Two days, 400 seats and twelve designers in the Maassilo, Rotterdam. Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May 2027.
Buy a ticket, €390Format
Format is a conference for people who make things on paper and on screen. For two days, 400 of us sit in one hall of the Maassilo, a 1930s grain silo on Rotterdam's Maashaven, while twelve designers show how they work: the drafts, the grids, the mistakes. One stage, no parallel tracks, and every ticket is a numbered seat.
Maassilo, Maashaven, Rotterdam. Doors open Friday 14 May 2027 at 09:00. Saturday 15 May follows the same plan.
Twelve designers,
six on each day
Line-up
FridayMarit Kolenbrander10:30
Talk: Drawing the letter before the font. Discipline: type design. Friday 14 May, 10:30.
FridayJoost Wiegersma11:30
Talk: Forty pages, one grid. Discipline: editorial design. Friday 14 May, 11:30.
FridayAnouk Teerlinck12:15
Talk: The poster that failed twice. Discipline: poster design. Friday 14 May, 12:15.
FridayDaan Oosterhoff14:00
Talk: Signs for a harbour city. Discipline: wayfinding. Friday 14 May, 14:00.
FridaySelma Yıldırım15:00
Talk: Motion in small doses. Discipline: motion design. Friday 14 May, 15:00.
FridayPieter van der Lugt16:00
Talk: Ink, paper and a bad deadline. Discipline: print and risograph. Friday 14 May, 16:00.
SaturdayLotte Bijlsma10:30
Talk: Identity without a logo. Discipline: brand identity. Saturday 15 May, 10:30.
SaturdayRafi Hendrawan11:30
Talk: Latin and Javanese on one page. Discipline: multi-script typography. Saturday 15 May, 11:30.
SaturdayEsther de Wit12:15
Talk: Interfaces that age well. Discipline: interaction design. Saturday 15 May, 12:15.
SaturdayTomas Verbrugge14:00
Talk: Concrete, in two dimensions. Discipline: architectural graphics. Saturday 15 May, 14:00.
SaturdayIlse Maartens15:00
Talk: Books nobody asked for. Discipline: book design. Saturday 15 May, 15:00.
SaturdayKofi Mensah-Brandt16:00
Talk: Closing the file. Discipline: design practice. Saturday 15 May, 16:00.
How each day runs
At 09:00 the doors open. Find your numbered seat, take coffee. Six talks run from 10:30 to 16:00, one stage, no parallel tracks.
Around 13:00 we break. Lunch is served in the hall, then the afternoon talks continue until 16:00 and a workshop follows.
By the evening the chairs are pushed back. Saturday ends with the closing party in the silo, after the last talk, Closing the file.
Both days, one seat,
for €390
Your ticket covers Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May 2027: all twelve talks, lunch on both days, the workshop and the closing party. Only 400 seats exist, each one numbered.
Buy a ticket, €390Questions before you buy
Where exactly is Format held?
In the Maassilo, a 1930s grain silo on the Maashaven in Rotterdam. Talks happen in one big concrete hall. Tram and metro stop a short walk away, and the Erasmus bridge is a ten-minute cycle.
Can I get a refund?
Yes, until 14 April 2027, a month before the event. After that we cannot refund, but you can transfer your seat to someone else.
Can I give my ticket to someone else?
Yes. Each ticket is one numbered seat out of 400. Write to us with the new name and we reissue the ticket at no cost.
Is food included?
Lunch is included on both days, and so is the closing party on Saturday. Tell us about dietary needs when you buy and we will plan around them.
What language are the talks in?
All twelve talks and the workshop are in English.
Can I buy a ticket for one day only?
No. There is one ticket, €390, and it covers Friday 14 and Saturday 15 May 2027 together.