Leading Design London 2026

Leading Design London returns to the Barbican Centre on 11 and 12 November for its 2026 edition, bringing together senior design leaders from studios, in-house teams and consultancies across the world. Organised by Clearleft and now in its tenth year, the conference is structured specifically for people leading design teams or overseeing design direction rather than for practitioners working at an individual contributor level.

The programme centres on talks and facilitated discussions addressing the organisational, strategic and human dimensions of design leadership. Previous editions have addressed topics including the relationship between design and business strategy, building and sustaining design culture within organisations, and the evolving responsibilities of design directors in a period of rapid technological change.

For architects and interior designers in senior roles, the conference offers an unusually focused environment for thinking about practice leadership away from the daily pressures of project work. Early bird tickets are available ahead of the November event and can be booked through the Leading Design website.