Designship 2026
Overview
Japan's largest design conference, built on the concept of "reconnecting design that has spread too far." Held annually since 2018 around the stories of practitioners crossing UI/UX, graphic, and product design, it has drawn over 50,000 cumulative attendees, with about 2,500 visitors over two days in 2025. The 2026 edition takes place at Tokyo Midtown Hall on October 10-11.
Program
- More than 60 sessions over two days on two stages (Main Stage and Open Stage)
- Three keynotes (Shohei Shigematsu, Kyotaro Hayashi, Kota Iguchi) plus panel discussions
- Many sessions are followed by an Ask the Speaker slot for talking with the speaker directly
- Exhibitions including the Japan Design Chronicle by DOO and a University of Tokyo (Watanave Lab) installation, plus sponsor booths
- Online streaming covers the Main Stage only
Speakers from past editions
- Kinya Tagawa (CEO, Takram, 2025 keynote)
- Teruo Kurosaki (founder of IDÉE, 2025 speaker)
- Eriko Yamaguchi (CEO and Chief Designer, Motherhouse, 2024 speaker)
Foundation
- Founded
- 2018
- Founder
- Founded in April 2018 by Moe Hirono, co-founder and former CDO of FOLIO, who established the Designship association to run the conference
Born as an annual venue to connect design practitioners fragmented across digital, graphic, and product industries.
Transition
- 2018 Moe Hirono and others founded the Designship Association and held the first edition
- 2025 The 8th edition was held at Tokyo Midtown, with over 80 speakers from 60 organizations and 2,518 visitors over two days
- 2026 Cumulative attendance passed 50,000. The 9th edition on October 10-11 at Tokyo Midtown Hall
Voices
A rare chance to physically experience how far design has expanded — especially valuable for designers working outside Tokyo.
Many talks full of stories and real examples you rarely get to hear, offering a great deal of learning.
Through boothing and sessions alike, I found hints for crossing role boundaries.
A designer connected the idea of characters as an interface for emotion to her own product design (from Ayako's report, in Japanese)
A speaker shared five initiatives for democratizing UI design with a two-designer team (from Teramoto's report, in Japanese)
Sponsors
Diamond Sponsor
-
GMOインターネットグループ株式会社 -
アクセンチュア
Platinum Sponsor
-
株式会社野村総合研究所 -
株式会社Sun Asterisk -
株式会社はてな -
GA technologies -
Framer -
SOMPOホールディングス株式会社 -
EYストラテジー・アンド・コンサルティング株式会社
Gold Sponsor
-
株式会社アシュアード -
株式会社マネーフォワード -
株式会社スタメン -
株式会社メドレー -
エムスリー株式会社 -
株式会社Too -
株式会社カカクコム 食べログカンパニー -
KDDIアジャイル開発センター株式会社 -
株式会社LayerX -
フラー株式会社 - サイボウズ株式会社
-
株式会社助太刀 -
Sansan株式会社 -
株式会社STYZ（デザインスタジオCULUMU） -
株式会社SODA
Silver Sponsor
-
合同会社DMM.com -
株式会社ビーワークス -
株式会社PeopleX -
株式会社エス・エム・エス -
株式会社U'eyes Design -
株式会社グッドパッチ
Supporter
-
株式会社FeatU -
株式会社東芝 -
BABY JOB株式会社
Source: official sponsor list (as of October 9, 2026)
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