Your gift powers design for all. As a volunteer-powered 501c(3) nonprofit, we rely on the generous giving of our supporters to bring free and affordable programs to 10,000+ people citywide every year.
Festival Archives
2025 – FEEDBACK
FEEDBACK fuels transformation, growth, and positive change. It’s the spark that ignites new ideas, strengthens connections, and helps us build a better future. At its best, FEEDBACK is an invitation—one that encourages curiosity, creativity, and collaboration across different perspectives.
2024 – WHAT IF?
What if? is a simple question that reminds us of the potential within every design — an invitation to imagine improvement and expand what’s conceivable.
2023 – CURIOSITY
CURIOSITY fuels passion and sparks innovation. By asking what if, we are free to step into the unknown. Free to challenge the status quo, expand knowledge, develop new relationships, and make new discoveries.
2022 – CONNECTION
The 2022 Seattle Design Festival was all about CONNECTION. When thinking about design, there is something very tangible and physical in how things ‘connect’ – but there is also something very emotional that ‘CONNECTION’ taps into, as well.
2021 – EMERGE
2021 was the year of EMERGE. Our community gathered at Lake Union Party on August 21 &22 for a two-day Block Party to explore what we, as a community, are emerging to as our community heals – as we navigate changed perspectives- and as we think about new ways to leverage design.
2020 – ABOUT TIME
The Seattle Design Festival turned 10! Our anniversary came at a pivotal moment in time. This year’s theme, About Time, sought to ponder past, present and future at a unique moment of transition for the city, the region and the world.
2019 – BALANCE
2019 was the year of BALANCE. From August 16 – 25, the Seattle Design Festival brought together groups, organizations, and individuals from our region and across the globe to explore the role of BALANCE in design.
2018 – TRUST
2018 was the year of TRUST. From September 6-21, the Seattle Design Festival brought together groups, organizations, and individuals from our region and across the globe to explore the role of TRUST in design.
2017 – POWER
The 2017 Seattle Design Festival was September 9-22, 2017. The theme, POWER, reflected on our rapidly changing world and our values as individuals and as a community, reasserting our commitment to civic responsibility.
2016 – DESIGN CHANGE
The 2016 Seattle Design Festival was September 10-23, 2016. The theme, Design Change, proposed that design can maximize the public benefits of change, while empowering the communities most impacted by that change.
2015 – DESIGN FOR EQUITY
The 2015 Seattle Design Festival was September 12-25, 2015. The theme, Design for Equity, challenged us to question our biases and assumptions and inspired us to work toward ensuring that everyone in our society – from every background, ability, race, age, gender, location or economic status – can access the same opportunities and outcomes, both now and in the future.
2014 – DESIGN IN MOTION
SDF 2014’s theme, Design in Motion, took on all creative interpretations—from mobility to kinetics and everything in between. From place to place, frame to frame, present to future – design is the vehicle of innovation.
2013 – DESIGN IN HEALTH
SDF 2013’s theme, Design in Health, explored the connection between your health and the design of the city; health and sense of well-being being positively impacted by better design; and the city as an urban playground for all ages.
2012 – ENGAGE YOUR WORLD
SDF 2012’s theme Engage Your World explored ways in which design can improve and increase our interactions with the urban environment.
2011 – BENEATH THE SURFACE
The first annual Seattle Design Festival initiated a public conversation in our city about how good design can have a positive effect on life in general and on urban life in particular. With the theme Beneath the Surface, the intention was to reveal the role of design of all disciplines in our everyday lives and bring to light the unseen world of design around us.