Design Groups London

Design Systems London #17

DSL is a non-profit community aimed at creating a platform for every enthusiast to share experiences, ideas and approaches on Design Systems. We are excited to invite you to our autumn edition of DSL! 🍂 DSL #17 will happen on 16 September, organised by YLD and sponsored by Revolut. Tickets go live on Monday, 17 August, at noon, so make sure you set your reminder and reserve your seat to join us: [https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt](https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt) The evening's agenda and talks line-up to be announced soon. **Who are [Revolut](https://www.revolut.com/ "https://www.revolut.com/")** People deserve more from their money. More visibility, more control, and more freedom. Since 2015, Revolut has been on a mission to deliver just that. Our powerhouse of products — including spending, saving, investing, exchanging, travelling, and more — help our 75+ million customers get more from their money every day. As they continue the lightning-fast growth,‌ 2 things are essential to their success: their people and their culture. So far, they have 13,000+ people working around the world, from their offices and remotely, to help them achieve their mission. And they're looking for more brilliant people. People who love building great products, redefining success, and turning the complexity of a chaotic world into the simplicity of a beautiful solution. **Who are [YLD](https://www.yld.com/ "https://www.yld.com/")** Founded in 2013, YLD is a technology consultancy headquartered in London, with offices in Lisbon and Porto. The business supports clients across the UK, Europe, and the US, working with technology leaders across a diverse range of sectors. These include heavily regulated industries such as fintech, health, energy, and media, where compliance, data governance, and audit requirements shape every technical decision. YLD brings together AI-augmented software engineering, product design, and data engineering under a single offering, built around a fluid, embedded team model where composition is shaped by the client brief, not a fixed org chart. YLD is hiring - check out the [job page](https://www.yld.com/join-us "https://www.yld.com/join-us") Join the conversation on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/")

#3 - the UX of third spaces

**Meet likeminded UX professionals over coffee/brunch and discuss ways to use design to create third spaces that evoke a feeling of comfort and belonging.** ​**The Problem:** When was the last time you discovered a place that made you feel a sense of comfort and belonging, and what contributed to that feeling? ​For our third **design impact lab** session, we’ll be discussing how simple interventions can help create better third spaces for communities. ​**The Flow (Sunday 16th August 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM):** * ​**10:30 \| Coffee & Intros \(Paris Baguette Southbank\):** We’ll meet for coffee & brunch to kick things off. You'll meet other attendees and discuss the problem space. * ​**10:45 \| Conversation Game:** We'll break up into small groups of 4-5 and play a Japanese conversation game designed to encourage you to discuss this topic in a fun way. * ​**11:15 \| Discussion:** After the game, we'll break up into pairs and exchange UX intervention ideas. * ​**11:30 \| Free Discussion:** We'll wrap up with free discussions about UX, design, third spaces or whatever is on your mind. *** ​**Pre-Event Mission:** ​Your mission is to think about the third spaces (cafes, pubs, libraries, community spaces etc.) in your city or community that you love to go, and what makes them special to you. *** ​**The Details:** * **Location:** [Paris Baguette Southbank](https://maps.app.goo.gl/5fwo9QUZFZr8mqYh7) (1 min from Waterloo Station) * ​**Capacity:** We’re keeping this to a small group to ensure everyone can connect and contribute. Please ensure your RSVP is up to date and let us know if you're unable to attend. * ​**Vibe:** Friendly and relaxed! No laptops, just notebooks and fresh air. *** ​**Why Join?** ​If you’re a designer or researcher who wants to use your skills for more than just conversion, come say hi. ​It’s a chance to meet like-minded people and consider how design can solve universal human problems. ​**Who is this for?** ​Our events are for UX designers, researchers and other strategic and creative thinkers who are passionate about using their skills for social good, not just profit. Please note that this is not a networking event, or a place to find a job. ​**Who is the host?** ​Hi! 👋 I'm Max - a London based design researcher. Until recently I was based in Tokyo, where I ran a small design agency and spent over 10 years as a meetup organizer. I'm exploring ways to bring designers together to use our skills to work on meaningful problems. If that sounds like something you're interested in, I'd love to have you join! \*This event is being advertised on multiple sites, so the actual number of attendees will be different to what appears on meetup.

London Designers x Developers - Summer Social Networking

**\*Update\* We have changed the date to Wednesday 26th August!** Join us for a relaxed summer evening at the **London Designers x Developers Summer Social**! 🌿 We'll be hanging out in **St James's Park**, making it the perfect chance to meet fellow designers and developers in a laid-back setting. Whether you're looking to grow your network, chat about tech and design, find collaborators, or just enjoy some great conversations, everyone is welcome. Come on your own or bring a friend, you'll fit right in! 🚀 After spending some time in the park, we'll head over to **The Duke of York** at 8:30 pm for drinks and continue the conversations. 📅 **Date:** Wednesday 26th August 🕡 **Time:** 6:30pm – 9:30pm 📍 **Location:** St James's Park, followed by drinks at The Duke of York at 8:30pm. We’ll be meeting just south of The Blue Bridge - [https://maps.app.goo.gl/LxkJ6rb4TwT1cRKV8](https://maps.app.goo.gl/LxkJ6rb4TwT1cRKV8) \*The park location will be weather dependent. If it rains (looks unlikely) we'll post a message and head straight to the pub. We look forward to seeing you there! ☀️🍻

FUNCTIONALISM, AND THE BUS

200 years ago the first ‘omnibus’, carrying, without booking, up to 20 passengers, ‘inside’ and ‘on top’, to an advertised timetable, along a fixed route, cheaply, set off from Paddington, for the Bank of England, along the ‘New Road’\*. So we’re going to meet at Stockwell Station, once the terminus of the world’s 1st deep-level, electric railway, and then walk, or ride the No 2 bus\*\*, from the 1952 Stockwell Bus Garage (pictured) to Victoria Bus Station, busiest in London, by way of the dramatic 2004 Vauxhall Cross Bus Station, 2nd busiest, noting along the route the features added to the system since that time, which we now take for granted, like: route numbers, fixed stops, 2 covered decks, a distinctive logo, red buses, own typeface, quiet, clean vehicles, a co-ordinated network, and interchange to other routes and to other transport modes. Stockwell Garage, designed by Adie Button, is a vast monolithic ‘art object’, a single sculptural shell of reinforced concrete, filling an entire city block, and capable of stabling 200 buses as part of the tram replacement project, in a column-free space the size of 4 Olympic swimming pools. Arup Associates’ design of the Vauxhall Interchange won a competition in 2002: a 200m long, 12m wide, ribbon of stainless steel, covering the bus stops, then launching skyward at 20˚, like a pair of skis poised at the top of a jump, to catch sunlight on PV cells. Since 2013 it has been repeatedly earmarked for removal to facilitate the luxury housing developments: we may be among the last groups to see it alive! Both follow the tradition of ‘functionalism’ led by Frank Pick, CEO of the LPTB\*\*\*, and his architect, Charles Holden, from 1934: the design of the transport system was to be simple and fit for purpose. Buildings would be light-filled, modernist beacons, the architecture an exact expression of the passengers’ patterns of use, and superfluous ornament would be excluded, leaving geometric clarity. But just as it reaches maturity the bus network is facing challenges: average speeds falling, the gap between off- and peak demand widening, and becoming unpredictable: costs rise while income falls, funds are short and design standards are slipping. The canopy at Victoria Bus Station has been removed. Vauxhall is scheduled for demolition. New bus designs, such as the ‘New Bus for London’, and the BYD BD11, have exhibited reproduction styling, gaudy LED lights, and extreme overheating. So, for inspiration, we’re going to look for functionalism, with an open mind, on the buses, and in the serious, weird, wonderful and even downright wacky buildings along the route. Including: · London Borough of Lambeth’s George Finch-designed Edrich House, the Wates LPS pre-fabricated storey-height slab system subordinated to the architect’s design with stunning results. One of 4 similar towers around Lambeth. Brutalism rendered inspiring by giving it jagged profiles and top, with each flat visually expressed. If only all pre-fab local authority tower blocks could have been designed so carefully. Now partly painted, which softens its brutality. · Vauxhall Cross, aka the MI6 HQ, by Terry Farrell & Co, 1989-92. Charles Jencks described it as a ‘hanging garden’: it’s certainly a Thames ‘Palace’: But is it Hollywood, Mayan Ziggurat, Art Deco or Beaux Arts? Designed as a speculative project, so intuiting intrigue is just imagination! · Berkeley Homes’ 1400-apartment St George Wharf, 2001-10, memorable for its broken-curve gable roofs. Despite only ever being *shortlisted* for the ‘UK’s Ugliest New Building’ award, in 2006, the internet now firmly asserts that it has *twice* been voted ‘Worst Building in the World’. · The 1976-85 Drummond Gate buildings, Phase 1, 1976-83, by William Whitfield, above Pimlico Station, a ‘medieval castle’, with ‘battlements’, ‘arrow-slit’ windows, thick defensive walls, and a ‘moat’…and Phase 2, 1983-5 by Chapman Taylor, a functional office block now let as the Head Office of the John Lewis Partnership. · Passing the site of the now re-developed Victoria Bus Garage, the only one in Central London, demolished in 1999, at the time of closure serving only 6 routes and 65 buses, we arrive at Victoria Bus Station. It served the 18 m long articulated buses operating route 38, between 2005-9. It had an overall roof, now removed. Now consists only of bus stop posts and narrow raised footways. · The much pinnacled, red-panelled Nova Building, 2016, in Victoria Street, by PLP Architecture, really did win the Carbuncle Cup, in 2017, and was described by the judges, as, among other things, ‘a hideous mess’ and ‘a crass assault on the senses’. No functionalism? We will console ourselves on the ‘Market Halls’ Rooftop Terrace and food court, above the Victoria Station District Line station, and overlooking the Bus Station, with Gourmet Kebabs, Malaysian Street Food, Thai Cuisine, and Artisanal Italian Gelato! Hope you can come! Andy \*now Marylebone, Euston and Pentonville Roads \*\*if it’s too hot to walk. You will need a valid Oystercard or ticket, or a contactless debit card. The route 2 is one of the oldest continuously operated routes in London, first operated in 1905, by the very earliest motor buses. \*\*\*the London Passenger Transport Board bought out all London’s privately owned transport companies, paying them in cash and stock, and was responsible for transport from Luton to Horsham, and from Windsor to Tilbury.

London Creative Networking Event – Designers, Founders & Startups

**Welcome to Networx London!** Calling all graphic designers, digital creatives, and startup founders: join us for an evening of relaxed networking and idea-sharing. Connect with like-minded innovators, creative professionals, brand owners, and investors—no formal pitches, just real conversations. 📍 **Venue: The Sycamore, Holborn** A modern, relaxed venue in central London, just steps from Holborn station. Perfect for after-work networking, drinks, and great conversations. 📅 **Event Schedule** **18:30 – 19:00** \| Welcome & Warm intro **19:00 – 19:30** \| Open Networking **19:30 – 21:30** \| Informal Networking \(no pitches\, no pressure\) **Why Attend?** Connect with designers, creatives, and founders, discover new opportunities, and stay inspired by the latest trends in design, creativity, and digital innovation. Build meaningful relationships and gain fresh perspectives to grow your network and business. 👥 **Who Should Attend:** Graphic designers, digital creatives, founders, brand owners, marketers, product managers, investors, and anyone interested in design, creativity, and innovation. **Limited spots!** Register today and hit **Follow** for updates on future weekly events. 📸 **Event Photography** Please note that photos and videos may be taken for promotional purposes. **WhatsApp**👉[https://chat.whatsapp.com/FizCdlVSjvCCR6EpoESl3A](https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg "https://chat.whatsapp.com/GisOCaIiMeKEehV5Lv7qxg")

DAYTIME DYKES | Schiaparelli: Fashion Becomes Art | V&A

In what ways can we benefit from “the Arts”?

NOTE: the pub does not charge for our space on the understanding that we all purchase something from the bar. Please support them. I'll be there from around 7pm if anyone would like a social chat before we get started. **Please arrive in time for a prompt start at 7:30.** We’ll inevitably spend some time exploring what distinguishes “art” from anything else. But most of our discussion will focus on the ways in which art can be beneficial to both the consumer and the creator. We’ll take a fairly broad interpretation of "the arts", including music, literature and other forms of creativity, in addition to the sorts of things you see in art galleries. (Hence my use of “consumer” instead of “viewer”/”listener”/”reader”). Some questions we might consider… * To what extent does “art” need to be pleasing to the consumer? * If not “pleasing”, what else draws people to experience it? * To what extent should art challenge us to think, or see the world differently? How does this vary across different art forms? * In what ways is being creative for its own sake, beneficial? * In what ways is expressing feelings through art a form of therapy? * What distinguishes works produced primarily to benefit the creator from works produced primarily to benefit the consumer? Who judges? On what basis? * “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” is a quote attributed to Picasso. What did he mean? Was he right? Is “art” a licence to break rules? How healthy is that – for creators and consumers? * Marc Chagall, an early 20C painter said “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” To what extent does successful creation and consumption of art rely on an emotional component / a rational component? * To what extent does a consumer need to understand the creator's intent in order to benefit from a work of art? * What effort does the consumer have to make to fully benefit from the art they consume? How does this vary across different art forms? * To what extent is the act of physically going to a gallery/concert/theatre… more beneficial than seeing photos of pictures in a book / listening to music at home / watching a play on TV etc.? * In what ways do the benefits of creating differ from the benefits of consuming? Relevant articles you may want to look at: [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no) [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/20/art-cure-by-daisy-fancourt-review-is-culture-the-best-medicine](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/20/art-cure-by-daisy-fancourt-review-is-culture-the-best-medicine) Hope to see you there.

Art Appreciation - Ai Wei Wei

For our **Art Appreciationn Summer Special '26** we'll be looking at the work of the famous Chinese artist **Ai Wei Wei** Come at 18.30, **eat with us** and enjoy an evening of exploring the work of this famous, provocative living artist. [https://www.living-room.club/summer-26-art](https://www.living-room.club/summer-26-art)

Café sketching session (+ Movie hangout) ☕✏️🎬

Get ready to bring your sketchbook and art supplies for a chilled café sketching session! There's no attendee limit so please feel free to join us even if there is a waitlist / RSVPs are full! There'll also be a movie hangout afterwards! You're free to just attend the sketching session or just the movie hangout. If you'd like to come to the movie hangout, scroll down for more info. No matter your skill level lets grab a coffee and unleash our creativity into our sketchbooks. There's no formal guidance, you'll be free to get on with your own drawings/personal art projects while being able to connect with other local artists. You're welcome to join in on the group conversations or quietly get on with your art studies whatever your preference. A few basic drawing supplies (pencils, colouring pencils, erasers etc) will be provided but please bring your own sketchbook / tablet / paper / something to draw on! After the sketching session at approx 4:15pm, we will make our way to Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square for 5:30pm to see the 90s romcom ***10 Things I Hate About You***. The film starts promptly at 5:45pm - approx 7:30pm. *I've booked seat C13 so make sure you book a seat in or around row C!* *[Link to buy your ticket](https://princecharlescinema.com/prince-charles-cinema/booknow/31627087/)* Hope to see you there 👋 (Also there's no attendee limit so please feel free to join even if there is a waitlist / RSVPs are full!)

R is for Richard Dadd, Beyond Bedlam at Royal Academy of Arts

★ ★ ★ ★ *“ethereal, profoundly sad beauty”* (The Guardian) ★ ★ ★ ★ *“intricate and profoundly eccentric”* (The Telegraph) **Join us at the Royal Academy of Arts for the Richard Dadd, Beyond Bedlam exhibition.** The highly original works of Victorian artist Richard Dadd, best known for his fairy paintings, draw upon literature, legend and memory to portray elaborate worlds that radiate imaginative power. The first years of Richard Dadd's life promised the conventional success of a highly talented British artist. The young Dadd was a student of the Royal Academy Schools and founding member of a group of artist-friends known as the Clique. In the early 1840s Dadd was already establishing himself as a painter of Shakespearean fairy scenes when he embarked on an ambitious trip across the Eastern Mediterranean that would inspire him for the rest of his life. On his return to Britain, Dadd began experiencing delusions, which led to him killing his father. Dadd spent the rest of his life as a patient in Bethlem and Broadmoor hospitals, where he was encouraged to continue producing oil paintings and watercolours of extraordinary delicacy and vividness. Despite Dadd's seclusion in the Victorian asylum system, he was able to draw upon his memory, imagination and abiding interest in literature and legends to render fantastical worlds replete with exquisite detail. These paintings and watercolours are among the most original and imaginative works in British art. Dadd's art was all but forgotten until it resurfaced in the 1960s and 70s. In the years since, his work has continued to inspire artists, writers and musicians, including the band Queen, who named a song after one of Dadd's most celebrated paintings, *The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke*. Bringing together more than 100 works, this exhibition tells the story of Dadd's life and art, as radical and imaginative in his time as it is today. This exhibition contains artworks that include historical language and imagery related to mental health and racism. **Read more here:** **[https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/richard-dadd](https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/richard-dadd)** **MEET DETAILS:** **FROM 2PM: MEET AT RA COURTYARD CAFE (optional)** Address: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD Look out for the LoMAZ sign on the cafe table and the host who will be wearing a LoMAZ badge. **2.40PM: ENTER THE MUSEUM/EXHIBITION** Address: Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BD **4.30pm-Late: PUB SOCIAL AT THE KING'S HEAD PUB (optional)** We'll head to a nearby pub for a chat over drinks. Address: 10 Stafford St, Mayfair, W1S 4RX **TICKETS:** **You will need to purchase your own ticket for this event.** **Please book here:** **[https://my.royalacademy.org.uk/ex-richard-dadd/51932](https://my.royalacademy.org.uk/ex-richard-dadd/51932)** and **choose the 2.40pm slot** (or thereabouts). Ticket: £15 Ticket with Art Pass: £14 Members: free, no need to book **GETTING THERE:** **[https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/plan-your-visit](https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/plan-your-visit)** **EVENT WHATSAPP GROUP:** Please join the event WhatsApp group to help you find the group on the day. The link will be posted in the Event Comments 48 hours before the event. *NB* *Joining this WhatsApp group will make your phone number visible to other members in the group.* **PLEASE READ:** LoMAZ events are run by volunteers. This event has an attendee limit as we prefer a smaller, friendlier group. If you RSVP but can no longer attend, please change your RSVP as soon as possible, otherwise you will be marked as a 'no show'. Please see the **[About Us section](https://www.meetup.com/london-museums-a-z-for-30s-40s/)** for more information about the group and how it works. **Thank you for your interest in the group & being part of LoMAZ.** 📸 Follow LoMAZ on **[Instagram.](https://www.instagram.com/londonmuseumsatoz/)** Image credit: Richard Dadd, Titania Sleeping, 1841, oil on canvas. 64.8 x 77.5 cm. Paris, Musée du Louvre, Department of Paintings. © GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

London. Walk the Talk: Ideas Beyond RFS

**IMPORTANT!** Please register on [Luma Page](https://luma.com/tua59gyv) Every year, Y Combinator publishes a list of the problems they think are worth solving. This summer: AI-native services, company knowledge systems, dynamic interfaces, counter-swarm defence. A map of where they believe the next decade gets built. Do you agree with it — or do you have your own idea for the future? ​Maps are drawn from above. We're on the ground. ​Walk the Talk is an afternoon in the park where we look at both — what YC sees from the frontier, and what you're seeing in your work, your city, your daily life. Bring your idea. Refine it with AI. Test it. Walk it through the best and worst case scenarios of what it could become. # ​Schedule ​☕ 14:00 — Grab-and-go coffee. No sitting. Keep moving. ​🚶 14:10 — Partner up. Raw pitch — where does your idea fit in what YC is asking for? Or does it belong in a category they haven't named yet? ​🤖 14:25 — AI refinement pass. One prompt, together. ​🔍 14:45 — Pitch the refined version. Then ask the question nobody asks early enough: in the best hands — what does this become? In the worst hands — what does this become? ​↩️ 15:05 — Return. The gap between those two answers is your homework. ​🌿 15:30 — Open discussion. # ​Who it's for ​Anyone sitting on an idea they haven't pressure-tested yet. No deck. No co-founder needed. Just a problem you think is worth solving — and the curiosity to find out if you're right. ​☀️ Bring something to cover from sun and rain (it's London!) # ​**Who we are** ​This event is organised by Projector Global Community Ambassadors. ​Projector Global Community by Prjctr Creative & Tech Institute is a global network for designers, developers, marketers, and product thinkers. We support learning, connection, and creative growth across borders — to bring great ideas to life. ​— # ​Photos & Video ​Please note that we will be taking photos at this event. By attending, you agree to be photographed and grant the organisers permission to use this footage for community purposes (e.g., social media).

Small Galleries of Mayfair Tour - Art Appreciation Summer Special '26

To begin our Art Appreciation Summer Special '26 we'll be going on Small Galleries of Mayfair Tour - where we wander around this exclusive area dropping in and out of the many small private galleries open to the public there. We will see some stunning art on sale now by living artists and also some famous artist's work continuing to be for sale. **Meet at the Living Room Soho at 2.30pm.** [https://www.living-room.club/summer-26-art](https://www.living-room.club/summer-26-art)