The 2026 Seattle Design Festival theme, IN[FLUX], recognized that we are living in a moment of transition. It reflected the ways our city is evolving and the role design can play in navigating change and invited designers, artists, community members, and thinkers to explore four lenses within this same framework:

IN[FLUX]  How can design respond to constant change and uncertainty?
IN[HABIT]  How do our routines, behaviors, and systems shape the way we live?
IN[FORM]  How do ideas take physical shape through design, materials, and space?
IN[TENSION]  How can design engage conflict, difference, and competing priorities?

Together, these lenses explored the forces that shape our city: movement and stability, structure and experimentation, agreement and disagreement. Through installations, conversations, and experiences, the Festival invited our community to examine how design operates within these conditions and how it can help us imagine what comes next.

The 2026 Festival was August 15-20. It kicked off with the SDF Block Party at Lake Union Park with Installations, Pop-Up Experiences and Mainstage performances. In-person Design Mixers and Closing Party continued throughout the week. Check out all the 2026 Events & Installations and the Festival lives on through the Festival Replay on our YouTube Channel.

Thank you to our 2026 SDF Sponsors!

PLATINUM
Adobe

GOLD
Howard S. Wright  |  MG2  |  Mithun  |  ZGF Architects

SILVER
123 West Design Collective  |  HDR  |  HOK  |  Mackenzie  |  Mahlum  |  Miller Hull Partnership  |  Olson Kundig  |  Perkins Eastman  |  Pierson Ferdinand LLP

BRONZE
BRR Architecture  |  DCG ONE  |  DLR Group  |  Integrus  |  Scharrer AD  |  Swenson Say Fagét

IN-KIND
citizenM  |  Fremont Brewing  |  GLY  |  Green Latrine  |  LMN  |  People People  |  The Stranger

FUNDERS
4Culture  |  ArtsWA  |  National Endowment for the Arts  |  HMC Designing Futures Foundation  |  Seattle Office of Arts & Culture