Inspiring Today, Transforming Tomorrow

The Design Leaders Conference
Thursday, January 30th, 2025
Light House Cinema, Dublin

About DLC

The Design Leaders Conference is where creative professionals across all design disciplines come together to connect, share and celebrate the power of design.

The theme for 2025 is ‘Creative Courage’ and will focus on leadership, resilience and innovation. Influential speakers and panellists will explain how creative courage informs their work, their career decisions and how they lead themselves and inspire others. Looking behind the scenes and uncovering the real stories that drive projects and strategy we will explore how a courageous mindset is essential for all our futures.

Whether you're in brand, graphic, product, digital, interior, motion, medical or service design, this is an opportunity to develop new ideas, learn from experts, make meaningful industry connections and get inspired.

Creative Courage

Creative Courage is at the heart of every design and business success story. It is an instinct and mindset that has guided the achievements of this year’s international line-up of thought-provoking speakers and panellists. Bravery and persistence informed their success. Learn to harness it in your own creative work and leadership. Join us at the Light House Cinema, Dublin on January 30th 2025 to uncover the real stories that drive projects and how creative courage is essential for design leadership and for all our futures.

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Join us at Design Leaders Conference

Confident Creativity

The true catalysts of change are the instigators, design leaders and clients who dare to be bold, challenge the norm and question the status quo. Design’s transformative power and its potential for societal impact only unfold when designers muster the courage to make brave creative and leadership decisions. Explore with us how to take responsibility and make a difference by being prepared to challenge our work, business models and clients in response to the big emerging issues that are changing the world around us.

Success From Failure

Every leader has faced failure, made mistakes —both big and small— and carved out their success through trial and error. Inspiring as they are, none of their stories are linear. The good as much as the bad days along the significant challenges have all played crucial roles in shaping their personal paths. Our speakers will not only delve into their recognition and achievement but also what happened when things went wrong and certain failure was on the horizon. Discover how failure and recovery made all the difference in their growth as outstanding leaders.

Focus and Resilience

The conference will explore the essential elements of creative courage. What are the daily habits that encourage these and how does determination and consistency in everything we do fit into long-term success? How does the culture of our own organisations support the habit of creative courage and how can we stay the course and remain consistent when the odds are against us?

Responsibility and Legacy

Successful design work is inherently multiplied and can have greater impact beyond initial objectives. Enduring brands and identities leave lasting impressions, architecture builds permanence and effective products and services can impact the lives of millions. With power comes responsibility. How can designers and clients embrace these bigger opportunities? We will explore how we take creativity to this next level and what structural changes are required for our work to benefit everyone.

“A day to get out of the weeds and see the sky... always worthwhile. A great investment in our team who leave inspired, renewed, and full of ideas.”
— Mary Doherty, Red Dog

“The best conference for meeting fellow designers and connecting with peers”
— Bobby Comerford, Catapult

“An opportunity to benchmark my thinking on design as a profession”
— Stephen McGilloway, Bigsmall Design