Over the coming years, we’ll see the power that design has to help navigate the biggest shifts our world faces. From major changes to how business is done, to how society adapts to environmental and technological upheavals, the ability of design to create solutions and reinterpret challenges into new ways of thinking and shaping the way forward has never been more needed. 

Across industry sectors, wherever design is able to influence and shape, it has the opportunity to effect change, accelerate progress and create impact.

At the DBA’s Design Effect you’ll spend a day getting under the skin of what makes design effective in the business and societal environments you work in, across the range of design disciplines. You’ll leave with a deeper appreciation of the power of design, energised to create meaningful change and motivated to contribute to a better future.

Book your tickets today and join us at The British Museum on 8 October.

14:15 – 14:35: Reframe your perspective on impact and change

Kicking things off, Clive Grinyer will steer us through real-world examples and his own broad experience to challenge perspectives on the vast impact of effective design. From transforming customer experiences to driving meaningful change across your entire organisation, he’ll highlight where design is making the most significant impact today and offer his unique perspective to reframe valuable lessons. With fresh and powerful insights and strategies on how to push design to drive impactful change, we’ll be ready to jump into the rest of the day.

Clive Grinyer, Design Consultant and Educator

14:35 – 15:15: Crafting consistent, cohesive and powerful customer experiences

How can designers craft exceptional experiences that not only resonate with a brand’s values but also create unforgettable moments? In this session we’ll hear how design is being used strategically to create seamless customer interactions in three leading companies. From creating delight through innovative physical spaces, to cutting-edge digital interactions that drive brand loyalty and engagement, this session highlights that the pursuit of market-leading customer experience is an ongoing journey—there’s always room to re-define and re-work. Hear from the panel to ignite fresh ideas and strategies to captivate your audience wherever they connect with your brand, and stay at the forefront of industry innovation.

Chair: Kate Ancketill, CEO at GDR
Vuokko Aro, VP Design at Monzo
Jeremy Lindley, Global Design Director at Diageo

16:10 – 16:40: Driving business performance from the inside out

This expert panel will challenge conventional boundaries of what design can achieve. Exploring the connection between exceptional design leadership and operational success and dissecting design’s ability to drive drive corporate objectives, we’ll explore how design embedded within an organisation has the capability to transform its fortunes. From streamlining complex business operations and integrating strategic thinking into a company’s DNA, to, balancing profitability with environmental responsibility, this conversation will expand your perspectives on the profound impact design can have on business capabilities and performance.

Chair: Clive Grinyer, Design Consultant and Educator
Jos Harrison, Global Head of Brand Experience & Design at Reckitt 
Pernilla Johansson, VP & Head of UX Design at Volvo Group

16:40 – 17:25: Designing the future you choose

Create a future where design moves beyond simply responding to change, to being a driving force behind it. Huge advancements in technology and a world-wide focus on sustainability present pivotal opportunities for design today – but how do we grasp the potential? This uniquely curated panel discussion will explore perspectives you won’t have heard before, and ideas that reach outside of the well-worn approaches we encounter everyday. Broaden your mindset, become a proactive architect of your own future, and create a better tomorrow by transforming groundbreaking ideas into reality.

Valeria Adani, Partner at Projects by IF
Mary Mc Bride Ph.D., Chair and Professor at Pratt Institute
Ben Sheppard, Chair and Co-founder of Design for Good and former Partner at McKinsey & Company

19:40 – 20:05: How to be the change we need

In this rare industry address, Richard Seymour will challenge us to rise to the occasion of designing a brighter future. What makes a designer or team who can seize the opportunities of living in this rapidly changing world? How can we pull the future towards us and stay ahead of the changes coming down the line? What can we do to imagine the future we need to create? We can’t give any more away, you really have to join us to hear this.

Richard Seymour, Co-founder of Seymourpowell, TED speaker and industry pioneer

Richard Seymour, Co-founder of Seymourpowell, TED speaker and industry pioneer

Richard has a passion for beauty and how products matter. His award-winning career spans several design disciplines, from book and record-sleeve design, through advertising and film production design. Seymourpowell, which he co-founded with Dick Powell in 1984, is regarded as one of the world’s leading product and innovation design consultancies.

Richard believes that design is fundamentally about making things better – better for people, better for business and better for the world. Much of his time now is spent helping multinational corporations understand what lies before them in the future and finding ways to ‘rewire’ them to better face these challenges.

Richard joins us to challenge the industry to rise to the occasion of designing a better future. He will delve into the essential roles and capabilities designers need to navigate and shape a rapidly changing world and equip us with the vision needed to drive meaningful change through design. 

Valeria Adani, Partner at Projects by IF

Valeria has over 13 years’ experience in product, service and organisation design, bringing a human-centred perspective to data and technology. 

In her work at Projects by IF, a strategy and design agency specialising in trust, she helps organisations increase trustworthiness in their products and services to drive adoption and growth. Prior to IF, Valeria was Head of Service Design at frog. She has worked as a service designer, facilitator and design thinking coach in design agencies and academic institutions in the UK, Italy and China. 

Valeria joins us to discuss the role of emergent technologies in shaping priorities for designers and the active role trust-led design can play in building a better future.   

Clive Grinyer, Design Consultant and Educator

Clive has set up and led influential design teams for major global companies such as Barclays Bank, Cisco and Samsung and has led digital and innovation projects across the public sector, including his role as Head of Service Design at the Royal College of Art. He began his career with innovation consultancy IDEO and was co-founder of the design consultancy tangerine alongside Apple design chief, Sir Jony Ive.  

Clive encourages organisations to think strategically and use design to shape how they co-create and collaborate, build successful innovation, technology and digital teams and change their organisational culture to focus on customer experience and impact.

Clive joins us to challenge conventional thinking and demonstrate how integrating design into every aspect of a business environment can profoundly impact customer experiences at every touchpoint. 

Vuokko Aro, VP Design at Monzo Bank

Vuokko leads the design and research teams at Monzo, overseeing vision and execution for both product and brand across the business. From Monzo’s prepaid era to today, her work has created beloved experiences across all customer touchpoints, influenced company direction, and contributed to building a profitable business with over 9 million customers.

Vuokko’s experience in the US and Europe working on startup and well-established brands, such as Citymapper, has enabled her to adopt a customer-centric approach to user experience design that elevates the whole industry.

Vuokko joins us to discuss how design cultivates strong customer connections, aligns with a brand’s core values, and impacts every element of the customer journey.

Jeremy Lindley, Global Design Director at Diageo

Jeremy oversees the transformation of Diageo’s design capability and output for its global brands and new products. He is passionate about how design impacts business performance and the way design thinking leads to breakthrough ideas wherever it is applied. Notable projects include Johnnie Walker Blue Label, Guinness Harp dispense fount (winner of the DBA Design Effectiveness Grand Prix 2020) and the Johnnie Walker Princes Street Brand Home in Edinburgh, opened in September 2021. 

Before Diageo, Jeremy was Head of Design for Tesco, managing 19,000 private label products and leading the store formats and design teams. His background includes work as a University Lecturer, Cannes Lions and TEDx speaker, and roles such as Chair of Trustees of Soulmates Academy Foundation and Former Chair of the Design Business Association. He is actively involved in promoting DE&I in the design industry and has contributed significantly to Diageo’s Inclusive Design initiatives. 

Jeremy joins us to explore the impact of design on business performance, focusing on how brands can craft effective physical experiences that delight customers and drive customer acquisition and loyalty.

Kate Ancketill, CEO at GDR

Kate has been innovation partner to over 30 of the world’s largest brands including Microsoft, Google, BBC, Lego and P&G. As the CEO and founder of trends, foresight and strategy consultancy, GDR, she uses professional strategy and research expertise to distil complex global subjects into clear narratives.  

From economic headwinds to demographics and the advance of exponential technologies, Kate contextualises big shifts in consumer trends, inspiring companies to work differently and drive change across the commercial sector. Through GDR’s consultancy, trend analysis and sector reports, they imagine new possibilities and direct practical strategies that are fit for the future. 

Kate will lead a panel to explore how design can shape physical and digital experiences at every touchpoint and the impact that can have on customer engagement and acquisition. 

Pernilla Johansson, Head of UX, Digital Delivery at Volvo Group

Pernilla has nearly 30 years of design leadership experience in multinational corporations, currently leading UX within Digital & IT at the Volvo Group, driving an ambitious digital and cultural transformation. As Chief Design Officer at Electrolux, she managed a global network of 200 designers across seven locations, following 13 years at Philips Design. 

Pernilla is a people-centric leader who fosters holistic, research-based experience development and has built multiple high-performing teams across three continents, resulting in design effectiveness and numerous award-winning solutions. This is exemplified by co-founding the Centre for Organisational Creativity, which aids organisations in building their creative capacity in a systemic way.  

Pernilla joins us to explore how design leaders can create environments where design meaningfully impacts operations and drives business outcomes. 

Sean Carney, Founder, C-Suite Advisor and Former CDO at Philips

Sean has built and led multi-award winning teams for Electrolux, Assa Abloy and most recently Philips where he served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Design Officer. He has a passion for connecting systems, data, people and capabilities to find creative solutions that result in better for the world outcomes.

Sean currently works as an independent advisor to CEOs of multinational corporations, startups and creative agencies, whilst helping to craft new ways of working through innovative new platforms such as The Group of Humans and Neol. He is a founding member and trustee of Design for Good, which pulls together thousands of designers each year to work on society’s biggest challenges, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

As chair of the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards judging panel, Sean will delve into this year’s winning case studies, exploring the real-world examples of effective design in action.  

Mary Mc Bride Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Creative Enterprise Leadership, Arts and Cultural Management, Design Management at Pratt Institute

Mary is a coach, communication strategist and consultant to enterprise leaders worldwide. She designed and heads up the Creative Enterprise Leadership international graduate programmes in Design Management and Arts and Cultural Management at Pratt Institute.

Mary is passionate about the power of design to enable, engage and enliven, with her research focusing on developing the personal, organisational and systemic capacity for creative experimentation, innovation and change. She heads up the leadership development practice at Strategies for Planned Change and has most recently published Leading As If Life Matters: An Invitation to Attend a Future of Our Own Making with co-authors Xue Bai and Maren Maier.

Mary joins us to inspire and mobilise designers to tackle the challenges necessary for building a better future, emphasising the significant and meaningful impact they can achieve.

Ben Sheppard, Chair at Design for Good

Ben brings together hundreds of the world’s best designers, from organisations like Philips, PepsiCo and Lloyds, to work on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in his role as the co-founder and chair of global non-profit Design for Good. 

He was a long-standing partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led global research on design for over a decade and convened the Chief Design Officers’ Roundtable, a regular gathering of over fifty of the world’s most senior design leaders. Ben’s work includes leading innovation, design, and development on everything from jet engines and cars to medical devices and coffee machines. 

Ben joins us to explore how businesses are reconciling a growth agenda with a people and planet-first agenda, and the role designers play in this evolving business environment.  

Jos Harrison, Global Head of Brand Experience & Design at Reckitt

Jos has over 20 years’ experience in strategic brand design and believes brands and business are society’s greatest vehicle for improving our culture, our health, and our planet. He champions the role of human-centric design and creative business leadership in bringing to life sustainable business models.  

In his role at Reckitt, Jos provides strategic tools and creative direction, connecting design to other vital functions within the company and empowering brands to create behaviour changes that have a lasting positive impact at a global scale. 

Jos joins us to discuss how sustainable design practices can be integrated across business operations, balancing environmental responsibility with profitability, and driving innovation in large-scale organisations. 

Programme

13:30 – 14:15: Registration and welcome

14:15 – 18:00: Conference sessions including the presentation of the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards winners

18:00 – 19:00: Drinks and canapé reception

19:00 – 19:10: DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2024 Grand Prix presentation

19:10 – 19:40: Dinner

19:40 – 20:05: How to be the change we need with Richard Seymour

20:05 – 22:00: Dinner discussions

FAQs

What does my ticket include? 

Tickets include food and drink throughout the afternoon and evening, plus access to all sessions and networking. There will be: 

• Networking with fellow design industry leaders. 
• In-depth case studies exploring the collaborations that produce effective design.
• Find out who’s won and celebrate with the winners of the DBA’s Design Effectiveness Awards.
• Exclusive after-hours access to The British Museum’s Egyptian Sculpture Gallery, home of the Rosetta Stone.
• The best design discussion you’ve ever had over dinner, in the Great Court.

Can I book a full table for the dinner? 

Yes! Booking to attend the Design Effect includes an afternoon of talks, debates, films and evening discussions over dinner. Tables at the dinner can sit 10 – 12 people. Please book for the number of attendees and a member of the DBA team will be in touch to confirm each attendee’s details for the full event.

I’ve booked two tickets but my colleague can no longer attend, can someone else come in their place? 

Yes, absolutely. Whilst tickets are non-refundable or exchangeable against future events or other DBA activity, you can update the attendee details so someone else can come along. 

I’m booking for the team, how do I let you know who will be coming on the day? 

A member of the DBA team will be in touch to confirm each attendee’s details including any access and/or dietary requirements and if there’s anything else we can do to best support everyone’s enjoyment of the event. 

What’s the dress code? 

Day to evening elegance and celebration. 

Making travel plans? 

We’ll be open for registration and networking at 13:30 and kicking off at 14:00 leaving plenty of time for a mornings work and to get to the museum. As it’s a school night we’ll be wrapped up for 22:00 so you’ll be able to catch the train home. 

If you’d like to stay in the local area, we recommend: 

The Hoxton, Holborn a 6-minute walk from the British Museum with rooms starting from £389 per night.

Thistle London, Holborn a 3-minute walk from the British Museum with rooms starting from £281 per night.

St Giles, London a 6-minute walk from the British Museum with rooms starting from £128 per night.