This is the week of WDCD Live and we’re selling the last tickets. If you, by any chance, haven’t purchased your tickets yet, consider this: WDCD has not only a fantastic line-up of 20 international speakers, but also a series of highly interesting breakout sessions, different exhibitions, an additional concert on Thursday evening by officerfishdumplings, two award ceremonies – Golden Dot Awards 2016 and WDCD Refugee Challenge finalists – and of course another unforgettable after-party!
Peter Saville, Zapiro, Marcus Lyall, Marcello Serpa, Eefje Blankevoort, Christian Benimana, Kunlé Adeyemi, Rick Poynor, Selly Raby Kane, Michael Uwemedimo; need we say more? And that’s only half of this year’s line-up.
Great breakouts
But that’s not all. We’ve programmed a great series of breakouts again, including a presumably stiff discussion on the pros and cons of the WDCD Refugee Challenge moderated by Dezeen’s editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs and an exciting guided tour around the world within the context of ‘Mobile Connects the World’ powered by dialogue marketing agency Yourzine.
Both days you can expect a challenging Design Battle by Adobe, while our global premium partners Antalis and Arjowiggins host breakouts on the possibilities for designers to visualize emotions and on what design can do for paper, or better what paper can do for design.
On Friday the Autodesk Foundation discusses the power of design and entrepreneurship in tackling some of today’s critical global challenges with Christian Benimana and Corinne Gray (UNHCR Innovation).
Reframing Academy hosts a session on designing for refugees, while the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences’ department Communication and Multimedia Design discusses how to design for different cultural environments. In collaboration with the Public Prosecution Office, David Kester will host a session on design against violence, while BNO and Silo, and VBAT both in their own ways discuss the added value of design for music.
Inspiring exhibitions
In addition, the venue will have room for a pop-up expo ‘Let’s Talk about Violence’ of concepts by Rietveld Academie design students answering the question what design can do for violence taboos. Students of the academy’s DesignLab worked this past semester on the topic on request of de Public Prosecution Office and WDCD. Also in the hall – and freely accessible for non-attendees too – the poster exhibition with the 25 nominated projects for the WDCD Refugee Challenge.
Exciting evening programs
Thursday evening Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ stages an additional concert by officerfishdumplings and the traditional Dutch-Moroccan percussion group Dakka Chrafoo that will end up in party time with the DJ’s of Rebel Up!
Meanwhile, at the BIMhuis Communication and Multimedia Design of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) will host the awards ceremony for the very best student work at the Golden Dot Awards (GDA). Expect some great examples of how digital design can improve people’s lives or help entire organizations.