Wrote, spoke, and two months later
It seems appropriate to release a few unfinished drafts on Independence Day; they deserve their freedom! Here’s a few updates from the past few months:
net Magazine
I wrote an article for the June 2014 printed issue of net Magazine called “Thinking In Systems”. The article is about how branding and systems-based thinking can apply to the web. I was nervous about writing this but I’m glad I did. I love that we’re changing the way we’re approaching web design with smarter thinking. Get the issue here.
ConvergeSE
I was invited to speak at ConvergeSE about the current state of web design education. It was my first time being a keynote speaker, and some really awesome friends in the industry gave me some solid advice. More on this in a separate post that has also been sitting in the drafts folder. The entire conference was wonderful. I learned quite a bit about how far we’ve come in designing responsive emails, advancements in wearable technology (and just how scary much of it can be), and sustainable thinking in web design. And, the conference had it’s own beer! I’m so glad I got to attend and speak; Converge has really become one of the best design conferences around.
ArtifactConf was awesome (again)
There were a ton of great talks at Artifact. I got to spend some quality time with my good friends, [Bushra](https://www.twitter.com/goatsandbacon and Jeremy. Here are some things that stood out at the conference:
- Your animations need to make sense with your message/content. (@vlh)
- Animations, through CSS, give us a chance to add an element of delight, and can subtly inform the user on how something works. (@vlh)
- Clients don't have lunchtime discussions about web font kerning. That’s our job. (@webmeadow)
- “Photoshop. That’s where you make a picture of exactly what the website will never look like.”(@stephenhay)
- Austin’s design and web community is filled with great people who all help, support, and genuinely care for each other. Here’s a shot by Annie Ray of so many Austinites that make living in this town so much fun!
All over this was over a 2-week span! I’m looking forward to the craziness the rest of the year will bring, and I hope I do a better job writing about it.