Learn How You Can Shape SDF ’25
Our community has been the heart of the Seattle Design Festival for 15 years, and as we approach this milestone anniversary, we’re thrilled to invite you to help shape what this special Festival will become. The two potential themes for the 2025 Seattle Design Festival have been carefully chosen to inspire creativity, spark collaboration, and reflect the values of our design community:
Feedback: A regenerative, collaborative process embracing courageous receptivity.
Delight + Surprise: Design’s invitation to engage, discover, and inspire hope.
Starting January 22, we invite you to “Sway the Vote” by sharing your enthusiasm for your favorite theme on social media. Upload concept boards or short videos showcasing your vision, tag us @seadesignfest, and we’ll reshare your ideas to rally excitement. Then, from February 5 to February 14, cast your official vote to determine the theme that will inspire this landmark year of design exploration.
How Do We Choose Our Themes?
At the Seattle Design Festival, our themes serve as high-level prompts to inspire design responses from our community. Over time, they’ve evolved to address timely issues facing our city, balancing the need to be both provocative and uplifting. Each theme is an open invitation to explore, question, and experiment—fostering conversations and creative solutions that leave a lasting impact.
The process begins with our interdisciplinary leadership group, the SDF Council. Learn more about them on our leadership page. This dedicated team—comprised of designers and community leaders—has been working since October to bring forward potential themes. Together, they brainstorm ideas that feel:
– Timely and Relevant, resonating with the pressing needs and aspirations of our city.
– Compelling across multiple design sectors, offering multiple points of entry for participation.
– Evocative of hope, renewal, belonging, connection, courage, engagement, curiosity, and exploration.
This year, “Feedback” and “Delight + Surprise” emerged because of their ability to resonate broadly while also inviting meaningful and dynamic responses.
Why These Themes?
Feedback reflects the power of collaboration and growth through courageous receptivity. It challenges us to listen, adapt, and embrace iterative processes—core practices that drive innovation and build community.
Delight + Surprise reminds us of design’s capacity to inspire joy, wonder, and optimism. In a world that can often feel heavy, this theme encourages playful discovery and celebrates the unexpected ways design can spark hope.
How Can You Get Involved?
Showcase Your Favorite Theme: Starting January 22, create and share concept boards or videos highlighting your vision for either “Feedback” or “Delight + Surprise.” Tag us @seadesignfest so we can amplify your creativity.
Check out these SWAY THE VOTE examples from some of our amazing community members!
Vote for the Theme: From February 5-14, cast your vote for the theme you’d like to see shape the 15th anniversary Festival.
Follow Along: Be sure to follow @seadesignfest to be the first to see videos from SDF leadership, community-developed concept boards, and thought-provoking prompts to help you decide.
This is your Festival, and your voice is essential in shaping how design will inspire action and innovation in 2025. We can’t wait to see your ideas, and we’re thrilled to celebrate 15 years of design with all of you. Let’s make this milestone year unforgettable!