German Design Graduates 2026
16 October to 29 November 2026

About the Exhibition
German Design Graduates is an initiative for design graduates in Germany.
The initiative presents outstanding final projects from German design universities.
It helps graduates take their first steps into professional life.
It also connects them with companies, museums and other cultural organisations.
German Design Graduates is part of the German Design Council Foundation.
Around 70 projects were selected for the exhibition at Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum.
The projects come from 28 German universities.
The exhibition includes work from different areas of design:
– Product and industrial design
– Communication and digital design
–  Textile and fashion design
The projects explore important questions of our time.
For example:
– How can waste be turned into new materials?
– How can we use digital technology in useful ways?
– How can design make knowledge easier to understand?
– How can design help more people take part in society?
–  How can we create new ways of living together?
The main theme of the exhibition is Make It Make Sense.
This phrase comes from the internet.
It means something like: “Make it understandable.”
People use the phrase when something does not seem logical.
They also use it when familiar explanations are no longer helpful.
The phrase makes an important point:
We need to understand how things are connected.
We also need to make difficult subjects easier to understand.
The projects explore materials, production methods, technology and communication. They also look at changes in society and at how people live together.
The designers question existing systems.
They test new ideas and different ways of working.
They also ask questions that do not yet have simple answers.
The exhibition therefore shows many different sides of design.