Future Studio
Join us at Future Studio, we’ll explore what AI means for the future of businesses in our sector, from graphic design, print and web to SEO, search marketing and digital services.
AI is changing our industry. Tomorrow we explore how, at our live event.
Tomorrow afternoon, a room of creative professionals in Birmingham will spend four hours diagnosing one question: what does AI actually change about running a print, design, sign, or web business?
We’re doing it again in Manchester on 15 October.
That one’s open to anyone, and there’s a booking link at the end of this post.
Why we’re doing it
Every business in our sector is being told AI changes everything. Most of what follows is a demo of generative AI to create words, images, video. But that’s not the work we’re looking to outsource.
What’s missing is the boring middle. The enquiry that arrives at 4:50pm and needs a considered reply. The order that has to be checked, quoted on, and pushed through. The artwork problem that eats forty minutes and produces nothing billable.
That’s where the time goes in a studio, and that’s what we’ve been building against.
What we’ve been building
Oodles is our AI agent. The ambition is a digital member of your team rather than another tool you have to learn and then remember to open.
It’s not finished, and we’re not going to pretend otherwise. What we’ll show tomorrow is real, working, and narrower than where we intend to take it. Handling an incoming enquiry, processing an order, moving a job through workflow, working through a technical problem.
That’s the honest state of it. Which is precisely why we want people in the room.
What’s the plan?
The first half hour is our view of where the industry goes next. After that it’s practical, using scenarios anyone running a studio will recognise.
The afternoon builds to a live Q&A with people who run creative businesses and people who build the software. We’ve collected questions from attendees beforehand and we’ve not filtered out the uncomfortable ones.
Where has AI actually replaced someone’s job. What happens when a client says AI can do it cheaper. What separates the tools that deliver from the ones that are mostly noise.
Then we ask everyone in the room which tasks they’d hand over first, and what Oodles should do next. That part isn’t decoration. It’s how the roadmap gets written.
But in the meantime, here’s just a glimpse of how Oodles AI has positively impacted our working lives…
Birmingham and Manchester are different events
Birmingham is a smaller working session with partners we’ve invited directly.
Manchester is the open one. If you run a print, design, web or signage business, you’re welcome, whether or not you’ve had anything to do with Nettl or our platforms before.
Come and join the debate. See what’s possible today. Discover what’s coming tomorrow.
Help us build the Future Studio.
Manchester
Thursday 15 October 2026, 14:00 to 18:00
Manchester Art Gallery, M2 3JL
Free to attend but tickets limited.