works, a beautiful mid-nineteenth century, Grade II listed canal building in Digbeth, into a vibrant centre for the presentation and production of contemporary art.

Alongside Grand Union, Cheryl runs Birmingham Art Map with Ruth Claxton as Self Service and has played a key part in developing Digbeth First Fridays.

Indy Johar is an architect, co-founder of 00 (project00.cc) and a Senior Innovation Associate with the Young Foundation and Visiting Professor at the University of Sheffield.

Indy, on behalf of 00, has co-founded multiple social ventures from Impact Hub Westminster to Impact Hub Birmingham and the HubLaunchpad Accelerator, along with working with large global multinationals & institutions to support their transition to a positive Systems Economy. He has also co-led research projects such as The Compendium for the Civic Economy, whilst supporting several 00 explorations/experiments including the wikihouse.cc, opendesk.cc. Indy is an Advisor to the Earth Security Initiative and a director of WikiHouse Foundation.

Indy Johar is a co-founder of the Project00.cc Research Laboratory & Skunk Works.

Dark Matter labs aims to apply complex systems science to Urban & Regional Renewal; turning what is generally perceived as a threat of our time – spill-over effects across borders, boundaries and silos – into a resource to solve the wicked challenges society faces in the 21st century.

Dark Matter Laboratories utilises an experimentation method typical of a fieldwork scientific laboratory, we undertake real-world research and prototyping inorder to seed the next generation of 21st Century institutional infrastructure. We are currently working on a range of initiatives from developing a new class of System Change – Impact funds, to @Town_halls for Social Innovation, to the development of a new generation of Polytechnics, and the transformation of numerous existing institutions.

Indy is a Fellow of the RSA, Respublica Fellow, JRF Anti-Poverty Strategy Programme Advisory Group member and a member of the Mayor of London’s SME Working Group and most recently a member of the RSA Inclusive Growth Commission.

Indy was Director of the Global Impact Hub Association and Impact Hub Islington [the original Impact Hub in the Hub Network] and worked with Jonathan Robinson to design the protocols and modes of the network scaling.

Indy has taught & lectured at various institutions from the University of Bath, TU-Berlin; Architectural Association, University College London, Princeton.
Indy has written for many national and international publications on the future of design, systems change and social investment.

Mark Shayler changes the way businesses think and work. He’s been working on sustainability, innovation, packaging, developing better products, and improving business for over 25 years.

In this time he has worked with Nike, Coca Cola, Unilever, Samsung, Amazon, Mars, P&G, Dorset Cereals, and hundreds of little companies who are proving disruptive (including Ugly Drinks, Hiut Denim, Propercorn, and nomnom).

Mark is a Founding Partner of the Do Lectures and Greenlabs. He firmly believes in enterprise as a way of solving problems of equality, sustainability, and poverty. He is a STEM Ambassador, a Design Council Design Associate and a Virgo. He keeps ducks, chickens and children (but not against their will).

Stuart Holt is the Founding Director of Javelin Block, a design and build company that has been based in Birmingham and New York for the last ten years.

Javelin Block re-animates and restores industrial, historic and listed buildings with sensitivity, preserving the unique identity, heritage and integrity of each site.

Stuart is thought of as one of the leading lights in the regeneration of Birmingham and has spoken at influencer talks worldwide.

The Javelin Block headquarters are situated in the Jewellery Quarter at the Compound, a multi-RIBA award winning and Sterling Prize nominated industrial warehouse conversion that often plays host to the world’s leading creative organisations and individuals. Most recently it has welcomed Steven Spielberg and Warner Brothers, Facebook, Microsoft and Barclaycard.

Karun has established himself as a key member of the DixonBaxi design team since joining as an intern in 2017. With a passion for typography and bold graphic systems he’s been instrumental in developing innovative brands for a diverse range of clients. 

As a local lad, Karun is looking forward to sharing his experience as developing from a intern to a fully fledged designer.

Kim has significant experience in brief development, client and stakeholder engagement and technical delivery; he has a particular interest in the design of education, transport buildings and urban realm infrastructure.

In the transport sector he led the design development team for Kings Cross Station Western Concourse Mezzanine Building sitting under new curved roof to the west of the existing main train sheds. The complex gerometrail form of the mezzanine has bold tiled facade.The project is currently on site and due for completion in early 2012.

He has recently completed a study for HS2 demonstrating that a large scale High Speed Rail station can be successfully integrated into the Leeds cityscape.

Kim studied at the University of Edinburgh and joined Richard Rogers Partnership in 1992. He worked on a wide variety of projects including the Channel 4 Headquarters, extensions to Marseille Airport, Heathrow Terminal 1 and a large residential scheme in Berlin for Daimler Benz.

Ross is the designer and inventor of Asap electric water crafts – electric powered water craft for rescue and play. Our Rescue water crafts are engineered to power through surf, across lakes and rivers for rescuers to reach people in trouble faster.

Wave jam is our water craft designed for pure fun and adventure, with an awesome blend of speed and torque it’s brilliant at towing friends – so you catch every wave! Ross has come a long way since making the first prototype in a tent in his garden, to the annoyance of neighbour Margaret. Now at production level, development of the Asap Rescue has taken Ross on adventures around the world.

From testing with the Bondi Rescue Lifeguards in Australia with Richard Branson’s help, to interviews with the BBC and CNN, whilst treading water in a cold lake. Ross and the product have made national and international news, on his journey to bringing the product into production.

Ross has tested prototypes with over a hundred lifeguards and lifesavers along the East Coast of Australia with Virgin’s sponsorship, all incredible experiences, which formed the production products today. After six figure angel investment Ross is now starting UK production, in Weston Super Mare!

Paula Benson is Co-Founder of London-based design and branding studio Form (work includes the rebrand of Abbey Road Studios and Virgin V Festival) and Founder/Editor of Film and Furniture – the lovingly curated online resource which identifies and furnishes you with fascinating facts about the furniture and décor you spot in your favourite films – with details on exactly where to buy these pieces for your own home.

What started as an elaborate blog has now grown to attract an engaged fan base from around the world, as well as respect and contributions from the film industry’s finest production designers and set decorators.

Born in London but I have lived in Birmingham for many years. I originally trained as a potter and taught pottery for some years before becoming a teacher in charge of a unit for autistic children.

During a break bringing up my children I began to attend an evening class making Jewellery and later became a Fellow of the Gemmological Association and also a Diamond Member.

I set up my own business in the Jewellery Quarter over 30 ago years and opened my own Gallery, Artisan Alchemy, in 2016.

My overriding philosophy is that the jewellery I create is both art and craft. I use unusual gemstones and work in both silver and gold.

I always know when I have found a really good gemstone because my mouth begins to water, just like a child looking into the window of a sweetshop, and this is where the design for a new piece of jewellery starts to develop. Each piece is built around its own gem or mineral, which is why each design is so different from the next. And although the styles may look different there are many similarities. Most pieces have layers which are riveted together. Silver pieces have highlights of gold which may be matt or highly polished, or diamonds may sparkle out to mimic the sparkle of the gemstone.

Sweta is a Creative Director (Art) with more than twenty years experience in the advertising & marketing comms industry. She has worked in London, the regions and Internationally for agencies big and small, producing award-winning work across all disciplines.

Her work has been recognized by: Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Campaign Press & Poster and the Outdoor Hall Of Fame. Conceptual thinking, an eye for detail and a fresh approach to creative ideas and craft are Sweta’s strong points.

Being one of the very few senior female advertising creatives in the Midlands, Sweta is keen to share her learnings and experience with women aspiring to find their place in the industry. Which is why she co-founded “Women Unltd” in March 2018, the first and only networking platform for women in the creative and marketing industries in Birmingham.

Sweta has also been a guest lecturer and a mentor for visual communication students at the Birmingham City University since 2009.

More recently, she was awarded a Google scholarship to attend the D&AD Festival in London including their RARE workshop – a 2-day masterclass for 50 unusual creative minds from all over the world with a shared purpose of promoting diversity in the creative industries.

I’m a Creative Director with twelve years experience building brands, digital platforms, products and services. I draw, design, run workshops, write code, illustrate, prototype, test, learn and sometimes even paint. What gets me going is using design to solve problems and create better experiences. I’m currently Creative Director at an Agile web agency called Yoomee. I’m also available for freelance projects.

Joost Beunderman is a Director of the London-based design and strategy practice 00, where he joined in late 2008 to lead on a wide range of research and strategy projects. His focus has been on civic entrepreneurship, social investment and systems change within the city



Joost was the main author of the ‘Compendium for the Civic Economy’, an overview of local innovations in economic regeneration, published with Nesta and Design Council Cabe in 2011 [re-published in 2012 with Trancity*Valiz (NL)]. He has also led a wide range of collaborative urban regeneration strategy projects in the UK and the Netherlands, focusing in particular on integrating high-quality & affordable workspace in a high-density, context. On behalf of 00 Joost is also Director of Impact Hub Islington and Impact Hub Brixton, two workspaces for start-up businesses. Amongst other things is currently working on a systems-change accelerator & investment programme focused on childcare



Prior to joining 00, Joost was a Researcher at the independent think tank Demos from 2005 to 2008, where he co-authored a wide range of publications on urban governance and the public realm (e.g. on children and play in public space). From 2004 to 2012 he also collaborated on a wide range of urban regeneration projects with the Amsterdam-based practice Urhahn Urban Design. Joost was trained as an urban geographer at Utrecht University, The Netherlands and the University of California, Berkeley, and the London School of Economics.

Kevin Thomas is a photographer based in Kings Heath, Birmingham. His work has been published in The Independent on Sunday magazine and he has exhibited at both the Avoncroft museum and the Midland Arts Centre.​

The Letterboxes of the Jewellery Quarter exhibition was held at 1000 Trades as part of Birmingham Heritage week. The History from the 50 Exhibition was held at the Kitchen Garden Cafe in 2017 and will be shown at the Gunmakers Arms 2018

Andrew Booth is a creative director known for his work in the film industry. Booth’s agency, BLIND LTD, has overseen the design and animation of on-screen technology for some of the industry’s most successful films, including The Dark Knight, Skyfall, The Force Awakens, and more recently, Solo: A Star Wars Story.

BLIND’s work is at the intersection of art and technology. Andrew and his team design the increasingly prevalent user interfaces, holograms and tactical displays in feature films reflecting the expanding human-computer interaction in our everyday lives.

Prior to forming BLIND Andrew studied 3D design at Loughborough College of Art and Design. He is married to textile designer Isabel Dodd and they have six children.

Gemma Germains is Senior Content Strategist at Dare, probably the nicest digital agency she’s ever worked for.

With almost 15 years experience, Gemma can confidently call herself a creative industry veteran, with the battle scars to prove it.

Once, she cut a house in half for the Arctic Monkeys. Another time, she overspent a theatre’s marketing budget budget by £10k in a single season.

Gemma was co-founder of Well Made Studio and spent 6 years fighting to highlight the stupidity of unpaid internships, free pitches and the scarcity of female leaders.

For the past few years, she’s found her groove in content strategy and her home at Dare.

She’s still pretty vocal about the important issues, but still finds time to work at the bleeding edge of UX and usable content.

Michael Price is a talented model maker, sculptor, illustrator and mobile games developer with the ability to adapt his style to achieve the highest results, perfect for the fast-paced animated commercials industry he has been accustomed to as of recent years.

Michael’s industry experience includes working at multiple acclaimed studios such as Aardman Animations, Mackinnon & Saunders, Factory and Yamination Studios, for a range of notable clients including Disney, Roald Dahl, the BBC and ITV – from children’s TV series to commercials and specials.

In addition to being Lead Model Maker at Yamination Studios, Michael frequently visits universities, drawing from his experience to communicate the ins-and-outs of industry techniques and methods to the next generation of animation professionals.

In his spare time, Michael enjoys writing and developing his own ideas and concepts, including a pitch for an ongoing animated series, and several app games – the first of which, Trawler Trouble, released on multiple platforms in March 2017 to thousands of downloads and a 4.7 star rating on Google Play.

North are an independent, London-based design office founded in 1995.
They partner with national and international organisations to build inspirational identities and brands that achieve business success and have transformational effects on organisations.

Lou Hisbergue is a French graphic designer based in London. She graduated from ESAG Penninghen in Paris.
After freelancing for studios and clients in France and Denmark, Lou joined North in 2016.

Recent clients include Tate, Southbank Centre, Co-op and the Science Museum Group.

Sarah Drummond is a designer, CEO and serial idea generator.  She co-founded Snook, MyPolice, CycleHack, Dearest Scotland, Alloa Pride and The Matter. For this work she was awarded a Google Fellowship for her work in technology and democratic innovation and named as Good magazine’s 100 extraordinary individuals tackling global issues in creative ways.

Daily, Sarah is the CEO of Snook, an award winning global design consultancy based in London and Glasgow. Snook are on a mission to design a new public realm that works better for people.

In her time as CEO, Sarah has built an impressive client roster who have worked with her to redesign and innovate their services. Snook hold global firms like Tesco and Sodexo on their books to public sector organisations like the Scottish Government, the Cabinet Office and Government Digital Service.

Sarah has helped organisations redesign a wide array of user experiences. From health services to educational programmes, retail experiences to constitutional and democratic processes, Sarah has pitched and provided creative direction across all of Snooks 300+ project portfolio.

She speaks on global stages around the world from Japan to Oman, and America to Australia. She has taught at leading educational institutions from RMIT to the Glasgow School of art, coaching the next generation of designers and makers. She writes about design, technology and services and her work has been featured in global media outlets and books in the design industry.

Sarah is a fellow of the RSA and board member of Settle, a charity dedicated to tackling the causes of youth homelessness and Edinburgh University centre for Service Excellence.

Mark Jessett is an abstract artist based in Devon, whose work encompasses drawing, painting and collage. Lately, he has been making works on paper. Mark studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths’ College and is co-founder of N|E|W Art in Ashburton. He also works as a Paper Consultant with G . F Smith.

Exploring relationships between colour, surface texture, translucency and opacity, Mark’s work is made of simple shapes, underpinned by intricate detail and a distinctive palette. Evocative forms provide the basis for the works, including flag-like shapes and fantasy minerals. The realm of artifice and escape is celebrated in Mark’s vibrant and optimistic paintings, drawing inspiration from folkloric and educational imagery.

Laura studied at Middlesex & Exeter Universities and entered the film industry in 1996, first working at The Printed Word prop house and was then taken on as an art dept runner on Sliding Doors.

She used her specialisation in computer imagery, which was at that time in its infancy, to forge a career as a graphics designer within the art dept.

Over the years, Laura has been fortunate enough to work on some great movies such as Munich, Hugo, Star Wars and Blade Runner 2049.

One of the company’s longest-serving members, Thomas has over 14 year’s experience as a digital product designer helping organisations research, conceive, design and launch products. He has worked with start-ups, corporations and not-for-profits in education, news, music, politics, government, finance, transportation, sports, retail, entertainment and healthcare.

At Made by Many his client work includes projects for Nike, Colgate, OXO and ITV News in addition to leading on the School in the Cloud project for TED/Microsoft/Newcastle University.

Thomas holds as First Class Honours Degree in Design for Interactive Media with Digital Arts from the University of West London.

Marksteen has gained an international reputation for being an inspiring creative strategist and problem solver, advising global companies, governments, countries and charities on brand strategy and brand behaviour. Marksteen was Global Creative Director of Interbrand and joint Director of its worldwide steering committee, building and overseeing the creative teams in London, Amsterdam and New York before making the move to set up ASHA in 2002.

He is a visiting D&AD college lecturer and conference speaker, writes articles, and is frequently on television and radio.

Marksteen’s award-winning work as Global Creative Director of Interbrand includes: ‘Welcome to Estonia’ (a unique brand identity project commissioned by the Estonian government to re-brand and re-position Estonia); the brand identity for PWC; the global brand refresh for Orange, and the multi-D&AD award-winning Niceday brand identity for WH Smith. He was also responsible for the rebrand of the RaboBank in the Netherlands, Guinness Mahon Private Bank, and helping set up, brand and name the global movement – WeAreWhatWeDo.

The awards have continued for his agency and more recently ASHA was ranked in Design Week’s Top 100 as one of the most awarded agencies in the UK.

As well as overseeing all creative work, brand strategy, innovation and driving the business direction and social objectives of Agency ASHA, Marksteen also has personal projects he works on in-between client and family commitments. Some of these include:

Co-founder of The New Life Secondary School in Tanzania. 

Founder of The Big Cold Turkey Foundation.

Co-founder and Trustee of The Cheltenham Design Foundation and Festival Creative Director.

King’s – Community coffee house.

‘Behold The Man’ – Study of addiction and homelessness.

‘The Stations’ – Project tracing the emotional journey of refugees.

‘PEEL’ – A study of identity created by young people.

‘The Sober Parrot’ – Alcohol free venue in Cheltenham.

Marksteen grew up on a mission station deep inside the savannah of Tanzania. Working across the world, he has lived in Denmark, Holland, the US and the UK. He speaks four languages, writes a fifth, is a keen cyclist and motorcyclist and an avid collector of many things. He believes that everyone has the ability to be creative and is committed to teaching young people how to express their imagination and ideas through creative thinking. He also writes music and plays numerous instruments. He lives with his wife Louise in Cheltenham and has four children, a cheeky Patterdale Terrier and two cats: Tom and Jerry.

Senan Lee and Pansy Aung, aka Salt & Pepper Creative, are a freelance senior creative team (AKQA, BBH, Cheil, Leo Burnett, JWT, Saatchi & Saatchi) with a passion for tech and storytelling.

Seeing ideas come to life is what they love most and they will go out of their way to make them happen. In their own time, they create awareness campaigns for not-for-profit organisations and mentor at the SCA and SheSays.

David is a qualified architect with experience in designing and delivering a wide range of award-winning building projects in the UK. David is Co – Founder of Architecture 00.

Architecture 00 is a practice with a track record in delivering a broad range of activities relating to the shaping of our built environment. Founded in 2005, our office brings together skills in action-led research, urban design strategy, architecture and place making with a detailed understanding of how the physical fabric of buildings can be accompanied by innovative, engaging and collaborative processes.

In addition to our award-winning commissioned research and strategic work, our architectural projects, ranging from education spaces, enterprise centres, co-working spaces and self-led housing masterplans to ultra-low-energy residential new build and refurbishment – have increasingly gained a reputation for excellence; in 2012 we were the recipients of four RIBA Awards, including a Sustainability Award and a Civic Trust Community Award, as well as being short-listed for Young Architects of the Year Award and featured by Icon Magazine in their ‘Future 50’ issue on leading designers shaping the future. Architecture 00 has also been awarded the ‘Yorkshire Building of the Year’ alongside a Regional RIBA Award in 2014, and we are recent winners of the London RIBA Building of the Year Award, plus an RIBA Regional Award for 2015.

Will Lanham is a motion graphics designer living and working in Birmingham.

Will learnt his trade at London based VFX studio – Moving Picture Company. Having worked from advertising campaigns to feature films and music videos, Will now has now set up his own design studio, Oftheunknown.

Specialising in motion graphics and brand design, Oftheunknown looks to push design to the limits, and create things that are truly unknown.

We’re Two Girls Co, a wife and wife design team and makers of awesome designer goods in Bristol, UK. The company was founded in 2017 by Lucy Weston and Vicki Leach.

Lucy is a senior art director, currently working at e3 Media, Bristol, and has six years experience as an art director, specialising in digital media, illustration, animation and video production. She has worked across a wide range of brands including Bristol Airport, Royal Navy, The View from The Shard, Johnson & Johnson, The Co-op, American Express, Camelot and The Balvenie.

Vicki is a Manx designer based in Bristol and the Design Manager for Deadgood. She designs furniture, lighting and accessories for commercial interiors worldwide, as well as producing her own designs for likeminded brands under her own design studio.

Greg has led several large-scale developments and urban design schemes for Make since joining in 2005, including our masterplan for a new business quarter in Birmingham and our first project in India, a pair of 70-storey residential towers.

He’s worked extensively in both Birmingham and London, and plays a key role in the Future Spaces Foundation, Make’s research and development arm.

A motion graphics designer, CG artist and animator, Sam studied traditional animation at the University of West England, before turning to creative CGI. His career began in screen and motion graphic design for broadcast and advertising, before moving into film.

Joining Territory in 2016, Sam’s creative eye and passion for developing original concepts, along with extensive experience of Maya, Cinema 4D, Zbrush, After Effects and Houdini means that he’s easily able to work across Hollywood blockbusters, broadcast, games and commercial projects. Credits include Ready Player One (2018), Blade Runner 2049, Ghost in the Shell, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Batman vs Superman and Mr Robot promos.

As Managing Director of Rosie Lee since 2003, Russell has overseen significant growth in the agency’s offering. Under his leadership, Rosie Lee has expanded internationally with new offices in New York and Amsterdam, and has won significant projects from clients including Nike, Uniqlo, Beats by Dre and Jordan Brand. His approach to business is defined by the principles he adheres to in his daily life, with collaboration, openness, and experimentation encouraged. He lives in Frome, Somerset, with his partner and son.

Davor Krvavac is the Executive Creative Director at B-Reel London. A multi-award winning Creative Director, Davor brings expertise of working with major global brands and icons such as Gorillaz, Nike, Converse, LVMH, LinkedIn, Google and Pernod Ricard. Most recently he led a team that designed, developed and delivered the ground-breaking, mixed reality Gorillaz App.

When not herding kittens and screaming at his screen at B-Reel, Davor makes obscure music, writes screenplays and falls off various wheeled devices.

Prior to taking the helm at B-Reel, Davor has developed and led a wide range of campaigns and IP across the global Nike business. He led the Nike Football global account for 4 years during which time he delivered several Nike Football milestones including the multi-award winning Nike The Chance, 2014 World Cup campaign, and launching the Nike Football App.

In total he has amassed over 40 industry awards.

“My aim has always been to push technology and create culturally relevant work that real people give a toss about.”

Alastair Parvin is a strategic designer with 00 London, and the co-founder of WikiHouse Foundation. He is currently working on better housing systems, open production & citizen-led development. Although he trained in architecture, his work extends outside its traditional framework, looking at the economic, social, political and technological forces behind it. He is a co-inventor of WikiHouse, a digital building system which is using open design and distributed digital manufacturing to radically democratise the production of homes.

He also thinks, writes, speaks and advises companies, organisations and governments on housing crises, sustainable development, democratic cities and housing policy for the 21st century as well as on how open design and technology can be engaged to address some of the most critical social, environmental and economic challenges we face as a society.

Dave Draws is a freelance illustrator originally from Chesterfield but now living in rainy Manchester.

Dave works from Mirabel studios in the city centre but also travels all over for his large scale wall murals.

Dave’s trademark is his doodle maps which combine his unique doodle style with cartoonish illustrations creating a map of a city.

Using his trusty posca pens Dave has created artwork for clients based all around the world and has even travelled abroad for some of his trademark doodle map mural pieces.

In 2004 Zed completed a BA in Visual Art and also began working as a Presentation Skills Coach on a two-day masterclass. Since then he has coached hundreds of people from many different countries on their presentation skills in Europe, Asia and the USA.

Working with his husband, Andrew Lightheart, author of ‘Presentation Now’ (Pearson 2015) Zed developed a presentation planning strategy that gives people tools to plan and deliver effective presentations. This strategy is based on the reality of the situation presenters are in, it is not based on a performance model, and there is no script to be learned.

Photo by Ming de Nasty

David Symons leads WSP’s global Future Ready programme.  Future Ready helps WSP’s clients and staff see the future more clearly, and to design and deliver designs and strategies ready both for today’s needs and these future trends.

He’s a lively and engaging speaker who’s provided recent comment on future megatrends affecting cities to Sky News, BBC Radios Four, FiveLive and Two, as well as national print media.  Outside work he’s a keen distance runner and a rather less accomplished photographer.

Tom is a Strategy Principal at ustwo, working globally with clients in the urban and mobility space to understand evolving user needs, shaping products and services to meet them. His work has always explored the application of technology in spaces with complex stakeholder relationships; he was a lead architect of the Barclays Life Skills digital platform, which sought to bring teachers, parents, young people and business together, and in 2010 led design of MyMP, a project to create the first dedicated smartphone app for sitting politicians.

Anna Parker is IA’s founding Director, a qualified Architect who has gained experience in a number of renowned architecture practices within the UK, leading a variety of residential, education and commercial projects from conception to completion.

In 2017 Anna has been shortlisted within the national RIBA ‘Rising Stars’, shortlisted for the Birmingham Post ‘Business Entrepreneur of the Year’, and named within the ‘Midlands top 50 Entrepreneurs’ (Insider). In 2016 Anna was nominated as a finalist for Birmingham’s Young Professional of the Year.

Further to her RIBA chartered membership, Anna also sits on the panel for the RIBA Small Practice Group which regularly meets in London.

Anna teaches at the Birmingham School of Architecture, and has led a 3rd year design studio on the Undergraduate Course since 2014. One of Anna’s students has been nominated for the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Bronze medal award in each of the previous three academic years in which she has taught to date.

Michael Carr has 15 years experience as a product designer and has won numerous awards for his work, including both Red-Dot and iF awards.  He has worked across various industries, including lifestyle, homewares, electronics and fashion before focusing his career towards watch design, where he has been responsible for designing collections for a variety of high profile brands from Braun to Vivienne Westwood, and has worked alongside esteemed product designer, Dietrich Lubs.

Michael began working with Uniform Wares in 2010, a year after its launch and took over as Creative Director in 2017. He has been instrumental in creating the aesthetic behind Uniform Wares’ collections and is responsible for the design and development of all Uniform Wares product output, as well as managing it’s global production network.  His goal now is to build on what the brand has created and continue to push the envelope of what a lifestyle brand can be in this post digital age we are entering, in the field of watches and beyond.

Michael Carr was born in the green suburbs on the border between London and Kent and spent his early years living in both the U.S. and UK.  After completing a BA in Product Design at Bournemouth University, he worked in Birmingham for a couple of years before returning to London, where he is now lives and works.

Gemma Kingsley is a freelance Designer/Graphic Art Director working primarily within the Art department or VFX Department on large scale film and drama productions. Her responsibilities have ranged from designing and producing prop and set decoration graphics to designing, animating and supervising motion graphics on set via live playout or VFX green screen inserts.

To date, Gemma has been privileged enough to work for Universal, Legendary, Warner Brothers, Working Title, BBC, ITV, C4 and Sky.

Gemma was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. After studying Graphic Design and Illustration at Blackpool and the Fyle College she completed a Master of Arts in Production Design at Kingston University. She now lives and works in West London.

Taz is the leader of U.K. Regional Markets and Gensler’s Birmingham office. He specializes in retail and lifestyle markets throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with a particular expertise in managing and delivering complex, large-scale projects. Recognized as an inspiring and collaborative team leader, and for his ability to build and manage large teams, Taz runs his projects smoothly and efficiently to meet the critical time and functional requirements of developers and tenants alike.

He has worked with well-known brands worldwide, and strives to develop strong project strategies that result in successful destinations that achieve the ideal mix, balance and range of experiences. He recognizes the value of seeing every project from multiple viewpoints—customer, employee, developer and tenant—to ensure that the expectations of all stakeholders are exceeded. Taz received a B.A. (Hons) in Architecture and a Diploma in Architecture from Birmingham School of Architecture.

Substrakt is a web agency. We make websites and applications for organisations in the arts, cultural, heritage and creative sectors in Europe and North America.

We also offer training, workshops and consultancy services covering ticketing, digital strategy, analytics and user testing.

We work with people we like, on projects we love ❤.

Lisa is an independent designer, illustrator and lettering artist based in Sheffield, who has worked in the creative industry for over ten years. Lisa has an honest approach to her work, using empathy to solve visual problems effectively and create work that is authentic. Lisa has created work for companies such as Waitrose, John Lewis, Chatsworth House, Virgin Atlantic, to name a few, and her work has been featured on many internationally renowned creative blogs. Lisa is passionate about empowering creative community and often give talks and write posts on topics surrounding the creative industry.

Ringo is Strategy Director at McCann / IPG. Having spent most of his agency life in London and Bristol, he has over 14 years’ experience in digital design, technology, content, advertising and strategy for some of the world’s biggest brands from Topshop to Telefonica, and BBC to Barclays Bank. With a keen eye on all things design, tech and innovation, and a regular speaker and writer on those subjects, Ringo has been voted as a BIMA 100 most influential people in the UK digital industry.

Before joining McCann last year, Alex was Digital Creative Director at Krow Communications, heading up Digital output for British retail giant DFS, FCA’s Automotive portfolio, Virgin Trains and Team GB.

Alex has an extensive list of highlights from his 17 year career in design, which includes: helping Channel 4 to rethink weather mapping; working with P&G to deliver
immersive retail experiences; raising awareness of depleted fish stocks in partnership Selfridges with Project Ocean – creating Europe’s largest interactive shop window on Oxford Street; and launching the FIAT 500X, with Dynamo Magician at the Copperbox Arena in London, using magic and the #THEPOWEROFX – sited as their “Biggest and best car launch ever.”

Dan Mumford is a freelance illustrator working out of Studio 100 in central London, UK.

Over the past 10 years, Dan has worked within the pop culture and music scene creating everything from album covers, branding and screenprint’s to new interpretations of classic film posters and albums.

Clients include Disney, Sony, Iron Maiden, Wizards of the Coast, Icon Motoports, CBS and many many bands and record labels from around the world.

Dan has had several gallery shows in America over the past few years and spoken at many festivals and events around the world, including Adobe Max, Offf Festival, Bump Festival, Various universities around the UK and more.

Jo is Chief Design Officer at Friday and is responsible for ensuring the highest quality of output from design strategy and IA, UX, interface design, through to prototyping and movement.

Her role is to raise the design ambition of our clients and to make sure everything we create is robust, user centred and strategically brilliant. Jo passionately promotes greater collaboration and understanding between internal teams and clients as it makes for shared ownership and ultimately, better work.

She leads a team of exceptionally talented design practitioners, who have deep specialist skills across any or all parts of the design spectrum, but who also display a generalist attitude enabling them to navigate, communicate and practice the whole design process.

Jo has worked in agencies and brand consultancies for nearly 20 years, achieving a deep understanding of the tension between balancing user needs with business requirements in digital ecosystems. Jo has led design efforts for a diverse range of clients: HSBC, The Co-operative Group, British Airways, YSL, Paul Smith and IKEA.

Working in pixels by day, Jo likes to make real things at night. She is currently perfecting traditional quilting techniques to make modern quilts with serious attitude.

Andy’s career began accidently whilst playing in a late 80s thrash metal outfit, recording two albums and living the dream out of the back of a van. The bubble burst, and he subsequently studied graphic design for over five years – initially in Cornwall, and then in Edinburgh, where he graduated with a Degree in Visual Communication and later with a Masters in Graphic Design. He worked commercially in Scotland across print, exhibition and digital design, and started teaching part-time in the late 90s at Glasgow School of Art.

Since then, he has become more heavily involved in design education, lecturing at Falmouth University full-time for over sixteen years (where he has held various teaching and co-ordination roles on the Graphic Design degree), and is driven by encouraging creativity to grow in other people. He is a member of the ISTD Education team, and is currently external examiner at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.

Over the past decade – as well as continuing with his own practice as a designer and his teaching commitments, he’s become increasingly interested in the various frameworks we all create (consciously or otherwise) to make the most of any creative challenge. His ‘designdice’ project (due to be launched at BDF) has been part of an ongoing journey exploring how the complexity of a creative process can be made more accessible – particularly to students of design. 

He doesn’t like categories, but is equally at home lecturing about process or typography as he is designing graphic communications, or playing guitar in experimental rock & electronica outfits in liturgical spaces. 

He lives and works in Cornwall, UK.

At Friday Estelle defines and maintains a high standard of strategic output for our clients. Her role is to continuously champion the interest of the end customer, especially on ambitious, long-term projects.

With 15 years experience working in start-ups, consultancies and research, Estelle easily distils complexity into clear, directive thinking paired with deep understanding and forward looking insights. Her track record includes work across sectors for brands like Nuffield Health, HSBC, The British Red Cross and the Cooperative Group.

Estelle works collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams as well as with senior stakeholders to design new customer experiences, develop strategic visions and advise organisations on how to make things happen.

Chris studied Design for Industry at Northumbria University. After he finished his course he went to London to work for a number of design and innovation consultants, using creative thinking to help businesses find new ways to connect with their customers. After a while he said “If I’m doing this for large multi-nationals and start ups then why can’t I do this for myself?” So he decided to set up his own design consultancy, with a focus on working with ambitious small businesses. He also set himself a challenging and interesting task. Find a tool he uses every day, break it down, reinterpret it and make a new one within 4 weeks. The first tool he chose to re-design was a pen and that’s were the story of AJOTO began.

A Birmingham native, Daniel heads up the 15-strong Public Sector and 3rd sector team at cxpartners in Bristol that delivers design projects for national, local government and charity needs.

His expertise is in how Service Design, as an experience-oriented lens on innovation, is becoming a major influence in organisational development, where touchpoints are ubiquitous, and where power has shifted to the side of the user.

He values prototyping, pace, and learning by doing and failing at all scales – from prototyping a feature to prototyping an entire organisation, through entrepreneurial and creative MVP thinking.

Eleni Beveratou is a typeface designer from Athens, Greece. With a BA and MA degree in Communication design from Vakalo Art & Design College, she focused her studies with an MA in Typeface Design at the University of Reading.There, she developed an interest in researching the science of reading for the partially sighted and her findings have been featured in “Digital Fonts and Reading” by World Scientific.

After a year of freelancing in typeface design, Eleni joined the Dalton Maag team in 2012 as a Font Developer and worked on projects such as Amazon Bookerly Greek, Google Scope One, AT&T Condensed, Intel Clear Hebrew and Piraeus Bank. Currently, Eleni is Creative Director at Dalton Maag.

Here at Seven 9 Signs we are passionate about sign painting, whether it be the art of hand painting onto buildings, sign boards, walls or windows or the beauty of gold leaf gilding.

We design and produce custom made, bespoke hand painted signage for any location; whether it’s a full shop frontage, main facia, window painting, gilded transom window, mural or an A-board, we do it. Using traditional techniques and materials our skilled sign painters and gilder can accommodate pretty much any gilding, hand lettering or sign painting project, no matter how large or small.

We work with a variety of different clients including design agencies, retail, lifestyle brands, tattoo studios, barber shops, restaurants, bars and individuals to create bespoke hand crafted unique signage solutions, using traditional sign painting techniques.

Based in Digbeth, Birmingham; Seven 9 Signs supplies signs throughout Birmingham, The Midlands and the rest of the UK.

Materials Council was established by Ian Hunter, Brad Turner and founding partner Architonic. Ian and Brad are highly qualified industrial designers and former materials researchers at Foster + Partners architects.

Here they kept the practice abreast of developments in architectural materials and technologies, operated the world’s largest materials library and advised the architects about material selection, implementation and sustainability. They have worked directly on a number of prestigious international projects including the new Apple campus, the Masdar Institute of Technology and Spaceport America.

Ian has participated in a number of forums and events including the UKTI’s Materials Knowledge Transfer Network and the Neue Workstoffe ‘new materials’ symposium at the Technische Universität München. Brad has worked in the fields of media, communications and business development for the two leading global design portals – Designboom in Milan and Dezeen in London.

They are regular speakers at international events, including the Cradle-to-Cradle cafe in Rotterdam, and are visiting lecturers at the London College of Communication and the Royal College of Art. They also feature frequently in online and print media, recently being interviewed in FX Magazine, published in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ periodical Modus and providing specialist materials knowledge for The Evening Standard.

Jane Bowyer is an independent Graphic Designer and Illustrator working on a range of projects and commissions for clients including East End Women’s Museum, Free To Be OK With Me, The Pankhurst Centre, National Trust and Herb Lester. She is also the creator and curator of Women in Print; a project highlighting women’s histories through print. Jane’s practice is focused on utilising her skills as a designer and storyteller to create positive social change.

Keith Bradshaw studied fine art before training in architecture at the Bartlett School of Architecture. This broad education provided him with the opportunity to develop ideas where materials became less important than the atmosphere and experience of space: this led naturally to working with light.

Keith became a Principal of Speirs + Major in 2009. He is based in Edinburgh and directs projects from both of Speirs + Major’s studios. He has led many of the practice’s award winning international and UK projects, including the Copenhagen Opera House, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Mosque, Shenzhen Airport and flagship stores for Giorgio Armani in Tokyo, New York, Milan and Beijing. Noteworthy current projects include urban realm projects in Miami, Helsinki and Hong Kong and civic buildings in Rome, Oslo and Beijing.

Keith regularly publishes articles and has also lectured and taught practical workshops to a range of students. He was invited to be a Fellow of the RSA in 2013.

Eve is a brand and packaging designer at Robot Food. Known for her colourful and expressive work, she offers design and direction services to a wide range of aspiring clients. She also hosts Ladies, Wine and Design Leeds, an initiative to help foster women creativity. Only a tiny percent of creative directors are women, and Eve is passionate to change this through mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, and creative meet-ups.

Andre Reid is an active protagonist in the work to understand, develop and grow access to opportunities, skills & experiences for creative citizens throughout Birmingham. After graduating from Birmingham’s School of Architecture & Design in 2013, Andre has organised, managed and co-curated a number of low-barrier opportunities for creative individuals & groups to increase their sense of agency and/ or build sustainable businesses: from Blacktapestudios – Coworking Production Space, 2014-2016; to PopIN UK’s – 6 month fusion pop-up store, 2016.

Andre’s current venture KIONDO, continues his theme of access over ownership by bridging the gap between designers and the everyday individual’s creative intelligence. KIONDO aims to empower the everyday person to design & make the items around them to fulfil their own needs, maximising & aiding in the evolution of open-source design and digital fabrication. KIONDO’s work centres greatly around disassembling typical power dynamics, rethinking consumerism and using learnt experience to build a circular & regenerative economy which is both fun and exciting to live within.

Daniel is designer, facilitator and creative producer interested in the role of design in leadership and building design capacity in people, organisation structures and systems. He is currently visual design lead at Impact Hub Birmingham and co-founder of Spaghetti, a strategic design and social innovation collective.

His work at Impact Hub Birmingham ranges from the production of communication materials for events and projects, to design research on systemic challenges in the city and the convening of changemakers as part of the Hub’s core mission streams.

Aside from this, recently, Daniel has been involved in the development of CoLab Dudley, a social lab based out of a coffee shop called Gather in Dudley, using his skills to support with the production of festivals and experimenting with new ways for people to participate in learning about the places they live.

Daniel also hosts design jams in Birmingham as part of a global network creating spaces for people to experience human centred design and other methods, building innovators rather than innovations.

Jack Sheppard is a digital product designer and creative event producer based in Manchester. He’s worked with organisations like HarperCollins, Virgin, NHS, Universal Music and most recently the Co-op. He focuses on making products and services simple for real human beings and encouraging designers to think about the real life implications of the things they design.

Sahar Afshar is a type designer and researcher from Iran. Her interest in typography during her years as a student at the University of Tehran led her to the University of Reading, from which she holds an MA by Research in Typography & Graphic Communication. Since graduation, she has been working on the design, consultation and quality assurance of Arabic typefaces, as well as researching the printing of Arabic and Indic scripts.

Her thesis focuses on the historical establishment and subsequent development of Punjabi printing in post-war Britain, particularly in Birmingham and the Midlands. The study of these printing communities, their modus operandi and printed outputs, will assist in addressing wider issues relating to how ethnic communities established their own identities, and the role played by print in processes of cultural integration.

The Office Of Craig Oldham is the eponymous practice of designer and creative consultant Craig Oldham (obviously).

Working across numerous disciplines, the studio creates brands, books, websites, films, exhibitions, and objects. We also teach, write, curate and consult. And we do this for clients, audiences, and sometimes just for the joy of it.

We are a young and intentionally small team of creative problem solvers, makers and doers. And with extensive industry experience, we’ve learnt that the better the relationship we have with a client, the better the work will be.

So far we’ve been recognised by Art Directors Club, D&AD, Design Week Awards, Creative Review, New York Festivals, Type Directors Club, as well as national and international press coverage and exhibitions. Last year, a book we wrote and designed was included in the 50 best in the world of 2013.

Bonafide watch doctor and half of the founding husband and wife team behind multi-award-winning Struthers Watchmaking studio, in 2017, Rebecca Struthers became the first watchmaker in British history to earn a PhD in horology.

Hailing from Perry Barr, Birmingham, Rebecca was just 17 when she set out on her path to becoming one of Britain’s leading antiquarian horologists. Initially training as a jeweller and silversmith in Hockley back in 2003, Rebecca’s passion for creating complex pieces of articulated jewellery led her to discover the art of traditional watchmaking.

Matt has over 10 years industry experience, varying from traditional graphic design, customer focused Service design, interaction and experience design.

After spending an amazing 4 and a half years at R/GA London, he’s embarking on a new venture starting up a business to business food platform that helps new food businesses get discovered whilst helping them tackle the ever growing food waste crisis.

Laura Hernández is an interdisciplinary designer based at Barcelona. After her studies in product design engineering at EUDI, she made her master in motion graphics design at BAU. Nowadays, she’s currently focused in virtual reality and interactive experiences, both as creative and technical designer at Visyon, an international award winning company, leader in technological and immersive projects.

She has been collaborating at university masterclasses and participating at international conferences like the ADDC- App Design & Development Conference, or TYPOLabs, sharing her experiences from working in immersive environments and combining design+technology.

Mark Hipwell is a Civil Engineer based in Birmingham, he loves his job & particularly enjoys all the brilliant oppurtunities to promote STEM in Birmingham and the West Midlands. When he’s not working on the Area North Enabling works as part of HS2 rolling into Birmingham, then he spends his timing drawing Buildings, Skylines and Bridges to raise money for LoveBrum & Help the Homeless.

He’s a keen advocate of the Future Faces, a network dedicated to providing support and oppurtunities to the best and brightest young professionals in Brum.

Us is a directing duo consisting of Christopher Barrett and Luke Taylor. They met while studying at Kingston on the BA Graphic Design course. The duo’s first successful collaboration came whilst at university when directing a music video for Thom Yorke as part of the D&AD Student Awards, it subsequently won first place.

In late 2007 they formed Us, a multi-disciplinary design studio. The focus since then has moved towards directing. 2011 saw them receive the award for Best New Directors at the UK MVA’s and Best Urban video for ‘Numbers In Action’ which also received a MOBO nomination.

Commercially, Us have directed work for Airbnb, IKEA, Honda, Cadburys, Johnnie Walker, Nike, Net-A-Porter and The Sunday Times. The latter has was awarded 10 Golds, 3 Silvers & 4 Bronzes at a variety of awards around the world including D&AD, Cannes, The British Arrows and Creative Circle. They also won Best New Directors at The British Arrows Craft Awards.

Darren Wall is a publisher, art director and creative consultant based in London, UK. He has over a decade’s experience creating original content and providing exciting, innovative solutions for print. Darren is also the founder of Read-Only Memory, an imprint that specialises in high-end publications that document and preserve videogame history.

Florence Okoye is a User Experience Designer at the Natural History Museum, interested in the application of design thinking as praxis for engineering complex systems.

Since 2015 she has curated the AfroFutures_UK conference and associated events, exploring AfroFuturism and the intersection of race and technology, with a particular focus on how technology can impact the reimagining of the black identity

Callum rose quickly through the ranks at Moving Brands before joining Nomad in 2017.

He’s packed a lot into his career so far, working with leading brands such as Apple, BBC, Cannes Lions, E-Tautz, Leia Inc and Swisscom, amongst others.

Callum leads the design team at Nomad, bringing rigour and deep system thinking to everything we do.

Terry spent 15 years working with a number of award-winning agencies including Rose Design, Why Not Associates and Moving Brands. In that time he’s delivered major brand and communication projects for Apple, Facebook, Google, Mercedes and Samsung, amongst others.

In 2016 he set up Nomad with Stuart Watson, bringing together their collected experiences at the best agencies across the world in a lean, agile and highly ambitious studio. Having recently helped to rebrand Sky Sports, they’re currently working with The Premier League, Cannes Lions and Sony.

Sarah Seaton is an ethical brand and content strategist. During her 10 years of working across agencies and client side, Sarah has helped define and transform a plethora of brands by leading them into persona led, disruptive strategies. Originally training as a journalist, Sarah not only loves to help her clients find their tone of voice, she also loves to write for cause and passion led magazines.

A number of years ago Sarah’s personal mission to create a more sustainable lifestyle transcended into her work, and she now runs Ethical Brand Labs. Defining ‘ethical brands’ as those with a positive agenda towards the environment, wellness and social impact – Sarah aims to inspire and nurture green eyed change makers, and conscious thinkers to create a brighter future!

What Sarah likes: Planning to take over the world, figuring out what ‘sustainable living’ even means, and cinnamon buns.

I’m a Product Designer & Human Centred Design advocate, currently disguised as Head of Design for Customer Experience Studio 383. With a broad client experience ranging from fashion and global leisure brands, to private healthcare and the energy sector, along with over 20 years experience and a deep understanding of designing for human behaviour, I’ve become fairly passionate about crafting authentic experiences, services and products that make a genuine difference for real people. I also do all my own stunts.

Faber Design & Architecture (or Faber for short) was established in 2003 by designers Tony Matters and Rosemarie Fitton. Initially working from a converted 1920’s knitwear factory in Leicester, and going by the name Heterarchy, they steadily built a reputation as leading designers of hospitality, retail and workplace interiors.

In 2013 they opened a studio in Birmingham, placing themselves at the centre of what is currently the fastest growing economy in the UK outside of London. This has seen them working on numerous flagship projects in the city and develop relationships within key industries in the wider region.

2016 sees further growth, with the opening of their first studio in Central London.

Naeem is a seasoned brand strategist and the founder of Notepad – A brand studio that defines, creates and builds brands for startups and new ventures.

Rosemarie teaches on undergraduate modules in Interior Design, having joined DMU as a full time member of the Interior Design team in September 2011. She is also the Founder and Creative Director of Faber, an interior design practice based in Leicester, Birmingham and London, working across the UK primarily within the hospitality, leisure and private healthcare sectors.

The company also specialises in the design of spiritual environments and were responsible for the interiors of the new Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Leicester, the second largest Hindu Temple in the UK.

Rosemarie is also a nominated member of the Leicester Council of Faiths and has recently completed an MA in Inter-religious Relations to further support her interest and work in the field of designing sacred/spiritual buildings and interiors. She has recently introduced a new pathway within one of the Interior Design course modules on the Design of Spiritual Environments, passing on her specialist area of interest and knowledge to the next generation of designers. Her key research interests are the design of spiritual environments, including multi-faith space and life-long learning in the design industries.