Birmingham Design Festival: celebrating the art of ‘play’ in our ‘work’.
When our brand designer Elliot Moss stepped away from his desk last Friday, he found more than just creative inspiration at Birmingham Design Festival — he discovered something fundamental about how we work, think, and create. Here's his take on why play isn't just this year's theme — it's the secret ingredient our industry has been missing.
Words by Elliot Moss –
Last Friday, I managed to escape the studio and head into Birmingham city centre. As I walked down to City Hall, you could immediately feel the buzz in the air. An army of volunteers helped guide the sea of eager faces awaiting the start of this year’s BDF conference. And what a year it was.
The lineup was a perfect combination of creatives, from various disciplines across our industry. Each one fully embraced and creatively interpreted this year’s theme of play. But, as I walked away with a notepad full of scribbled thoughts, it became clear that play isn’t just a word to be thrown around — it’s a pivotal tool in our practice.
Play is about openness, as shown by those who took centre stage and presented unedited versions of themselves — each sharing their work, processes, and passions, but also, unexpectedly, their families, interests, and most significantly, the pros and cons of our industry, with a willingness to question it. For example, the current culture which rushes to criticism without fully understanding the work at hand.
Play gives us the confidence to see that mistakes aren’t failures — they’re something to be celebrated and necessary steps in the process of moving forward. We learn what doesn’t work so we can figure out what does.
Play reminds us to have fun — that within any project, we need to make time to enjoy what we do. Too often, tasks become too serious or risk becoming mundane. But play gives us the opportunity to say yes instead of no, and to try something new and exciting — something that might just be an unexpected element our work needed.
This year served as a reminder that creativity isn’t an elusive talent you’re born with — it’s something that can be developed, nurtured, and taught. It showed those we admire are, at their core, simply people who play.
Learn more about Birmingham Design Festival.
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