The little conference that will give you butterflies for the web.

9:00 am Andy Clarke (uk)

Art Directing Web Design

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For years we’ve been told that websites shouldn’t make people think, that they should be accessible, easy to use and fast. But what if that isn’t enough?

In this talk, art director and designer Andy Clarke explores how art direction can make designs that are visually distinctive and more effective by using design to communicate the essence and purpose of our our content.

Learn more about Andy Clarke

9:50 am Una Kravets (usa)

Working with Images

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Images are by far the greatest bottleneck to performance on the web, and with the average web page size now about 2.5MB large (images taking up 65% of that), we need to tame the beast.

This talk will cover some image performance techniques, from both a design and development standpoint, and demonstrate how to implement them in your own projects with practical examples to make your web projects noticeably faster.

Learn more about Una Kravets

11:25 am Alice Lee (usa)

Pencil Mileage

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A common narrative we often hear in the industry is the choice between: “doing what you love” or working at a stable, 9-5 job. But this is a false, oversimplified binary; the question can't merely be narrowed down to either “passion” or “stability.” Instead, the choice to jump out of your comfort zone to follow a deeper, artistic inspiration is something we can healthily and realistically interweave into our existing paths.

In this talk, Alice will cover her own creative journey from business school to design to illustration, as well as her process in doing so, having had little drawing experience prior and getting that valuable pencil mileage in. She'll also pull in stories from peers in the industry; the environmental activist turned founder, the painter turned designer, the engineer turned artist.

Learn more about Alice Lee

12:10 pm Joel Califa (usa)

Full Stack Anxiety

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I’m a designer, so I should probably learn responsive patterns, methods for remote user testing, Sketch, motion graphics, Framer, keep up to date with current design trends, and a million other things.

I’m a developer, so I should probably learn SVG animations, Node or React or Ember, BEM principles, new web inspector features, Vim or at least better Sublime workflows, and a million other things.

I’m also a human being, so I can’t possibly learn all these things. I have to choose.

So… what do I choose? Full Stack Anxiety is that creeping doubt, when you just don’t know what the right choice is. Do I grow as a designer or do I grow as a developer? As a manager, a teacher, a business-person?

In this talk, we’ll explore the feeling, the current state of the industry, and how to figure out where to grow.

Learn more about Joel Califa

2:15 pm Mike Riethmuller (aus)

A CSS Eulogy

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It's time to say goodbye to again; only this time it's not to enemies (IE 6 and 7), but old friends. I’m going to give a eulogy for some much loved design patterns and techniques. Techniques we love but sadly no longer need.

We will be paying tribute to negative margins, fare-welling gratuitous clear-fixes and lamenting the days where we had pixel based certainty.

We will look at some of the remarkable things we've done with these techniques and many others. We will remember fondly where they came from, why we used them, and ask ourselves why (oh why!) are they no longer needed.

We will acknowledge Flexbox, Viewport units, and Calc() among other worthy newcomers to carry the legacy of techniques that came before them. In the course of this I will demonstrate some new patterns, you can use now that will help you move on.

Learn more about Mike Riethmuller

3:00 pm Jina Anne (usa)

Designing a Design System

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Product design for web and mobile is evolving at a fast pace. As the range of devices and platforms continues to expand, so do the design considerations. Learn how design systems help a design team build a framework that meets their needs by bringing together all of the critical design components, including style guides, pattern and UI libraries, CSS frameworks, and other resources.

In this session, Jina, lead designer on the Design Systems team at Salesforce UX, will share:

• Strategies to approach, design, and build an effective design system
• How to successfully maintain the system to ensure ongoing usefulness
• Elements that design systems need to be sustainable and that are critical for success

Learn more about Jina Anne

4:30 pm Espen Brunborg (nor)

The Secret Life of Comedy

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It has never been easier to make a web site, and our digital toolbox has never been greater. At the same time, we seem more concerned with automating our process and systemising design than with creative thinking and generating ideas. Is web design purely about utility? Is it all about convention? Is it a science? Or is there room for beauty, expression and art?

In this talk, Espen will take a tongue-in-cheek look at the state of web design, explore different creative mindsets, and show how adding a pinch of comedy can make a real difference to the bottom line.

Learn more about Espen Brunborg