The Design Indaba

Design Indaba is an annual conference and making platform with an aim to help create a better world through creativity. A Think Tank and Do Tank since 1995.

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

"They asked me to change the ending because it was too hopeful."

When filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu @wanuri refused to change the ending of Rafiki, the film was banned in Kenya.

In this powerful Design Indaba talk, @wanuri explores why stories of joy, hope, love, and possibility are essential to African storytelling and representation on screen

Instead of accepting narratives rooted in remorse, she began exploring stories of joy, hope, love, and possibility across Africa's past and present.

Her message is powerful: our stories matter, and the stories we choose to tell shape how we see ourselves and each other.

What stories of joy do you think deserve more space on our screens?

🎥 Watch the full talk on the @designindaba YouTube channel
🎤 Design Indaba Conference

Follow for more ideas on creativity, storytelling, design, innovation, and culture.

#WanuriKahiu #Rafiki #DesignIndaba #AfricanCinema #Storytelling #RepresentationMatters #DiversityInFilm #CreativeInspiration #AfricanStories #FilmMaker #WomenInFilm #Cinema #Culture #CreativeLeadership #FilmIndustry #Joy #Hope #AfricanCreatives #BlackPanther #Inspiration

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

A logo on a construction truck changed Michael Bierut's life forever.

In this inspiring Design Indaba talk, legendary graphic designer Michael Bierut shares the childhood moment that sparked his passion for design.

A simple logo on a construction vehicle revealed the hidden creativity behind branding and visual communication—and set him on the path to becoming one of the world's most influential designers.

As a child, he noticed something most people would miss: the logo wasn't just a name—it visually showed what the machine actually did. That tiny moment of discovery revealed the magic of graphic design and inspired a career that would influence the world of branding.

Sometimes one small detail can change everything.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel for more design inspiration, branding insights, and creative talks.

#MichaelBierut #GraphicDesigner #LogoDesign #BrandingDesign #DesignInspiration #CreativeJourney #Typography #VisualIdentity #BrandStrategy #DesignThinking #Creativity #MarketingDesign #CreativeLife #DesignCommunity #DesignIndaba #GraphicDesignDaily #CreativeMinds #InspirationDaily #DesignerStory #Reels

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

Can graphic design really change the world?

Legendary Graphic designer and partner @pentagram Michael Bierut, shares one of the most famous examples of graphic design's real-world impact.

A ballot design created for the 2000 US Presidential Election became a case study in how layout, typography, and information design can influence human decisions at scale.

For graphic designers and design students, this story is a powerful reminder that design isn't decoration—it's communication. And when communication fails, the consequences can be enormous.

What do you think: should designers be held responsible for how people interpret their work?

A must-watch for graphic design students, UX designers, visual communicators, and creative professionals.

🎥 Watch the full talk on the @designindaba YouTube channel.

#GraphicDesign #GraphicDesigner #DesignStudent #DesignHistory #Typography #UXDesign #UIDesign #InformationDesign #VisualDesign #CreativeProcess #DesignThinking #DesignEducation #UserExperience #LayoutDesign #BrandDesign #CreativeCareers #DesignInspiration #VisualCommunication #DesignLessons #Reels

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

"To design beauty is to honour ourselves."

In this powerful Design Indaba talk, Kenyan creative Sunny Dolat explains why The Nest Collective aka @thisisthenest, never compromises on beauty—and how their groundbreaking film "Stories of Our Lives" challenged stereotypes about African queer communities.

This is a moving reflection on identity, representation, creativity, and the power of telling our own stories.

🎥 Full talk now live on the @designindaba YouTube channel.

#DesignIndaba #Storytelling #AfricanCreatives #RepresentationMatters #SunnyDolat #TheNestCollective #AfricanStorytelling #QueerVoices #LGBTQStories #CreativeInspiration #RepresentationMatters #AfricanCulture #Kenya #DocumentaryFilm #CreativeLeadership #Identity #Storytelling

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

One of the biggest lessons for filmmakers and content creators: stop waiting for permission. 🚀

In this powerful talk at the @designindaba Conference in Cape Town, @Casey explains how NOT knowing the “right way” to make films became his greatest creative advantage. From guerrilla filmmaking in NYC to building one of the most influential creator careers online, this is pure motivation for every filmmaker, YouTuber, influencer, and creative entrepreneur.

If you’re struggling with creative block, originality, storytelling, or standing out online — watch this.

🔥 Topics:
• Filmmaking motivation
• Creative mindset
• Storytelling tips
• Content creator advice
• YouTube growth inspiration
• Guerrilla filmmaking
• How to be original as a creator

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#CaseyNeistat #Filmmaking #ContentCreator #YouTubeShorts #Storytelling #CreativeMindset #Filmmaker #InfluencerMarketing #VideoCreator #CreatorEconomy #Cinematography #Videography #CreativeProcess #YouTubeGrowth #FilmMakingTips

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

How can design make data more human?

This talk by Yosuke Ushigome, explores the intersection of AI, interactive design, data visualization, climate technology, UX, and human-centered innovation through the work of @Takram_ja ,a globally recognized Japanese design and innovation studio.

From immersive architecture and VR experiences to AI-powered climate awareness tools, this presentation dives into the future of design thinking, speculative design, and emerging technology.

A must-watch for designers, engineers, architects, creatives, and anyone interested in Japanese innovation and the future of human experience.

🎥 Full talk now live on the @designindaba YouTube channel.

#Takram #JapaneseDesign #DesignThinking #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #UXDesign #DataVisualization #CreativeTechnology #Innovation #FutureTechnology #HumanCenteredDesign #SpeculativeDesign #TokyoDesign #JapanTech #InteractiveDesign #ClimateTech #DesignInspiration #TechInnovation #ExperienceDesign #DesignEngineering #VisualDesign #FutureOfDesign #AR #VR #DigitalInnovation #CreativeCoding #DesignStudio #JapanCreative #EmergingTechnology #DataHumanization

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Diébédo Francis Kéré argues that African architecture must stop copying Western models and instead engage the real needs of its people and environment.

Born in Gando, Burkina Faso — where over 80% of the population cannot read or write — Kéré returned from his architecture studies in Berlin to build with his community, not for them.

His Gando Primary School, constructed entirely by local villagers using clay and handmade bricks, demonstrates that low-cost building can be high-quality design.

From teacher housing to the National Park of Mali, Kéré's practice proves that architecture born from local knowledge, community participation, and environmental responsiveness is stronger than any imported model.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#AfricanArchitecture #SustainableDesign #CommunityBuilding #FrancisKere #ArchitectureForChange #GandoSchool #EcoFriendlyDesign #CulturalArchitecture #DesignIndaba #LocalMaterials

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

In this powerful talk, the founders of Led By Donkeys aka @ByDonkeys reveal how four ordinary friends transformed political frustration over Brexit into one of the most influential guerrilla activism movements in modern Britain.

From secretly pasting anti-Brexit billboards across London to projecting messages onto the Houses of Parliament and the White Cliffs of Dover, this story explores political accountability, satire, activism, freedom of speech, and the rise of populism in the UK.

Featuring Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, David Cameron, Brexit protests, viral political campaigns, and emotional stories from World War II veterans, this video uncovers how social media, street art, and public protest reshaped political conversation across Britain and Europe.

Watch the incredible journey behind the viral @ByDonkeys campaign and discover how creative activism challenged Brexit lies, political hypocrisy, and media narratives during one of the most divisive periods in UK history.

Full video of this talk is now live on the @designindaba YouTube channel

#LedByDonkeys #Brexit #BorisJohnson #NigelFarage #PoliticalActivism #UKPolitics #GuerrillaMarketing #PoliticalSatire #AntiBrexit #Documentary #Politics #SocialMediaCampaign #PoliticalCampaign #Europe #ProtestArt

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk: Sexual assault is one of the world’s most hidden epidemics — and for millions of survivors, the hardest part isn’t just the trauma… it’s not being believed.

In this powerful talk at the @designindaba Conference by Global graduate, designer, strategist and entrepreneur Antya Waegemann, we uncover the shocking realities behind sexual violence, rape kits, survivor advocacy, and the broken systems that fail victims every day.

From South Africa to the United States, this emotional presentation explores how design, technology, and awareness can help rape survivors seek justice, reclaim power, and finally be heard.

If you care about women’s safety, social justice, mental health, gender equality, or ending violence against women, this is a conversation the world needs to hear. Watch until the end and share this video to spread awareness and support survivors everywhere.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch this and many more design talks

#SexualAssault #BelieveSurvivors #WomensRights #SouthAfrica #TEDTalk #JusticeForWomen #EndViolenceAgainstWomen #MentalHealth #RapeKit #Awareness #GenderEquality #SurvivorStory #HumanRights #TraumaAwareness #StopViolence #SocialJustice #WomenEmpowerment #Documentary #ViralVideo #PowerfulSpeech

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk: From transforming complex legal research into powerful visual storytelling to using graphic design as a tool for social impact, this talk explores the intersection of design, law, policy, advocacy, data visualization, typography, and communication design in India.

Global Graduate Aananya Khaitan was part of the speakers at the @designindaba's 25th edition. He shared how thoughtful design can simplify dense information, influence public discourse, shape policy conversations, and tackle issues like drug decriminalization, child protection, privacy policy design, and social justice.

A must-watch for creatives, designers, activists, students, and anyone interested in the power of design thinking to drive real-world change.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch his full talk.

#GraphicDesign #DesignThinking #SocialImpact #DataVisualization #Typography #CreativeProcess #DesignForChange #PolicyDesign #UXDesign #CommunicationDesign #VisualStorytelling #Advocacy #LawAndDesign #DesignInspiration #CreativeCommunity #PublicPolicy #DesignEducation #SocialJustice #IndianDesign #DesignTalk #CreativeLeadership #InformationDesign #DesignStrategy #InstaDesign #DesignersOfInstagram #TEDx #Innovation #Branding #ContentCreation #DesignCulture

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

Named by @TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2019, Jeanne Gang delivered and inspired and compelling talk at the @designindaba Conference's 25 edition.

Founder of the @studiogang, Gang shared how architecture is in service to building better cities by strengthening relationships between people, communities, ecosystems and the built environment.

Gang highlighted @studiogang's research-driven and socially conscious approach to architecture, emphasising projects that prioritise public life, ecological restoration and collective wellbeing over spectacle and grandeur.

Referencing developments such as the iconic Aqua Tower in Chicago and the studio’s environmentally focused river and urban planning initiatives, she demonstrated how architecture can actively respond to climate change, biodiversity loss and social fragmentation.

Gang shared her guiding belief “actionable idealism”, the belief that ambitious architectural thinking must also produce practical social and environmental impact.

She discussed how @studiogang integrates scientific research, material experimentation and community participation into its design process, often collaborating with ecologists, engineers and local stakeholders to rethink how cities function, reflecting on several of the studio’s landmark project as a testament to the process.

A central theme to the talk and her practice, Gang framed cities as living systems shaped by relationships and shared responsibility underscoring design as a critical force in building more resilient, equitable and ecologically sensitive futures.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#Architecture #SustainableDesign #UrbanPlanning #EcoArchitecture #DesignIndaba #StudioGang #ClimateAction #PublicSpaces #ResilientCities #SocialImpact

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk: At the Design Indaba’s 25th Anniversary, Manu Prakash a physical biologist, engineer and MacArthur Fellow delivered a compelling talk on his pioneering concept ‘”frugal science”.

The concept positions science not as an exclusive discipline but as something that should be radically accessible to all. His vision is realized through a design approach that focuses on creating low-cost, highly functional tools for use in resource-limited environments.

His talk shared a simple but urgent problem: there are not enough scientists in the world, especially in regions where scientific tools and infrastructure are scarce. His response is to design tools that are inexpensive, portable and easy to use, enabling anyone, anywhere, to participate in scientific discovery.

One of Prakash’s most celebrated inventions, the Foldscope, exemplifies this philosophy. Made from paper and a tiny lens, the origami-style microscope costs less than a dollar yet can magnify specimens up to 2,000 times.

Lightweight, portable and durable, it allows for what Prakash calls “science in the field” or even “diagnostics under a tree” , bringing powerful tools directly to communities rather than requiring access to formal laboratories.

Prakash’s approach activates inclusion in scientific fields. By lowering the barriers to entry, he envisions a world where amateur and professional scientists collaborate, expanding both knowledge and participation.

Through his work Manu Prakash is reframing design as a means of unlocking curiosity at scale, turning science into a shared, global endeavour.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#FrugalScience #DesignIndaba #ManuPrakash #Foldscope #AccessibleScience #ScienceForAll #InnovativeDesign #LowCostTech #ScienceInTheField #GlobalScience

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk:Returning to the Design Indaba stage, Zimbabwean filmmaker Sunu Gonera’s talk is a powerful call to action for African creatives to reclaim authorship over their own stories.

Known for his work across Hollywood and the African continent, Gonera shares how the power of film can be both a cultural and political tool capable of shaping how Africa is seen and experienced.

Gonera’s advocates for film and African storytelling as a powerful counterpoint to the external stereotypes that are often applied to the continent. Gonera’s shares how film can be used to restore nuance, complexity and authenticity to African stories when told by creatives from the continent.

Drawing on his own career, Gonera highlights the importance of building local ecosystems that support storytelling from within, from production infrastructure to talent development that ensures that African creatives are represented in global cultural landscape.

A compelling motivating factor, is the democratisation of filmmaking as a result of the streaming platforms now available which are encouraging new voices and an expansive range of stories.

Through his career and work, Gonera is challenging African creatives to take agency of the future of cultural production on the continent.

By reclaiming narrative power, Gonera suggests that African filmmakers can reshape global perceptions and contribute to a more honest, expansive understanding of Africa one story at a time.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#AfricanFilm #Storytelling #AfricanCreatives #FilmMaking #CulturalNarrative #AfricanCinema #CreativeAgency #NarrativePower #FilmForChange #AfricanStories

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

Bas Timmer’s heartwarming presentation saw him revealing 250 Sheltersuits for South Africa – the presentation was all the more touching because @designindaba flew his mother out from Holland to see her son’s dream (in which she had a hand) become a reality.

“Great design can make the world a little warmer,” he said, celebrating the seed-funding from Design Indaba that enabled him to take this philanthropic step in South Africa.

After the 2020 edition of the conference, the @designindaba distributed the Sheltersuits to the homeless in Cape Town, via The Haven Night Shelter Welfare Organisation.

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

At Design Indaba’s 25th edition, Fashion designer Bas Timmer delivered one of the conference’s most emotionally charged talks, a presentation that demonstrated how design can provide warmth, dignity and shelter for the vulnerable.

His project, the @Sheltersuit, is a wearable shelter designed for people experiencing homelessness: a waterproof, windproof jacket that transforms into a sleeping bag, offering protection against extreme conditions.

After experiencing the death of a friend’s father from hypothermia while living on the streets, Timmer redirected his fashion career toward creating something purposeful, a design that could prevent such loss from happening again. Sheltersuit has become a comforting lifeline.

What makes the Sheltersuit powerful is both its functionality and system. Produced from upcycled materials and manufactured in social workshops employing refugees and vulnerable communities, the project embeds dignity and opportunity into every stage of its lifecycle.

At the Design Indaba Conference, Timmer extended this thinking to a local context with the launch of the Shelterbag, a lighter, climate-appropriate version developed specifically for South Africa’s conditions.

The initiative mobilised sponsors and audiences alike, resulting in the funding and distribution of Shelterbags to people living on the streets.

Bas Timmer’s design message is profound: design should solve real problems, with care and dignity, and not hypothetically but immediately and at scale.

As Timmer expresses, great design has the power to make the world a little warmer.

Visit the @designindaba YouTube channel to watch the full talk

#Sheltersuit #SocialDesign #UpcycledFashion #HomelessnessSupport #WearableShelter #DignityThroughDesign #RefugeeEmpowerment #ClimateAppropriate #PurposefulDesign

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk: Design Indaba Global Graduate, Kathryn Larsen aka @theseaweedgirl_ presented a quietly radical proposition:

The future of sustainable architecture may already exist in the past.

During her talk at the @designindaba’s 25th anniversary, Larsen shared her work that centres on reviving eelgrass, a form of seaweed as a viable building material, drawing from centuries-old techniques once used on the Danish island of Læsø.

Larsen’s approach is rooted in rediscovery. Historically, eelgrass was used for roofing, insulation and construction due to its durability, rot resistance and natural insulating properties.

Today, however, it is largely discarded as waste with thousands of tonnes thrown away each year. Her project, Seaweed Thatch Reimagined, translates this vernacular method into a contemporary system.

By developing prefabricated thatch seaweed panels for roofs and facades, she demonstrates how ancient knowledge can be adapted for modern construction processes merging craft with industrial scalability.

Her work extends beyond architecture into product design, including experiments with kelp-based materials for furniture and fashion, reinforcing a circular, bio-based approach to design.

Larsen’s talk provides a shift in perspective: the future of design may lie in remembering rather than inventing.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch this full talk and many more

#SustainableArchitecture #SeaweedBuilding #BioBasedDesign #CircularDesign #GreenBuilding #EcoInnovation #TraditionalCrafts #RenewableMaterials #ModernCraft

[The Design Indaba @designindaba]

NEW Talk: Rick Brim, Chief Creative Officer of adam&eveDDB, built a reputation for bold, emotionally resonant campaigns.

For the 25th Anniversary of @designindaba, Brim delivered a candid talk on the realities of creativity in an oversaturated world.

Brim shared a sobering statistic: £18.3 billion is spent on advertising each year, yet only 4% of ads are remembered positively, 7% negatively, and a staggering 89% are barely noticed at all.

The question, then, is simple: how do you make people care? For Brim, as he shared with audiences, the answer lies in understanding human emotion at a fundamental level.

Whether tapping into a cultural trend, finding a unique angle or redefining the zeitgeist entirely, the goal is to create work that connects instantly and meaningfully.

It’s a high bar but one that adam&eveDDB consistently meets through bold, unexpected ideas that often push beyond conventional boundaries. Central to Brim’s approach is simplicity.

The most effective campaigns are not overloaded with messages, but distilled to a clear, human truth something audiences can feel rather than decode.

At the same time, he emphasised the importance of creative risk, safe ideas may fill space, but they rarely leave an impression. In a landscape dominated by noise, the ideas that endure are those that evoke emotion humour, empathy, surprise and stay with people long after the moment has passed.

Brim’s creative process calls for bravery and precision in equal measure and underscores the importance of understanding people deeply, saying something real and saying it in a way that no one else can.

Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full talk.

#DesignIndaba #design #creativity #CreativeLeadership #AdvertisingInsights #BoldIdeas #EmotionalMarketing #CreativeRisk #DesignIndaba #HumanConnection #MarketingStrategy #BrandStorytelling #RickBrim #creativeOfficer #adamandeveDDB #advertising #branding #brandidentity