The D&AD Festival is gearing up to be great. Six creative super-stars have been confirmed as some of the headline speakers. And this year, the three day festival has been divided into distinct days, each with its own agenda.
The headline speakers so far:
Anna Higgs, NOWNESS. Anna Higgs has recently become the creative director of global culture channel, Nowness. She has also been head of film at Channel4’s Film4 and commissioning editor of Film4.0.
Erik Kessels, KesselsKramer Erik Kessels is creative director and owner of Amsterdam communications creative agency, KesselsKramer, working for national and international clients such as Nike, Diesel, J&B Whisky, Oxfam and Citizen M. He is also an artist, designer and photography curator, and has published over 50 books. He will be signing copies of his latest book Failed It! (a celebration of failure and imperfection) after his keynote.
Piera Luisa Gelardi, Refinery29. Gelardi leads a growing team of creatives at lifestyle destination, Refinery29, where he is creative director and co-founder. With 225 million global users, it is the leading digital-media company focused on women and Gelardi and her team have won numerous awards for their efforts as well as co-authoring Refinery29’s first book, the New York Times best seller, Style Stalking.
Stefan Sagmeister, Sagmeister&Walsh. Sagmeister is co-founder of world-famous design agency, Sagmeister&Walsh. He has designed for clients as diverse as the Rolling Stones, HBO, and the Guggenheim Museum. He’s a two time Grammy winner and has also won practically every important international design award. Stefan will discuss the large subjects of our lives like happiness or beauty, how they connect to design and what that actually means to our everyday lives.
Yancey Strickler, Kickstarter. Strickler is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Kickstarter, the enormous global community built around creativity and creative projects. Over 10 million people, from every continent on earth, have backed a Kickstarter project and in 2015 it became a Benefit Corporation, a for-profit company that is obligated to consider the impact of their decisions on society, not only shareholders.
Zane Lowe, Beats1. Lowe is a New Zealand-born radio DJ, record producer and television presenter. He made his name first as a presenter on XFM and MTV Europe, and then on BBC Radio 1 from 2003–2015. He is now the creative director and LA Anchor for Beats 1, Apple’s first free global radio station.
Plus:
Joining these six across the four stages will be speakers including a food futurologist and Amsterdam’s Night Mayor as well as some of the most famous designers, creative directors, founders and CEOs from around the globe. Brands including WeTransfer, Sonos and Unmade will share what they know beside agencies R/GA, adam&eveDDB, Leo Burnett, Turner Duckworth, Dentsu and FITCH.
Tim Lindsay, D&AD chief executive officer, commented, “Everything D&AD does is about celebrating, stimulating and enabling creativity – in the context of working towards a more sustainable and more diverse industry. The D&AD Festival is that mission and those values in action – a glorious celebration of the great work that results when diverse talent collaborates in pursuit of excellence.”
Exlore the complete line-up here:
D&AD Festival – Three days of creative discovery:
Tuesday, 25 April – The Earth Will Shake: This is a day of responding to the big issues our world faces. D&AD wants to inspire you to build a better, fairer and more sustainable future.
Wednesday, 26 April – Staring at The Sun: Shifts in technology, trends and work-styles are upending the creative industries. This is a day of leading innovators thinking, predicting and demonstrating how they are adapting to a transforming sector.
Thursday, 27 April – Outrageous Magic: This is the day in which the industry’s leading designers and creators talk about what they do when crafting the big ideas.
Visitors to the D&AD Festival will also be able to take part in Insight Sessions that cover many of the key categories from the D&AD Professional Awards and Bite-size Training classes, to give them a taster of D&AD Professional Development Training.
An exhibition of more than 26,000 pieces of creative work entered into the Awards will be displayed throughout the venue and there will also be New Blood installations, and an exclusive Next Awards showcase of emerging directors and exhibition of emerging photographers in partnership with Getty Images to give attendants a full overview of what D&AD has to offer.
D&AD Awards Ceremony will take place during the Festival this year, with a new format to be announced soon.
