At the heart of this year’s celebrations is a star-studded lineup of alumni, some of the UK’s most exciting names in the creative industries, who began their industry journeys by exhibiting projects at New Designers as part of their university graduating cohort. The alumni gathered together at the Business Design Centre, the show’s home for the past 40 years, to reflect on their design career stories coming full circle. Many of these designers have revisited and participated in the event since originally exhibiting, and some will be returning to this year’s show to take part in a series of talks, podcasts and more.
“I had the great privilege of winning a New Designers award when I exhibited almost 20 years ago and the even greater privilege of opening the show more recently," says alumni Benjamin Hubert. "Showing as a graduate at New Designers really kickstarted my career. These days my team at LAYER visits New Designers to look out for potential new talent to join our studio.”
"We're thrilled to welcome back some of our most celebrated alumni – each of whom has built an incredible career in their own right – to the Business Design Centre, where their journeys began. This year is particularly meaningful, and we’re so excited to have them return to mark this important milestone with us," says Sally Bent, Event Director of New Designers. "It’s amazing to see how far they've come and to know that, whether in a big or small way, New Designers helped play a part in their stories."
A new creative campaign
To commemorate the 40th edition, TM Studio – founded by Johnny Tsevdos and Danny McNeil – was commissioned to create a fresh new campaign. After reviewing previous campaigns, the team crafted a simple yet powerful visual identity: a superimposed '40' floating in an abstract, balloon-like landscape. Moving away from a singular focal point, the design creates a layered, adaptive visual language that invites interpretation and sparks intrigue, connecting with both newly graduated students and the wider industry.
2025 dates and disciplines
This year, New Designer will once again bring together 2,500 design graduates from over 100 university courses across two weeks, covering the following disciplines:
- Week 1 (2nd – 5th July 2025): Fashion and Costume; Contemporary Design Crafts; Textiles; Ceramics; Glass; Jewellery and Metalwork
- Week 2 (9 – 12th July 2025): Furniture; Product Design; Industrial and Spatial Design; Graphic Design; Illustration and Animation; Motion and Digital Arts; Game Design.
ND Awards: celebrating rising stars
Each year, the ND Awards recognise outstanding graduate talent, with over 30 awards celebrating creativity, innovation and design excellence across key contemporary themes such as sustainability, wellbeing, personal identity, and diversity and inclusion.
ND Educates: learn from the experts
Another standout feature of New Designers is its extensive programme of talks and workshops, designed to help graduates prepare for future careers. ND Educates will return in 2025, offering graduates and trade visitors the opportunity to hear from leading brands, designers and professional experts as they share insights into emerging trends, discuss key sector themes and offer practical advice on launching a career in design.
Each day will be split into two parts: mornings will feature panel discussions with industry leaders on current topics – from sustainability in design to future trends in colour, materials and innovation – while afternoons will focus on education and career development, including portfolio reviews, drop-in sessions and one-to-one careers advice with experts. Stay tuned for the full 2025 programme – curated once again by New Designers alumna Hannah Payne – to be announced soon.
Other key features include:
- ND Connects – Exclusive portfolio review sessions for the New Designers Class of 2025, where established brands provide graduates with one-to-one feedback for their portfolios, either in person or virtually.
- ND Futures – Offering guidance to 15-18-year-olds as part of the show’s Schools Days, this series of talks and workshops, also curated by Hannah Payne, enables design-inspired A-Level, GCSE and BTEC students to seek career and education advice about potential courses to pursue at a degree level.
