Design Your Perfect Day Out: London Design Festival Edition

September 4, 2025

Ahhh London in September—crisp air, creative energy, and the city buzzing with the London Design Festival, a city‑wide cultural event celebrating design innovation across vibrant design districts! Whether you're a design addict, an Instagram scroller, or just fancy a quirky day of inspiration, here’s your guide to making this your most unforgettable day out in London ever.

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Ready? Let’s design your perfect day! ✨🎨

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1. Start at Quiz Room London – Your Interactive Creative Kick-Off 🧠🎤

Wake up your brain and fire up your competitive side with a visit to Quiz Room London - the most unique experiences you’ll have all day.

Imagine this: lights flash, music pumps, buzzers sound, and you and your team are centre stage in your very own quiz show. It’s part immersive game, part thrilling competition, and all-out fun. With themed rounds covering everything from culture to logic, this is hands-on entertainment that gets your mind working in style.

👉 An experience as creative as the exhibits – try it yourself!
It’s the perfect way to set the tone for the day ahead: playful, clever, and full of energy. Want to design some of your own quiz questions? No problem! Become the quiz connoisseur yourself with the option of custom questions.

🕒 60 or 90 minutes

📍 Spitalfields - central, accessible, and close to great coffee if you need a post-quiz boost.

2. Explore the V&A Museum – Festival HQ for a Reason 🏛️🌟

No London Design Festival itinerary is complete without a visit to the V&A Museum, the beating heart of the event. As the Festival’s central hub, it’s home to some of the most impressive Landmark Projects and experimental installations each year.

Expect massive, immersive works that explore themes like sustainability, identity, and technology - often designed by world-renowned creatives and architects. Expect anything from a glowing tunnel to sound-reactive textile walls!

🧠 This is where design innovation really flexes its muscles - conceptual, big-scale, and unforgettable.

📸 Tip: Arrive early to avoid crowds and snap those “how-is-this-real?” moments.

3. Lunch at Dishoom – Where Design Meets Delicious 🍛🪑

You're inspired. You're buzzing. You're...hungry. Time for a design-conscious lunch break at Dishoom. Yes, the food is iconic - but the interiors are just as much part of the experience.

Each Dishoom restaurant is inspired by the Irani cafés of 1940s Bombay, and the King’s Cross location in particular is a beautifully curated space full of vintage furniture, reclaimed fixtures, and tiny design details that reward the observant.

💡 From the typography on the menus to the custom light fittings, everything here has been thought through.

🍴 What to get: Black daal, house chai, and a bacon naan roll if you're brunching.

4. Bankside Ghost Signs Tour – Design History on the Streets 🏙️✍️

Trade the gallery walls for London’s actual walls on a Ghost Signs walking tour through Bankside - home to some of the city’s most fascinating historical typography and faded advertising art.

Led by local design historians, this tour uncovers hand-painted signs from the 19th and early 20th centuries. These weathered graphics aren’t just cool - they’re real-time case studies in urban branding, street-level storytelling, and evolving design trends. It’s one of the most unusual, off-the-beaten-path ways to experience the Festival.

While you’re there, be sure to check out the Material Matters show in the area!

🧭 You’ll learn about typefaces, layout tricks, and colour techniques that are still influencing modern design.

🎧 Don’t forget your headphones - many tours offer an audio guide version too!

5. Take a Spin on Swivel – Public Design That Moves You 🌀🪑

Time to rest those feet - on a spinning sculpture! Meet Swivel by Sabine Marcelis, a joyful, interactive seating installation in St Giles Square. These circular, candy-coloured stone stools rotate with a satisfying glide, inviting you to sit, spin, and smile.

It’s the perfect example of how design innovation can live in public space - not just in galleries or product launches. It’s art, it’s urban furniture, and it’s ridiculously fun.

🪩 Good for: Unexpected joy, selfies, people-watching.

📍 Easy to access between design districts like Fitzrovia and Soho.

6. End with Design After Dark at King’s Cross 🎶🌃

As the sun goes down, the Festival doesn’t stop - it just gets even cooler! Head to King’s Cross Design District for LDF Lates, a series of night-time events where studios, shops, and spaces come alive with drinks, DJs, interactive installations, and projection mapping.

Coal Drops Yard is the epicentre, featuring pop-up light art, late openings from design shops, and roving performances. It’s where industry insiders and casual festival-goers blend in a blur of LED lights and clinking cocktail glasses.

🌙 Highlights include: