On Friday 13th June (unlucky for some) the Ballyhoo team attended the Birmingham Design Festival Conference. Now in its seventh year, the event alternates annually between a festival and a conference.
The Setting
Situated in Birmingham city centre—a short train ride from Ballyhoo HQ—the conference was in the ideal location. Previous years have seen the BDF conference at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and held virtually, with this year’s edition at Birmingham Town Hall. This made for the perfect venue—a Grade I listed building that boasts exceptional architectural interest, making it fitting for a festival of creativity.
The Day
The day was an inspiring event, featuring eight distinct speakers who represented a diverse cross-section of the creative industry, including branding agencies, artists and creative directors. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Play’. It celebrated the playful aspects of a designer’s daily work and explored how this can be leveraged to enhance their skills, portfolio, and business growth.
Our motivation for attending was to absorb new ideas and gain inspiration that we could integrate into our own agency’s work, promoting growth and innovation within the Ballyhoo team.
The venue was packed with a vibrant community of creatives, each person eager to learn, connect, and contribute.
Speakers
Speakers included agencies Templo and Studio Dumbar, artists Kelli Anderson and Javier Jaén, and Editorial Creative Director from The Guardian, Chris Clarke. Two of our favourite sessions were:
- I Can’t Afford It But Maybe She Can – Two long distance besties share their imaginary shopping list of home decor, art and fashion accessories, on Instagram, effectively a ‘wishlist’ for one half of the duo, while the other, self-described as a “wannabe millionaire,” actually purchases these dream items. They explained how they cultivated a relatable platform by transforming their passion for online browsing into content that others enjoy. They also highlighted how their posts benefit smaller businesses and artists by increasing their visibility and opportunities.
- Aardman – Former Creative Director Merlin Crossingham from Aardman discussed how they incorporate play to make the well known and ever-popular films that are loved around the world. This was a particularly interesting session for the Wallace and Gromit loving team, not just to see the behind the scenes of how their iconic films are created, but it also gave us inspiration on how the process of making can be just as fun as the outcome.
Key Takeaways
These events inspire us and provide an opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals. While we may not traditionally share much in common with all speakers, such as those focused on ‘paper design’ or film, every session offered valuable lessons, whether it be a direct idea to help Ballyhoo grow, or how to be more creative as individuals, ultimately aiding us in our daily roles of designing and developing websites for our clients.
Our daily work is directly impacted by the individual takeaways we gain, allowing us to hone in on our creativity to ensure that we consistently deliver exceptional results for our clients, creating successful, engaging and beautiful websites that help to convert customers.
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