We don’t send Newsletters on a Friday, but for unusual, exciting times, we made an exception. Why? 📣 It’s here, it’s open, it’s all shinning new…

• New year, new dates for DUp25 🔔

• New (interim) website 25.designup.io 🎁

• Brand New Theme (more below) 💎

• Open Call-for-Speakers (CfS) 🎉

• New CfS website and flow 🔑

• A new WhatsApp channel 🎈(Join in)

This issue is all about #DUp25, what we’re looking for in the CfS and more…

For 2025, we have a unique theme, the first time in our 9th year. All speaking proposals should have that as the foundational block. More details below.

Before you get all set to start applying, you might want to get a bit of the back story!

How we got here…

Our 2024 conference (short video recap here) inspired a Wall of Love, and a tsunami of social media mentions. Our closely (and lovingly) curated content, diversity of perspectives and speakers, the energy and connections is what draws people year after year. Growing from a tiny gathering of 230 people in 2016, to an impactful, insightful, inspiring, in-person event. DesignUp is independent community-led, volunteer-driven event.

DesignUp has been called ‘the definitive Design-in-Tech event’ (YourStory), ‘the Gold Standard of Design Conferences in India’ (Akshay Kothari) and listed amongst the World's 'most exciting Design events’ by Quartz. And then there's this: "DesignUp is a conference with a heart" (Amy Huang).

The only way to continue being a great destination for our growing community is by having the most insightful speakers, diverse voices and inspiring content. That’s where you come in: Your voice, our stage, unlimited impact!

Join the conversation that redefines, reimagines Design at DesignUp 2025. Submit your Talk or Workshop proposal and inspire a passionate, global audience eager for fresh ideas.

Your voice, our stage, unlimited impact!

Here's your chance to present, influence and inspire your peers, young professionals and seasoned leaders. Share learnings, unique perspectives, deconstruct processes, and even new beginnings from failures. Your voice, our stage and together we amplify that impact.

DesignUp's 2025 Theme:
The Design Currency

In today’s interconnected world, Design is more than aesthetics—it’s a powerful medium of exchange that drives innovation, shapes behaviours, and delivers impact. Just as currency fuels economies, Design propels industries, cultures, and sustainability initiatives.

At its core, The Design Currency explores how design creates value: economic, social, and environmental. From fostering customer loyalty through compelling user experiences to building resilient solutions for a sustainable future, Design is the new capital that defines success.

This theme invites discussions about the role of Design as:

• A Business value generator

• A Social connector that fosters belonging and innovation

• A Sustainability enabler tackling the world’s pressing challenges

With this lens, The Design Currency emphasises the transformational power of Design and its role as a way to humanise and contextualise other resources and assets in this era of rapid change.

You can approach this theme from multiple perspectives: Careers, Leadership, Process, Change, Innovation, Research & Insights, Craft (Design, Writing, Image-making, Films), Storytelling, Sustainability and more. It's your story to share.   

We are looking for submissions in the following categories, within the broader theme:

• Short or Lightning Talks (upto 15 mins max), and welcome first time speakers to apply

• Long Talks (25-35 mins)

• Workshops (3 hours or 5 hours long, for upto 25 people)

• Keynotes are by invite only, but we may, on rare occasions, move Long Talks into Keynotes.

We're always looking out for unique stories and insights, fresh perspectives—the Asian, African, Latin-American and the Indian points-of-view included. And we also welcome stories from around the world and as much as from non-Designers. 

We strongly discourage using the platform to market your team, sell your product or organisation. We encourage you to share failures since a lot of our learnings come from failures, mistakes and errors. You might like to share a project, deconstruct a process or a journey, even share a philosophy and/or insights.

Bite sized news, updates and more? Join our WhatsApp fam…

if WhatsApp is just your thing, and if you like consuming bite sized pieces of

• news (who’s hiring, what’s the an inspiring read?)

• updates (on anything from Super Early Birds to corporate discounts)

• and announcements (speakers, workshops)

Then just fill in this 2-min-form (literally) and we’ll add you in a jiffy!

Stay in Touch

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🍀 Stay human and stay curious,

@jdallcaps & @soosixty