Birmingham Design Festival 2025
The DCA team recently attended the Birmingham Design Festival (BDF) 2025, a highly regarded event that brings international creative voices to the West Midlands. Now in its seventh year, the festival continues to challenge design conventions and promote creative exploration.
This year’s theme, Play, encouraged designers to embrace curiosity, experimentation, and new perspectives. Our team took part in the BDF conference, engaging with a range of inspiring talks from leading industry figures such as Chris Clarke (Design Director, The Guardian), Liza Enebeis (Creative Director, Studio Dumbar), George Wu (Founder, Para Para), and the team at Templo. These sessions offered valuable insights into innovation, storytelling, and the evolving role of design in a rapidly changing world.
The theme of playfulness was woven throughout the festival, sparking conversations within our team about how designers can stay adaptable, inquisitive, and inventive in their practice.
Templo – GF Smith Rebrand
DCA attended a compelling talk by Templo, who shared their recent rebrand of GF Smith, a project that truly captured the spirit of play through bold ideas, experimental thinking and creative risk taking.
The rebrand featured vibrant colour palettes, expressive typography, and dynamic layouts, reflecting both the heritage and the forward-thinking nature of the GF Smith brand. Templo’s process embraced risk-taking and curiosity, showing how play can transform not only visual outcomes but also the design journey itself.
- Visuals courtesy of Templo
Studio Dumbar - NN North Sea Jazz Festival
Studio Dumbar’s presentation, led by Liza Enebeis, explored their work on the NN North Sea Jazz Festival identity, an energetic fusion of sound and motion.
Their innovative design system used animated typography and responsive visuals that mimic sound waves, dynamically shifting in rhythm with music. The project was a true interdisciplinary collaboration between motion designers, coders, and sound artists, resulting in a festival identity that feels like music, not just looks like it.
- Visuals courtesy of Studio Dumbar
Chris Clarke – Editorial Design at The Guardian
Chris Clarke, Global Editorial Creative Director at The Guardian, delivered a thought-provoking presentation on the role of play in editorial design.
He showcased how techniques like modular typography, narrative-led layouts, and interactive elements can make complex information more accessible and memorable. By injecting wit, surprise, and tactile interaction into design, Chris demonstrated how editorial visuals can spark emotional connections and drive social change. His work underscored the power of design to inform and inspire through thoughtful, playful storytelling.
- Visuals courtesy of Chris Clarke
George Wu – Para Para
Designer George Wu introduced her interactive umbrella brand, Para Para, which seamlessly blends fashion, storytelling, and technology.
Each umbrella features a unique graphic design that activates an augmented reality experience through a companion app, bringing the design to life. George’s talk explored how Para Para connects the digital and physical worlds, creating products that are functional, emotionally resonant, and playfully engaging.
- Visuals courtesy of George Wu
Birmingham Design Festival 2025 was a valuable experience for the DCA team, offering fresh perspectives and renewed creative energy. The theme of Play encouraged a mindset of openness, experimentation and curiosity, reminding the team of the importance of staying adaptable in an ever-evolving industry. The festival challenged conventional ways of thinking and highlighted how playful, idea-led design can lead to more meaningful and impactful outcomes.
The experience will continue to inform and inspire the team’s creative approach, helping to push boundaries and bring greater originality to future work.
