ON A MISSION TO #SHIFTCREATIVITY

D&AD Shift is an award-winning, free industry-led night school for self-taught creatives entering the advertising, design and creative industries from outside traditional education.

D&AD Shift is run in six cities: London, New York, Sydney, Berlin, Hamburg & São Paulo.

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Why does Shift exist?

The Shift programme is on a mission to #ShiftCreativity by helping creatives entering the industry from outside traditional pathways to SHIFT their creative talent into career-making skills.

#ShiftCreativity’s approach aims to shake up old industry paradigms to benefit self-taught creative talent, creating a fresh system to both access and flourish in the commercial creative industry.
Shift the industry

Since 2016 Shift has trained over 200 creatives in four countries, with an average of 72% of Shifters going on to creative jobs and placements after completing the programme.

Shifters go on to write for Apple. They strategise for Spotify. They have creative ideas for Disney. They direct Stormzy, animate for Katy Perry and shoot for Vogue. Shifters are employed by every major advertising and design agency network. They win Pencils. And sit on the board at D&AD.

Shift is powered by our partners and industry volunteers who generously donate their time to teach on the programme.
Shift the skills
Shift is a 5-month long industry led night school developed in collaboration with some of the world’s most awarded creative agencies.
- Curriculum: Innovation, craft and ideas for advertising, design and production.
- Professional skills: Ideation, storytelling, prototyping, enterprise.
- Soft skills: curiosity, collaboration, bravery, resilience.
- 120 hours of live client briefs, training, peer-to-peer learning, pastoral support, industry mentoring.
Shift Studio & Select

And it cannot stop there. Shift Studio and Shift Select are extended pathways of the night school created to help the Shift community thrive in industry.

Shift Select is an additional month of on-the-job training. Shifters specialise in a pathway (advertising, design, production) and learn with our agency partners.

Shift Studio enables alumni to collaborate across countries – and brands and agencies to find the rich mix of talent they need to do better, more inclusive, more effective work. Shifters work with agencies and in-house teams. They bring new creative perspectives and lived experiences to real client briefs.

With thanks to our Select partners Huge, DesignStudio, Superunion, Hope&Glory, and Studio partners HSBC, Disney, giffgaff, Google and Here Design.
Get involved

Sign up to #ShiftCreativity for our future cohorts of Shifters by getting involved as a mentor, teacher, employer or partner.

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