Design Summer Schools 2026

📅 June 1–12, 2026 | New York City, USA

The D-Crit Summer Intensive, formally known as the Design Writing and Research Summer Intensive, is a two-week, in-person program held at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York City. It is designed for individuals who want to refine their skills as design thinkers, researchers, and storytellers—whether they are practicing designers or creative professionals interested in writing compellingly about images, objects, and spaces.

Key features of the program include:

• Workshops and Seminars: Participants engage in seven faculty-led workshops and a robust schedule of seminars, lectures, and studio visits, covering a range of writing genres and imaginative approaches.
• Practical Skills Development: The curriculum emphasizes essential techniques such as interviewing, podcasting, pitching, archive research, close observation, analysis, and critique, both individually and in small groups.
• Project-Based Learning: By the end of the intensive, participants complete several pieces of writing, develop story ideas, and build a toolkit for writing authoritatively and creatively about design.
• Distinguished Faculty and Guest Speakers: The faculty includes leading writers, critics, and editors, with past guest speakers and studio visits featuring prominent designers, architects, and urban planners.
• Collaborative Environment: The intensive fosters a collaborative and supportive atmosphere, encouraging experimentation and critical dialogue.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ For who is it: for both designers seeking to examine their profession through writing and non-designers interested in learning to write about design and visual culture.
⏰ Deadline: April 1, 2026
💵 Fee: $1950 USD
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: Molly Heintz, Adam Harrison Levy, Craig Taylor, Rob Walker, Eric Schwartau, Karrie Jacobs, Leital Molad, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Nicolas Kemper
⛺️ Including accommodation: -
🏅 Credits: -
🍳 Including Meals: -
✈️ Including Travel cost: -

In summary, the D-Crit Summer Intensive is a hands-on, workshop-driven experience aimed at enhancing participants’ abilities to write, research, and think critically about design and its impact.

2 June – 10 July 2026, Paris, France

The 10th edition of TypeParis Summer 26 is an intensive six-week programme in type design, held in Paris from 2 June to 10 July 2026. Designed for graphic designers, typographers, web designers, educators and recent graduates, it offers the opportunity to develop professional skills in typeface design, calligraphy techniques, type history and modern software practices.

Key features include:

• Comprehensive curriculum: The programme covers the fundamentals and advanced practices of typeface design, including calligraphy as a foundation, type history and digital font production using modern tools.
• Intensive instruction: Participants receive 340 hours of instruction over six weeks, with two daily sessions led by pairs of instructors to ensure personalised guidance and progress.
• Diverse Participant Levels: The programme welcomes beginners with no prior experience of type design, as well as experienced typography enthusiasts, fostering a diverse and supportive learning environment.
• Guest Critics and Field Visits: Weekly guest critics provide individual reviews of participants’ typeface projects, and the programme includes visits to notable French institutions related to the history of type and printing.
• Outcome: Graduates leave with specialised skills in designing high-quality digital typefaces, lettering and logotypes. Many produce multiple styles and complete type families.

Who is it for? Graphic designers, typographers, web designers and educators.
Deadline: Closed for 2026. Be ready for next year — the deadline is 14 March 2026!
💵 Fee: €5,480. The tuition fee includes materials, software licences, access to the TypeParis Now conference and various type design tools and extras.
👩🏽🏫👨🏽 Tutors: Gina Serret, Greg Lindy, Jean François Porchez, Jovana Jocić, Laura Meseguer, Léo Guibert, Léon Hugues, Malou Verlomme, Mathieu Réguer, Rainer Erich Scheichelbauer, Ruggero Magrì and Thomas Bouillet.
⛺ Including accommodation: No.
🏅 Credits: No.
🍳 Meals included: No.
✈️ Travel costs included: no.

In summary, TypeParis Summer 26 offers an immersive, expert-led experience for anyone eager to master type design. It blends traditional calligraphy and history with cutting-edge digital practices in a vibrant cultural setting. It also includes a ticket for the Now26 graphic and type conference organised on 30 May 2026.

📅 16-19 June, Tenerife, Spain

Tenerife Creative Camp 2026 (Tis a compact creative residency-style camp in Tenerife where participants explore design through hands-on, experimental workshops and collective making, guided by designers and educators in an international setting.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Who is it for? Students and professionals of all levels who want to expand technical and conceptual design skills and work experimentally.
⏰ Deadline: -
💵 Fee: -
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: NOVIKI, Joel Peláez, Tricia Treacy, Abián Martín, Javier Cabrera, Filip Zagorski
⛺️ Including accommodation: -
🏅 Credits: -
🍳 Including meals: Not visible on the site but shared meals are mentioned.
✈️ Including travel cost: -

📅 13–23 July, 2026 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hackers & Designers returns with Clouds to Commons: Regenerative Publishing Infrastructures, an 11-day summer camp focused on collective making, open-source publishing, and experimental infrastructure. The program combines workshops, tutorials, and public moments, and invites participants to explore how publishing can be both technical and communal.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Who is it for? hackers, designers, artists, developers, writers, activists, researchers, parents, kids, and anyone in between.
⏰ Deadline: 25 May 2026.
💵 Fee: Sliding scale €150 / €225 / €300, or request a bursary.
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: TBA.
⛺️ Including accommodation: No.
🏅 Credits: TBA.
🍳 Including meals: Lunches included.
✈️ Including travel cost: No.

📅 13-25 July, 2026 | Porto, Portugal

The Porto Design Summer School is an intensive, two-week editorial design course held annually in Porto, Portugal. Since 2013, it has brought together participants from around the world - from students at the start of their design careers to experienced professionals seeking fresh inspiration - to focus on editorial design and typography in a collaborative, practice-based environment.

Key aspects of the programme include

• Editorial Design Focus: The curriculum focuses on editorial design and typography, with additional attention to Porto's unique heritage of vintage shop signage and vernacular lettering.
• International Faculty: The course is led by a team of established international designers and educators, often joined by guest tutors who are prominent figures in the design world.
• Diverse participants: Students come from a variety of cultural backgrounds and skill levels, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives.
• Collaborative learning: Participants work together on common tasks, guided by tutors, and are encouraged to draw personal relevance and meaning from the experience.
• Immersive experience: The programme includes workshops, informal design evenings with local professionals and opportunities to explore Porto's vibrant design scene.
• Location: Set in one of Europe's oldest and most visually striking cities, the Summer School uses Porto's inspiring environment as a backdrop for creative exploration.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Who is it for: Graduate and postgraduate design students, professional designers
⏰ Deadline: 14 June 2026
💵 Fee: € 1956
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: André Cruz, Ronnie Fueglister, Andrew Howard, Miguel Howard, Ana Resende
⛺️ Includes accommodation: Yes
🏅 Credits: No
🍳 Includes meals: Opening and closing receptions are included, other daily meals are not.
✈️ Includes travel: No

The Porto Design Summer School offers a unique, hands-on opportunity to deepen skills in editorial design and typography, connect with leading practitioners and engage with a global community of designers in the culturally rich city of Porto.

📅 10–15 July 2026 | Chaumont, France

The Le Signe Summer School is a six-day workshop hosted at the Centre national du graphisme in Chaumont and led by the Swiss studio KollyGujer. The 2026 edition, titled GraphicDesign.zip, uses the postage stamp as a starting point to explore compression, rescaling and assembly, moving from one of the smallest graphic media to poster production.
🙋 Who is it for? Students and young professionals in visual communication.
⏰ Deadline: TBA — contact etudiants@cndg.fr
💵 Fee: €165 (includes participation and materials).
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: Studio Kollygujer (Svenja Kolly and Mia Gujer).
⛺ Including accommodation: No, but Airbnb options are available in Chaumont and the organisers can help coordinate flat-sharing.
🏅 Credits: TBA.
🍳 Meals included: No.
✈️ Including travel costs: No.

📅 13–17 July 2026, London, UK

The Typography Summer School is an intensive programme designed for graphic design graduates who want to bridge the gap between student and professional practice while deepening their understanding of typography. Founded by Fraser Muggeridge, the school operates independently of any college and brings together leading practitioners and participants to study, exchange ideas and explore the discipline of typography in depth.

Key features of the programme include:

• Daily talks and workshops: Participants engage in daily talks from visiting practitioners and take part in detailed typography workshops, a short letterpress typography workshop and a type design workshop.
• Seminars and tutorials: The programme includes seminars, tutorials and informal discussions to foster a collaborative and supportive learning environment.
• Career guidance: Attendees receive advice on various career paths within the field of typography.
• Research and Dialogue: The school acts as a think tank, encouraging research and dialogue about the relevance of typography in design history and its role in contemporary society.
• Diverse Mediums: Typography is explored across various media, including books, posters, film credits and websites.
  Community and networking: The environment is designed to facilitate connections among participants and practitioners, supporting professional development.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍ Who is it for? Graduates of graphic design
⏰ Deadline: 8 May 2026.
💵 Fee: £600
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: Paul Barnes, Europa, Simon Goode, Michael Kelly, James Langdon, Fraser Muggeridge, David Pearson and Clare Skeets.
⛺️ Including accommodation: no.
🏅 Credits: no.
🍳 Meals included: Lunch.
✈️ Including travel costs: no.

The Typography Summer School 2026 in London offers emerging designers a unique, practice-led experience to expand their typographic skills, engage with experts and critically discuss the impact and possibilities of typography today.

📅 3–7 August 2026, New York City, USA

The Typography Summer School in New York City is an intensive programme designed for graphic design graduates who want to bridge the gap between student and professional practice while deepening their understanding of typography. Founded by Fraser Muggeridge, the school operates independently of any college and brings together leading practitioners and participants to study, exchange ideas and explore the discipline of typography in depth.

Key features of the programme include:

• Daily talks and workshops: Participants engage in daily talks from visiting practitioners and take part in detailed typography workshops, a short letterpress typography workshop and a type design workshop.
• Seminars and tutorials: The programme includes seminars, tutorials and informal discussions to foster a collaborative and supportive learning environment.
• Career guidance: Attendees receive advice on various career paths within the field of typography.
• Research and Dialogue: The school acts as a think tank, encouraging research and dialogue about the relevance of typography in design history and its role in contemporary society.
• Diverse Mediums: Typography is explored across various media, including books, posters, film credits and websites.
  Community and networking: The environment is designed to facilitate connections among participants and practitioners, supporting professional development.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Who is it for? Graduates of graphic design
⏰ Deadline: 8 May 2026.
💵 Fee: $850
Fee: $850
Tutors: Fraser Muggeridge, Geoff Han, Julian Bittiner, Michael Bierut and Other Means.
⛺️ Includes accommodation: No.
🏅 Credits: No.
🍳 Meals included: Lunch.

The Typography Summer School in New York City offers emerging designers a unique, practice-led experience to expand their typographic skills, engage with experts and critically discuss the impact and possibilities of typography today.

📅 19–21 August, Breda, the Netherlands

Taking place from 19 to 21 August 2026 in Breda, the Netherlands, the Graphic Matters Summer School is an immersive three-day programme around the theme 'Does it stick?' Now in its fifth year, the summer school is designed to help participants develop new skills, forge new connections and immerse themselves in the world of type and typography. Participants will have the opportunity to meet design legends, attend masterclasses, and collaborate with fellow creatives in a vibrant, hands-on environment. On Wednesday morning, 19 August, the summer school will begin with the Morning Talks. Each of the three masters will give a presentation on their approach, inspiration, and ambitions.

🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️ Who is it for? You are very interested in graphic design.
⏰ Deadline: First come, first serve.
💵 Fee: Prices start at €149 for students and €199 for professionals. Prices increase as the event approaches.
👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Tutors: Anthony Burrill, Ellen Lupton and Erich Brechbühl.
⛺️ Including accommodation: no.
🏅 Credits: no.
🍳 Including meals: no.
✈️ Including travel cost: no.

In summary, the Graphic Matters Summer School 2026 is about skill building, creative exploration and networking in the field of typography and graphic design in an inspiring and collaborative atmosphere.