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Creative education as infrastructure
a free programme designed as a pipeline into the creative industry, not a charity.
D&AD is a British non-profit founded in 1962 to champion excellence in design and advertising, best known for the D&AD Pencils, among the most coveted awards in the creative industry. D&AD Shift is its programme offering free, industry-led creative education for self-taught talent outside traditional paths. Aline produces and leads its São Paulo chapter.
The talent has always existed. What's missing is the way in: the bridge between self-taught people and an industry that says it needs new voices.
build a programme that places people in the industry, not one that hands out certificates.
Launch the Brazilian chapter from the ground up: design a programme that resonates with both the market and the students, and that ends in real placement into the creative industry.
Aline oversaw every aspect of the programme, from strategy to delivery. She designed the full curriculum, adapted to Brazil and evolving year over year, including learning paths, mentor matching and engagements, and immersive workshops.
She curated and led the programme so it resonated with both the market and the students, treating access as a system-design choice, not goodwill.
She runs the executive production end to end: classes hosted twice a week, in person, across different agencies and studios over six months; events for different audiences, from portfolio reviews to the graduation showcase; and the full programme budget. The programme is built with partners including ODP (Observatório da Diversidade na Propaganda), ESPM, Clube de Criação and ABDesign.
Learning paths and immersive workshops designed for the needs of self-taught talent in Brazil.
50+ industry leaders, with mentor matching and engagement structured as part of the programme.
20+ creative agencies connected to the programme, culminating in a final showcase.
Three real briefs run each year with clients of global scale, so students work on the kind of problems the industry actually pays for.
90% of the first cohort placed into the creative industry.
The first edition welcomed 20 participants and drove 90% post-program placement into the creative industry. Backed by 50+ industry leaders and featured in 20+ creative agencies, it culminates each year in a showcase that gathers 150 to 200 renowned industry professionals. With over 90% of students already working in the creative industry, placement, not attendance, is the metric that matters.
D&AD Shift São Paulo is the proof that programmes framing access as system design, with real placement, real curriculum and real mentorship, change who gets into the industry. Programmes that frame access as goodwill only flatter it.