Northern Design Festival 2026 Tickets

Welcome to the third edition of NDF! This year's theme is Heritage and will be held in Lancaster on the 13th, 14th, 15th May. Grab your ticket and head on up to Kanteena for three full days of talks, workshops and networking events (and lots of good vibes). Everyone with a curiosity for creativity is welcome!

Our amazing lineup includes the likes of Red Setter, Wolff Olins, SEA, Studio Sana, Dan Mather, Kellogg's and many many more!

See more @northerndesignfestival on Instagram and LinkedIn!

More on this year's theme:

Heritage is about where we come from and how that shapes what we create. It encompasses the skills, stories, and traditions passed down through generations, as well as the cultures and experiences that make each of us unique. Our backgrounds and journeys influence how we think, make, and share ideas, shaping who we are as creatives today. By keeping these connections alive, learning from the past while creating for the future, we celebrate what makes creativity truly our own.

Info: Let the excitement begin… join us from 1pm to grab your wristband and merch, and get ready for three jam-packed days of creativity, energy, and unforgettable fun!

Info: Kicking off the festival, we have a live podcast ran by Red Setter's Claire Blyth, who will be chatting with the amazing Emma Barratt of Wolff Olins.

Info: Type designers Shaqa and Ryan explore how our heritage and background influence the choices we make as type designer; from letterforms to stylistic details—and how identity can be read in the shapes we create.

Info: As custodians of iconic brands, we inherit more than logos and colour palettes — we inherit values, rituals, memories, and cultural meaning. This talk explores how legacy brands like Kellogg’s and Pringles remain culturally relevant by staying in motion: evolving with families, food culture, and visual language. It highlights the tension between preserving what people love and designing for changing worlds — from health expectations to digital behaviours — and shows how heritage becomes a living asset, not a historical artefact.

Info: What happens when you dig deeper? Seeking to be curious about the past. Heritage is not necessarily history - it is inspiration. Learning from the past means every designer needs a copy of Pioneers in Modern Typography or Thoughts on Design (Paul Rand) before you can go out and seek your own path in our diverse industry. Bryan will be discussing this year's theme of Heritage and how the past has informed the work of SEA as they celebrate 30 years with a few stories.

Info: Kicking off day 2 is a relaxed networking breakfast- head over to Kanteena for coffee and pastries, and a chance to speak to the NDF team and fellow creatives!

Info: Join designer and printmaker Dan Mather to experience an exciting hands-on process of screenprinting your own A3 poster! Each participant will leave with their own unique print. This energetic workshop explores our creative processes and the places we come from. Participants will experiment with bold graphics, layered inks and simple typographic forms to create their own screenprinted posters. Along the way, the session celebrates the connection between heritage, making and design. No experience required — just come ready to get inky and make something.

Info: Creativity as a business is rarely discussed. You’re expected to get the degree go into an agency and maybe start your own thing. But no-one talks about the ways you can make money as a creative person. This panel discussion looks to explore why this might be the case, as offer solutions for those who are in the business of creativity. Breaking the hush hush heritage of running your own studio and being real, raw and honest with what goes into it.

Info: Darren Evans, Founder of The Engine Room, reflects on the journey every designer carries—one that took years for him to fully understand. In this talk, he traces that path through his work, the pivots along the way, and a slow but liberating realisation: learning to love the problem more than the solution. A simple idea—one that took a career to truly grasp.

Info: An attempt to make a 'northern typeface' that got out of hand. From the creation of the giant People Powered Press, an accidental World Record and setting up a community non-profit — to working with thousands of community members to make giant letterpress street murals, integrating printmaking and community practice into a contemporary design studio, and picking up a couple of D&AD pencils along the way. Oli Bentley of design studio Split and the non-profit People Powered Press tells the unlikely story of integrating letterpress print at a massive scale into his practice, whilst grappling with the commercial, social, philosophical and down-right-farcical repercussions of it all.

Info: Heritage is the preservation of craft, tradition and history, but how do we select what's worth celebrating and what's assigned to the history books?

In this panel we'll explore the untold stories of communities and how design can bring them to light. We'll question Euro-centric design heritage in a global society, and how we can use creativity to unearth hidden stories. We'll discuss how heritage is being weaponised by the far-right, and how community-driven campaigns can create common values.

Info: 2 talks in one! Drawing upon their Design research and practice, Mike and Serena will explore the opportunities and challenges ‘Designing for Relationality, Resilience and Regeneration’ presents, particularly within local creative industry contexts where tensions can emerge between the desire for progress and innovation alongside the need to respect community heritage.

Mike will also introduce the Design Council’s Skills for Planet Design blueprint and how this will be embodied as part of new Design at Lancaster University’s Imagination Design Lab. Serena’s talk will discuss the role of design in bringing heritage and experiential forms of knowledge at the centre of strategies and interventions for coastal adaptation. She will present the work of the Coastal Collective: a design-led group of interdisciplinary researchers working with community to co-create sustainable strategies for coastal futures.

Info: The Design Laundry is a place where creative mistakes, mishaps and downright disasters are aired and shared. We've collected 100s of stories from creative practitioners all over the world. And we'll be unloading them in the Design Laundry, to see how past mistakes can influence future success.

Info: Join us for a night of karaoke and chat to end the brilliant day 2! The amazing Katy Cowan of Creative Boom will be hosting BOOM BOX karaoke- be there or be square!

Info: Come along to Lancaster Pottery Studio on Friday 15th May to create your own pair of ceramic decorative tiles using traditional letterpress stamps! Learn some basic handbuilding techniques, and enjoy exploring a wide variety of tools and techniques for adding texture and interest to your tiles. *This is a free workshop, but if you would like your tile to be fired there is a fee of £10 per pair. Unfired tiles will be recycled.*

Info: Join us on day 3 to celebrate all things art and design, with our own Art Fair with local independent artists!

Info: Join Barrie Bell as he leads you through Lancaster's hidden history. From Kanteena past the Golden Lion, uncovering the city's dark "Hanging Town" past, Thomas Edmondson's railway ticket invention, and the Grand Theatre, one of England's oldest. Weave through Sugar House Alley to Gillow's Furniture legacy, an art nouveau car showroom, and the Glassworks - one of seven stained glass manufacturers in Lancaster. Follow the ancient Roman road of Church Street past the Judges Lodgings to Castle Hill, rounding off at the Priory to admire stunning stained glass windows and a chapel by a celebrated local architect. Tickets will be released soon.

Info: Step One is built around a simple prompt: what’s an idea you’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t yet? The format is designed to open up honest conversation around creative ambition, hesitation and action. Mollie and Rebekah from Short Supply will be hosting this workshop on Day 3!

Info: Come chat to the Process MCR team about different creatives events across the North and how were building creative communities across the world that are informal and create a space where creatives can truely be themselves. No portfolios, no pitches, just creatives showing off the behind the scenes of the work, the mistakes they've made and why that's important to share.

Info: An interactive installation reflecting on the beginnings of design practice. A collection of personal starting points shared by the community.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Kanteena, Brewery Lane, Lancaster, United Kingdom

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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