Seattle Design Festival 2026 Call for Proposals

Seattle is a city in a state of transition. Cultural shifts, ecological change, new technologies, and changing communities reshape the places we inhabit every day. Design does not exist outside of this movement — it responds to it, questions it, and helps guide what comes next.

The 2026 Seattle Design Festival theme, IN[FLUX], recognizes that we are living in a moment of transition. Flux suggests movement, instability, and possibility all at once. It reflects the ways our city is evolving and the role design can play in navigating change.

This year’s theme invites designers, artists, community members, and thinkers to explore four lenses within this shared framework:

• IN[FLUX]  How can design respond to constant change and uncertainty?
• IN[HABIT]  How do our routines, behaviors, and systems shape the way we live?
• IN[FORM]  How do ideas take physical shape through design, materials, and space?
• IN[TENSION]  How can design engage conflict, difference, and competing priorities?

Together, these lenses explore the forces that shape our city: movement and stability, structure and experimentation, agreement and disagreement. Through installations, conversations, and experiences across Seattle, the Festival invites our community to examine how design operates within these conditions and how it can help us imagine what comes next.

https://seadesignfest.org/part...