DLS 2026 in a Snapshot
Workshops to skill-up, talks to zoom-out, and roundtables to go deep—designed for design leaders who want frank dialogue and tactical playbooks
Theatre Talks & Panels
Candid main-stage playbooks and panels with live Q&A. Practical frameworks for org design, metrics, AI, research at speed, and systems at scale. Recorded—with speaker control.
Curated Roundtables
8–12 peers, facilitated, under Chatham House Rule. Bring real problems; leave with 2–3 next-week experiments and a few speed-dial allies. Off-record.
Socials & Off-Record
Late-night bar hangs, design debates, and micro-meetups. No agendas, just trust and good conversation. People > pixels.
Here’s what they’ve looked like before
Design Leadership Demystified
Peter Merholz, Humanism at Scale
UX/Design leadership is far more than just managing creative teams; it's about effectively managing change.
Design Leadership Fundamentals Masterclass
Peter Merholz, Humanism at Scale
Dig into each of these archetypes, discussing practices and mindsets that will help you succeed within each.
Elevating design leadership with the help of metrics for impact
Susanne Junglas & Sandra Griffel, Denwerk
The effective use of metrics is an important and under-utilised way to clarify the role and purpose of design. If we as design leaders want our work to make a difference, we need to make its impact on user experience, business success and the environment tangible in a nuanced way. In their workshop, Susanne Junglas and Sandra Griffel show how to establish and maintain a holistic system of metrics in different areas based on vision, mission and strategic goals using qualitative and quantitative data.
Design Leadership Demystified
Femke van Schoonhoven, Gusto
Gives participants practical experience with the frameworks and communication skills needed to move from execution to strategic influence within their product teams.
What past attendees say
Yesterday marked the end of the 2025 Design Leadership Summit.
If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: even though we work inside different structures, design leaders and designers are facing many of the same challenges. We’re all trying to understand how AI fits into our industry, we’re all navigating a fair amount of uncertainty, and we’re all figuring it out in real time.
But what stood out most wasn’t just the sessions, it was the sense of community. Sharp minds, honest conversations, and people who genuinely support one another. That’s what I appreciated most about this summit. The people.
Thank you Preet Singh, Aïko Thurlow and the entire team at DesignX Community for “crafting”* this experience.
Ryan Mouhajer
Head of Design
Still feeling energized after attending the Design Leadership Summit in Toronto this past week — it was a privilege to be surrounded by so many design leaders, thinkers, and builders who care deeply about creating meaningful products.
Erika Williams
Product Designer
Unsurprisingly, AI was the dominant theme at this year’s Design Leadership Summit.
A huge thank you to DesignX Community for creating a space that reminds us that amidst the chaos and AI hype, it’s important to continue to choose humans over machines!
Akash Jatania
Senior Manager
Design Leadership Summit 2025.
In one word: Wow!!
2 days full of amazing talks, workshops, djs in a boxing ring (yes, that happened), panels, insightful conversations and most importantly the phenomenal people.
Couldn't have imagined anything better. Huge shout-out and thank you to Preet Singh , Aïko Thurlow and the whole DesignX Community.
Arshdeep Singh
Senior Product Designer
This week’s Design Leadership Summit 2025 was the kind of space we all need once a year. Meaningful connections, shared challenges, and running into old colleagues and friends… so great! Big shout out to Preet Singh and the DesignX Community team!
Daniel Hildebrandt
Senior Manager, Product Design
Had a lovely time the past 2 days at DesignX’s Design Leadership Summit. I learned so much not only from the talks but from the folks around me.
We had a lot of important chats about how the role of a designer is shifting to require us to understand and collaborate with other disciplines better. I also found a lot of value in all the presentations about AI and am feeling encouraged to dive deeper into how to use it to add value to my work.
Thanks to DesignX Community for organizing such an amazing event.
Anastasia Mikhailitchenko
UX Designer
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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about joining the next Design Leadership Summit.
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