Cheltenham Design Festival 2019. What’s going on?
Hosted by Cheltenham Design Foundation and launched in 2012 the Cheltenham Design Festival has seen some impressive names amongst its roster. With past speakers such as Stefan Sagmeister, the world-famous Graphic Designer, Paola Antonelli, a MOMA Design Curator, and renowned Creative Director, Erik Kessels.
The festival is known for its diverse programme, selecting professionals from all across the creative spectrum, and this year looks like no exception. 2019 sees the festival break it’s 3-year hiatus, returning for 3 days on November 1st at the Parabola Arts Centre. We can expect talks from experienced professionals in disciplines such as graphic design, architecture, virtual reality, film-making and sound engineering.
Cheltenham town is known for its generous selection of creative events. From the Cheltenham Jazz Festival in May to the Literature Festival in October, it knows a thing or two about showing off its talents. However, intriguingly, I’ve never heard anyone mention the Design Festival. I’ve never seen any online advertising and never a mention of the event on design forums. So why does this elusiveness fuel my enthusiasm? Maybe the event speaks for itself? Maybe it’s an if-you-know-you-know sort of thing?
I heard about the festival for the first time whilst attending the Birmingham Design Festival earlier this year, where I was told about the illustrious hiatus with apparent anticipation. So ahead of my two-day visit in November, I thought I’d take a look at the lineup and highlight some talks that are of particular interest to me, and hopefully shine the light on this event for anyone else that may have an interest. Hands up, this is a biased selection and you may find other speakers more applicable to your work or interests. Find out what’s going for yourself at the Cheltenham Design Festival.
Talks I’m looking forward to
Rama Gheerawo
Rama Gheerawo, who’s a Director at The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at London’s Royal College of Art is speaking on the Friday of the festival. Rama focuses on how design can address society’s toughest issues, ranging from healthcare topics to emerging forms of AI. He leads a team that undertake design research projects, focusing on how design can benefit individuals and organisations, and ultimately improve people’s lives.
This topic immediately struck a note of appeal, reminding me of Ken Garland’s First Things First Manifesto (1964), which called for design to be used for more gallant purposes, rather than pure commercial gain. This was the topic of my university dissertation, and I’ve followed the work of companies like IDEO and The Social Change Agency since. It will be great to hear Rama’s personal perspective, and what’s going on in that field of industry.
Paul Boag
Paul Boag, a User Experience and Service Design Consultant also speaks on the Friday. He reminds us that UX shouldn’t be focused on driving and converting users, but instead should focus on serving their needs. He explains that “where we as companies were once in control of things, it’s now the user that is in control”. What he means by this is that as the digital landscape has opened up, companies must put their user’s needs first in order to maintain a relationship. It will be great to learn more about Paul’s methodologies and how he ensures that users’ expectations are met.
Jim Sutherland
Creatively, I’m looking forward to hearing about the practices of Jim Sutherland, the founder of Studio Sutherl&. The studio operates an agile approach to projects, drafting the best artists, writers, and strategists for the job at hand. Specialising in branding and creative they’ve worked on some high-profile projects, for clients like the Natural History Museum, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis, Land Securities, and Prostate Cancer UK. With a real mix of industries under his belt, it will be great to get some insights into how Jim approaches his work.
Chris Matteson
Of course, no design festival would be complete without a talk from a typography heavy-weight (excuse the pun). Step forward Chris Matteson, Creative Type Director at Monotype. Chris has a wealth of experience, designing over 80 font families for clients such as Toyota, Microsoft and Google. As an informed type historian and expert in font legibility it will be a real pleasure to listen to his talk.
Some other eye-catching speakers
There are numerous other talks that have caught my eye. Some because of the company they work for (Mike Buzzard, Google), some because of their job titles (Tina Touli, Creative Director) and others because of the discipline they work in (Gavin Strange, Aardman Animations).
With all proceeds from the event going to the Cheltenham Design Foundation, it’s definitely an event I’m happy to support. I expect the anticipation to build further as they continue to release speakers and workshops in the build-up to the event.
Stay tuned for part two, where I will detail my experiences at the design festival, and present any insights or takeaways from the festival.
