Dead or Alive: The President's Lectures | D&AD Festival 2026

Rather than seeing the world move into a dystopian sci-fi ending, I see it as the beginning of a new golden age for humanity. AI will become extraordinarily good at left-brain, logic-driven work. If your job is built around repetition—data entry, basic research, mechanical tasks—that should give you pause. But those were never the jobs most people dreamed of doing anyway. Our real value as humans has always been our creative thinking, our emotional intelligence, and even our beautifully imperfect ability to make mistakes.

As Chief Brand & Creative Officer at Squarespace and Co-Chair of the Rhode Island School of Design, I see where this is headed. We’re moving toward a world where creativity, critical thinking, critique, and craft form the foundation of education and work. Great taste will be the currency of the future. Knowing what should exist—and what shouldn’t—is something deeply human. I truly believe human craft will become the new luxury, while AI becomes the tool for the masses. People don’t invest in art simply because of how it looks—they invest in the story of the human who made it. Luxury has always placed a premium on the hand-made: the artisan’s stitch, the subtle imperfection, the sense of something that is truly one of one. We’re already seeing it—film over digital, vinyl over streaming, vintage cars over Teslas, wired headphones over wireless. These aren’t regressions; they’re signals.

Humans will always be the arbiters of taste. We decide what matters next. Just look at Gen Z—nostalgic for eras they never lived through. Culture moves in cycles. What’s old becomes new again. And in a world flooded with infinite, automated content and AI slop, the things that feel human will only become more valuable.

David Lee - Chief Brand & Creative Officer, Squarespace

In LARP, there’s a concept called bleeding: when the game ends, the world doesn’t leave you straight away. Creative programmes can feel the same—the structure disappears, but the energy, ambition, and sense of possibility remain.

Shift gave us more than briefs, mentors, and craft; it gave us a creative world we didn’t want to step out of. Most importantly, it gave us each other, and that sense of connection outlasted the programme itself.

Instead of letting that momentum fade, we chose to keep building together. What survived as a group chat became a studio, a newsletter, and proof that creative community can be the most lasting outcome of all. The group chat never died because we decided it wouldn't.

Marta Litson - Art Director, twentyrising

Paula Smiri - Copy Lead, The Orbit Studio

Sarah Yilma - Content Creator, The Orbit Studio

D&AD Shift Germany 2024 Alumni

A live conversation with Chaka Sobhani, Global Chief Creative Officer of TBWA, and a special guest. Full session details will be announced shortly.

Check out what's happening with D&AD Festival Partner, HP Industrial Graphics, in the Foyer.

Is creativity dead, or are we at the start of its rebirth? As entire categories are reinvented and the tools we use to create are being disrupted, this isn’t the end, it’s a reset. A chance to build again. A chance to reimagine and reestablish our role in business and culture.

As a judge for D&AD’s New Brand Identity category and Founder of CENTER, a studio focused on building the next generation of iconic brands, Alex Center has seen firsthand that creativity isn’t disappearing, it’s being reborn in the hands of those willing to start from the ground up. The future isn’t about refreshing what already exists, it’s about creating what doesn’t.

From his early days at The Coca-Cola Company to his decision to leave and build his own studio, Alex makes the case that we are entering a new creative era, one defined not by iteration, but by invention. Because the best way to predict the future is to build it.

Alex Center - Founder/Creative Director, CENTER

With Nils Leonard, Founder of Uncommon Creative Studio. Full session details will be announced shortly.

Check out what's happening with D&AD Festival Partner, HP Industrial Graphics, in the Foyer.

What's coming up for the afternoon.

Court Williams, Head of Creative Strategy at brand experience studio DE–YAN, leads this deep dive into the high-craft world of brand experience. He will explore why the most ambitious brands are restructuring their marketing budgets to prioritize building worlds, environments and moments that people actually want to be part of, experiences that create core memories and brand loyalty. From deep brand immersions and lifestyle-driven collaborations to massive interactive spectacles, this session is a look at the real-world strategy behind the shift from watching to doing, offering an honest perspective on how to build stories that an audience can step inside.

Court Williams - VP Creative Strategy, DE-YAN

Much of what is framed as ‘insight’ is drawn from lived experience, shaped by realities people have already paid for. I look at how that experience is converted into creative value, and what a fairer exchange demands of the industry.

Jaël Makelemi - Illustrator & Art Director, Nubi Collective & Shift London 2018 Alumni

In 1995 Mary Lewis became the first female president of D&AD after 33 successive years of male leadership. Exactly 30 years later, the baton passes to Lisa Smith of Uncommon Creative Studio. In this session, Mary and Lisa discuss what has changed in 30 years, what remains the same, whether there are enough female leaders in the industry, and what the next thirty years might look like.

Mary Lewis - Creative Director,Lewis Moberly

Lisa Smith - Global Chief Design Officer, Uncommon Creative Studio

Grab a coffee and gear up for the final part of the Lecture's programme.

The industry is excellent at taking people born to create and turning them into people who are very good at justifying creativity.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve been asked to reverse engineer the why. You’ve had to remove the thing that lights you up because you already know which part of the room it will lose. You’ve had to learn industry jargon so people in the room could  “better understand” you.

This session is an invitation to go back beneath the surface and reconnect with your creative audacity. Using the Seven Circle Model, we’ll explore why the most alive creative work comes from identity, relationships and lived experience. From soul, not system.

At some point, you felt called to do this work. Let’s remind ourselves of what that means. 

Stefan Sagmeister will talk about the most frustrating and awful experience he had during his 40 year career as a designer. As we all love disasters and catastrophes, this should be fun.

Stefan Sagmeister - Designer, Sagmeister Inc.

Final thoughts from Lisa Smith.

Join us in the Foyer for the D&AD Festival Happy Hour, from 17:00-18:00.