Future Of Web Design - London 17th April
Well, I'm a little late in making my post - but I think the best money I have spent this year is going to this. I was a little nervous about (a) plunging so deep to pay for a ticket and (b) wondering if I would enjoy the conference. I need not have worried - and I shall watch out for those early bird tickets next year.
There were some excellent presentations - in fact, all bar one (Mr Aston Martin - you know who you are) were inspirational works of art - I jest not! Heck, even Mr Aston Martin was impressive too, if you like cars and, more specifically, changing colours of cars....
I knew from the opening when Paul Boeg asked if anyone in the audience had trouble pigeon-holing themselves as a designer, developer, marketeer, SEO specialist or accountant, I knew that I was in safe hands with an audience that shares the issues and passions that I do. Every single presentation had some direct relevance for me, and I learnt something from every one.
The presentations were:
I'd be hard pushed to vote for a favourite - but... Jon Hicks was excellent. I thought I knew all about this but I got some fun ideas to try out next time, and I felt he gave some structure to what can be quite a difficult process. Plus, I am a cheese-maniac so the illustration of the process via a cheesophile website went down very well.....
The least enjoyable was the adverts (as I call them) - Microsoft and Adobe (Adobe faired better on this). I was rather surprised that the sponsors did not seem to be trying to 'draw people in' to talk in the foyer - quite different to a Gartner conference I went to in 2003 - where even breakfast was delivered in the centre of the room surrounded by vendors. But having said that, I don't really like it when it has an "enforced selling" atmosphere - and I was pleasantly surprised as this one made me feel very comfortable.
Any improvements? It would have been nice to see more female presenters - Larissa/Jina/Hannah were good - but it would have been nice to see them take centre stage with a design-inspired talk.
Cheap accommodation offer with the ticket would be good - I kept the cost down by staying with my in-laws the night before. I would have loved to go to the party afterwards - but alas - I had a date with the ticket inspector to get to (don't ask - just don't ever try to travel on the underground with a ticket labelled London TERMINALS)...
Counting down the days until the next one...
There were some excellent presentations - in fact, all bar one (Mr Aston Martin - you know who you are) were inspirational works of art - I jest not! Heck, even Mr Aston Martin was impressive too, if you like cars and, more specifically, changing colours of cars....
I knew from the opening when Paul Boeg asked if anyone in the audience had trouble pigeon-holing themselves as a designer, developer, marketeer, SEO specialist or accountant, I knew that I was in safe hands with an audience that shares the issues and passions that I do. Every single presentation had some direct relevance for me, and I learnt something from every one.
The presentations were:
- Finding Inspiration for Design by Patrick McNeil
- User Experience vs. Brand Experience by Andy Clarke and Steve Pearce
- The User Experience Curve by Andy Budd
- Adtime(!) - Aston Martin - Microsoft
- Getting Your Designs Approved by Larissa Meek
- Photoshop Battle : Jina Bolton and Hannah Donovan vs Jon Hicks and Elliot Jay Stocks, umpired by Andy Clarke
- Print is the New Web by Elliot Jay Stocks
- From Design to Deployment by Jon Hicks
- Adtime(!) - Flex - Adobe
- Unconventional Ways to Promote Your Site by Paul Farnell
- Iteration and You by Daniel Burka
I'd be hard pushed to vote for a favourite - but... Jon Hicks was excellent. I thought I knew all about this but I got some fun ideas to try out next time, and I felt he gave some structure to what can be quite a difficult process. Plus, I am a cheese-maniac so the illustration of the process via a cheesophile website went down very well.....
The least enjoyable was the adverts (as I call them) - Microsoft and Adobe (Adobe faired better on this). I was rather surprised that the sponsors did not seem to be trying to 'draw people in' to talk in the foyer - quite different to a Gartner conference I went to in 2003 - where even breakfast was delivered in the centre of the room surrounded by vendors. But having said that, I don't really like it when it has an "enforced selling" atmosphere - and I was pleasantly surprised as this one made me feel very comfortable.
Any improvements? It would have been nice to see more female presenters - Larissa/Jina/Hannah were good - but it would have been nice to see them take centre stage with a design-inspired talk.
Cheap accommodation offer with the ticket would be good - I kept the cost down by staying with my in-laws the night before. I would have loved to go to the party afterwards - but alas - I had a date with the ticket inspector to get to (don't ask - just don't ever try to travel on the underground with a ticket labelled London TERMINALS)...
Counting down the days until the next one...
Labels: fowd, fowdlondon08, future of web design, london
posted by Emma Swift at
17:57
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