As ever, our monthly events were a focus of our activities during 2025. We’ve had an amazing variety of speakers. On the one hand we have heard about craft skills in the form of Andrew Grundon talking about his practice of traditional sign painting; and history with Daniel Wright talking about the evolution of railway signs in the UK and Nicole Volmering talking about Dublin’s bilingual street signs. On the other hand, we have been resolutely looking to the future with Peter Reynolds’ talk about wayfinding 2.0 discussing how AI and new technologies are going to shape the practice of designing wayfinding information; and we heard about cultural placemaking from Rana Amirtahmasebi and Jason Schupbach. We also had insights into the work of designers across Europe. These included Katrin Beste on designing wayfinding for Austrian Jobcentres; Riccardo Bobisse, Anna
Saveleva, and James Brown on designing natural wayfinding in Hackney Central; and Fenne Roefs on signs for the Amsterdam Metro. We also had an in-person trip to Highgate Cemetery in the company of Neil Luxton their resident stonemason. We learnt about all sorts of things, from historic methods of lead lettering on stone to the carbon footprint of imported stone. It may have been a typically rainy English summer day, but Highgate Cemetery looked all the more verdantly gothic for it, and the enthusiasm of those of us on the tour was certainly not dampened.
Another highlight of 2025 was our collaboration with SEGD holding a symposium looking at “Wayfinding: future thinking”. This followed on from our previous symposium collaboration with SEGD in 2024. If anything, this second collaboration felt even more successful than the first. This time we became a partner organisation for London Design Festival, increasing our profile and reach. We had a superb line-up of speakers. The quality of focus and attention in the talks was incredible, matched only by the enthusiasm to talk – face-to-face in-person – in the reception at the end of the day.
We’re just starting to think about organising a symposium for 2026. So, if you have any ideas (however mad) for a theme for the event, then please get in touch soon. And thanks also to everyone who completed our post-symposium survey – we know it can be a chore to complete surveys, but the feedback is invaluable in helping us to understand what worked and what wasn’t so great.
We’ve also made a start on planning our monthly events for 2026. You’ll already know about our upcoming January talk from Sarah Manning (Spaceagency) on UX for the built environment. In the following months we’ll be hearing about a variety of sign design and wayfinding related topics. Zenep Akay (Dalton Maag) will be talking about type and place: design that strives to belong to its audience. We’ll hear from H2E Design Studio with a perspective on design from Latvia and beyond. Richard Ardagh will be talking about his book ‘Type Archived’ giving us a visual journey through the history of type. And we’ll be hearing from Polish designer and design tutor Robert Jarzec about type design specifically for wayfinding information. I’m sure you’re looking forward to them as much as I am.
While that may sound like a packed programme, there’s still room for more. If you have a project or a point of view that you’d like to share with our lovely audience then please email us to let us know.
The Sign Design Society wouldn’t run without, firstly, our members. We’re here to support our industry and community: you support us by taking out membership or purchasing tickets to our events, this makes it possible for us to give the industry and community and place to reflect, share good practice, and celebrate our achievements. We’re also indebted to the steering group who give their time freely to help keep the organisation pointing in the right direction. And we’re indebted to Kate, the society administrator, who does so much work to ensure that the society and our events continue to run smoothly. Thank you all for your support, the SDS wouldn’t be here without you.
And here’s to 2026 and more celebration of (not just) sign design!