Mark your calendars for New Designers 2026

New Designers, one of the UK’s most renowned design graduate showcases, is mixing things up for its 2026. Over its 40+ years in show, New Designers have always sought to evolve with the times, and this coming event is no exception, concentrating what was once split over two weeks into a four-day exhibit of creative talent. The decision comes from a practical place, yes, but also one that mirrors the ever-interdisciplinary – and ever more collaborative – nature of the industry. With that in mind, New Designers 2026 looks to be more accessible for visitors to see, meet and greet emerging creative talent from an impressively diverse assortment of disciplines. Alongside graphic design, illustration, animation and motion, you’ll also be privy to the perhaps less mainstream end of the spectrum, such as contemporary craft, jewellery, metalwork and costume design – to name only a few. Across the represented disciplines, the event will host over 2,500 graduates from more than 100 BA and MA courses. 

One such graduate, who embodies both the contemporary creative dialogue and New Designers’ progressive approach, is Ella Blow, who studied Textiles at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. Her project, Interwoven, took to reclaiming second-hand, deadstock or found materials and transforming them into interlocking patterns that contrast geometric forms and floral ones. For Ella, the project is about protraction; extending the lifecycle of fibres and yarns and, in the process, highlighting the unnecessary waste across the fashion industry and the latent potential of excess and off-cuts. Rinnah Ban, meanwhile, from Nottingham Trent University, pursues a more narrative-driven, illustration practice. Enthusiastic about children’s education generally, Rinnah focuses on children’s books and how illustration and ideas can bring positivity – and beauty – to the everyday lives of young ones. Playing with light and colour, their practice is one of balancing dichotomies and media: analogue and digital, pencil and gouache. All in a playful and positive pursuit of peace.

In tandem with New Designers 2026’s graduate exhibition is its educational programme, ND Educates – it marks the return of seminars, workshops and talks between new talent and the wider industry. These are designed to help the former traverse their transition into the creative scene, and, perhaps, meet some key connections on the way. Industry figures and creative educators will also come together under ND Educates for a tutor-based programme – a new feature of New Designers 2026 – where graduates can engage in the future of design education and learn some hands-on skills. It’s an intriguing element to graduate showcases that is afforded by New Designers’ scale, and is sure to help young creatives better navigate the issue of employability, especially in the age of AI and our ever-changing creative landscape. New Designers 2026 doubles down on this pursuit through ND Connects, its networking platform that puts graduates and professionals face-to-face for portfolio reviews, mentoring and advice sessions. Again, in the light of AI’s omnipresence, New Designers emphasises the importance of allowing those entering the industry and those already in it to meet IRL.

The ND Awards will open the event, running from 1-4 July, to showcase the best of its graduate showcase and celebrate both the latest (and greatest) of creative minds and the connection between education and industry. 

New Designers 2026 is open to the public between Thursday to Saturday, 1-4 July, 2026.