We’ve got an amazing line-up for you this year. It’s two full days across two tracks, with a great mix of big industry names and some hot new talent, our ‘Rising Star’ speakers!
Track 01:
Conference Day 01 ~ 7 November, 2011
Track 02:
Conference Day 01 ~ 7 November, 2011
-
Registration: 8:00 - 9:00
Welcome to The Future of Web Design NYC!
-
Track 1:
9:00 - 9:05
Welcome to FOWD NYC!
Ryan Carson
Welcome to FOWD NYC for another year – let’s get this show on the road!
-
Track 1:
9:05 - 9:45
The Secrets to Instagram's Success
Kevin Systrom
Hear the full story behind Instagram’s world-wide success and how you can apply those lessons to your iOS app.
-
Track 1:
9:50 - 10:00
Official Treehouse Launch
Ryan Carson
Carsonified is officially launching Treehouse at FOWD NYC! All will be revealed :)
-
Track 1:
10:05 - 10:45
How (And How Not To) Get Hired - Marketing For Web Designers
Rising Star - Andrea Graham
Freelancing ain’t easy. If you’re not working, you’re not getting paid. Find out how to find new clients, stay in touch with old clients, woo agencies and put yourself out there. If you’re having trouble filling your days or want bigger, better work, Andi will help you understand how both clients and agencies hire freelance web consultants.
Track 2:
10:05 - 10:45
Sass & Compass: The Future of Stylesheets Now
Brandon Mathis
Learn about how new CSS frameworks and CSS3 extensions are changing the way designers code.
-
Morning Break: 10:45 - 11:15
A chance to meet up with your friends – grab a cup of coffee on the house!
-
Track 1:
11:15 - 11:55
Mobile Context is a Myth
Josh Clark
We started off with an assumption that we were designing for a mythical mobile user who was always in a rush, distracted. That’s not always (or even usually) the case. Instead of assuming mobile = less, we need to start thinking mobile = more (and likewise, not just “mobile first” but sometimes “mobile only”). That means more complex functionality while maintaining ease of use, and the talk will examine how to design simple/delightful interfaces for complex apps.
Track 2:
11:15 - 11:55Wonderful Web App UX
Rising Star - Lis Hubert
Web applications are fairly old hat in the world of UX Design. If you’ve been anywhere near the field within the past few years, chances are you’ve worked on at least one of them. But now, given all that is happening within the industry from a technology perspective, how do we and should we keep up from the UX perspective, in order to create the best web applications we can?
This talk is designed to bring forth the answers to these questions, as well as to point out where the future of UX and Web App design is headed. It’s definitely one you don’t want to miss!
-
Track 1:
12:00 - 12:40
Super-Powered CSS3 Animations
Rising Star - Nick Pettit
A web page can sometimes feel like a static medium, similar to a print book. However, that’s hardly the case! This rigid mentality can be paralyzing, and utilizing animated elements outside the realm of novelty doesn’t always come so naturally. Learn how to free your mind and start thinking kinetically with CSS3 animations.
Track 2:
12:00 - 12:40
Web Design is a Cloud, Not a Clock
Sarah B Nelson
Design groups the world over are littered with the remains of design process initiatives gone horribly useless. But, unless you are a one man band — and, let’s face it, few of us are — getting a group of designers, developers, and business owners to get a design out the door can feel like herding cats.
What’s a designer to do? Change our framework. Design process is not a technical problem to be solved (like designing a clock) but an living emergent system (like a cloud) to be exposed, evaluated and iterated.
-
Lunch + Uni Sessions: 12:40 - 2:00
Break for lunch on us. Don’t want the learning to stop? Extra University sessions will be running throughout the break!
-
Track 1:
2:00 - 2:20
Type on Screen: Choosing and Using It Well
Daniel Rhatigan
At last there is now incredible potential to consider a full range of typeface choices for web design, e-books, and other screen devices. However, these choices bring with them a new array of issues to be considered by developers and designers alike. We will look at a number of factors that should influence not only which fonts will work best for you, but also how you can then use those fonts effectively. We will look at screen rendering, design features that are best suited for online use, setting text, and working with large type families.
-
Track 1:
2:25 - 3:05
Code management for Designers
Jonathan Berger - Rising Star
Become a more powerful designer by learning how to deploy your sites with Git and cloud hosting solutions like Heroku.
Track 2:
2:25 - 3:05
HTML5: Smart Markup for Smarter Websites
Aaron Gustafson
Everyone’s going gaga over HTML5 and the plethora of how-tos and demos available on the web are inspirational, but often leave us with more questions than answers. In this session, Aaron Gustafson will focus his attention on HTML5 as a markup language, provide you with a solid context for its enhanced semantics, and show you simple, effective ways you can put it to use on your site today.
-
Afternoon Break + Design Clinic: 3:05 - 3:35
Time for another break, and a much needed coffee.
-
Track 1:
3:35 - 3:45
-
Track 1:
3:50 - 4:10
The Web Font Awards Ceremony
The Web Font Awards Judges
The Web Font Awards is the first ceremony to celebrate the newfound typographic freedom that Web designers are experiencing across the globe. Presented by Monotype Imaging with support from Carsonified, the Web Font Awards is a design competition for websites using Web fonts. The competition is aimed at promoting Web font awareness and adoption, and is open to users of any Web font service or technology. Join us for a quick recap of top entries and a spirited debate from our panel of judges who will determine this year’s winners!
-
Track 1:
4:15 - 4:50
The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts
Tina Roth Eisenberg
Tina Roth Eisenberg, who refers to herself as a Swiss designer gone NYC, started swiss-miss.com in 2005 as a personal visual archive. Little did she know that only five years later, she would help fan the imagination of an average of 900,000 monthly visitors from all around the world.
In her keynote, Tina will trace her path from the Swiss Alps to “making it in NYC.” She will tell the story of how her blog became a vibrant part of her unusual, multi-faceted business model, and talk about the power of side projects and why we all need a crazy aunt in our lives.
Track 01:
Conference Day 02 ~ 8 November, 2011
Track 02:
Conference Day 02 ~ 8 November, 2011
-
Registration: 8:00 - 9:00
Welcome back to the second day at FOWD!
-
Track 1:
9:00 - 9:05
-
Track 1:
9:05 - 9:45
Pith, Passion, and Productivity: Pillars of a Successful Design Career
Cameron Moll
Zeal, determination, and a little creative scribbling can work wonders when combined together. Cameron will share how he’s made a career out of harnessing the power of the Ps.
-
Track 1:
9:50 - 10:30
Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX
Whitney Hess
The visual principles of harmony, unity, contrast, emphasis, variety, balance, proportion, repetition, movement and texture (and others) are widely recognized and practiced, even when they aren’t formally articulated. But creating a good design doesn’t automatically mean creating a good experience.
In order for us to cultivate positive experiences for our users, we need to establish a set of guiding principles for experience design. Guiding principles are the broad philosophy or fundamental beliefs that steer an organization, team or individual’s decision making, irrespective of the project goals, constraints, or resources.
In this talk, I will share a universally-applicable set of experience design principles that we should all strive to follow, and will explore how you can create and use your own guiding principles to take your site or product to the next level.
Track 2:
9:50 - 10:30
Living at the Edge of the Web: A look at the future of HTML 5
Rising Star - Tim Wright
HTML5 is evolving very quickly and staying on the bleeding edge can sometimes feel like a full-time job. In this session we’ll talk about what’s coming down the pipeline, discuss where we’re headed on the Web and dive into some hand-picked topics about the HTML5 hotness you can expect to use in the future. After this one you’ll be well prepared to not only live on the edge of the Web, but know how to stay there. Topics covered will include Web Workers, WebGL and DeviceAPI.
-
Morning Break: 10:30 - 11:15
A chance to meet up with your friends – grab a cup of coffee on the house!
-
Track 1:
11:15 - 11:55
Responsive WordPress Theming
Rising Star - Jesse Friedman
Responsive Web Design is the art of designing and developing a website that adapts to it’s surroundings by taking more into consideration than just screen size or device type. Once you develop your first Responsive Website you’re going to love what it can do. However once you combine responsive technologies with that of a WordPress backend you’re going to run into a few challenges that you need to over come.
The good news is that there is a lot of things WordPress is already doing to help you on your quest to create a completely responsive website. In this session you’ll learn a lot about Responsive Web Design Practices and how to integrate those with your WordPress theme so you can create a completely responsive and dynamic environment.
We’ll also talk about areas where WordPress and Responsive Web Design allow for really out of the box solutions and save you from tedious extra steps or hours of designing and developing. To find out more, you’ll have to come to the session. :)
Track 2:
11:15 - 11:55
The Future of CSS
Dave Shea
Learn about upcoming exciting developments in CSS and how you might use them in your work.
-
Track 1:
12:00 - 12:40
The Future of Mobile UX
Steve Fisher
Learn vital UX patterns you need to know to design amazing mobile interfaces. Dig into the design thinking that is foundational to creating a great experience, small or large. Really, we’re looking for that connection point that helps the visitors to our sites complete their tasks with a grin on their face.
Track 2:
12:00 - 12:40
Adding Haml
Rising Star - Nick Walsh
Not only does Haml replace your markup with what’s billed as veritable haiku, it directly improves development speed and collaboration dynamics. Learn how to quickly begin writing cleaner and more concise templates.
-
Lunch + Uni Sessions: 12:40 - 2:00
Break for lunch on us. Don’t want the learning to stop? Extra University sessions will be running throughout the break!
-
Track 1:
2:00 - 2:40
The Lost Art of Design Etiquette
Rising Star - Dan Rose
We’re pixel-pushing web workers, and collectively we’ve gotten good at making stellar work. But in a race to get more proficient in style and code, did we overlook good ol’ fashioned etiquette? How important are organization and communication nowadays? From Photoshop to Dribbble, Dan Rose presents how web designers can collaborate, cooperate, and contribute to the web community.
Track 2:
2:00 - 2:40
Responsive Web Design and Embracing the Unknown
Aaron Weyenberg
Design for the web is undergoing a dizzying disruption driven by the growing landscape of client devices. Responsive design, as a “response” to this disorder, began as a technique. It’s now maturing into a philosophy. In this session, Aaron will take you through the conditions that gave rise to RWD and the core mechanics of the responsive design approach. We’ll take an honest look at the headwinds that RWD is facing, and some emerging techniques and practices to counter those challenges.
-
Track 1:
2:45 - 3:05
Designing with Web Fonts in Adobe Photoshop
Chris Meyer
From initial design concepts and wireframes through to the final website layout, Photoshop plays a critical role in website design. Up to now, integrating web fonts into the design process has been a difficult or impossible task – no longer.
We’ll show you how to use new free tools for using web fonts in Photoshop mock-ups, find new and creative font pairings online, integrate web fonts into your final site designs.
-
Track 1:
3:10 - 3:50
Death, Taxes & 'Viewport Chrome'
Jason Pamental
Some things in life are certain: death, taxes, and – if you’re a web professional – the inability to know the capabilities, access speed and dimensions of the viewport through which your design is viewed. Welcome to your future. As a designer, it’s essential to know how your content and design will be consumed (or perceived) before you can prepare its presentation. These days, that means the involvement of a Content Management System, or CMS. Getting to know one – such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or Expression Engine – can exponentially increase your capabilities as a designer without feeling trapped by the technology. To the contrary – becoming CMS-familiar can lead to greater creative freedom than you could ever have imagined. The tools are better than ever and their capabilities are just amazing. All just waiting for you.
Step up and take charge. The future IS the CMS.
Track 2:
3:10 - 3:50
The Future Of Branding
Rising Star - Randy J. Hunt
The best designed brands will know that the lines between community and customer, product and promotion, online and offline, home and work, are utterly blurred. What persists and succeeds in our foggy future is smart content, an honest story, and a memorable personality.
-
Afternoon Break + Design Clinic: 3:50 - 4:35
Time for another break, and a much needed coffee.
-
Track 1:
4:35 - 4:55
The Design Revolution
Brad Haynes
The way people use the internet is changing. Brochure websites aren’t as important as they used to be and innovative technologies are allowing for more a more personalized and ubiquitous experience on the web. How do designers keep up with the changes and plan for a successful future in the industry? Listen to Brad Haynes, UX, Creative Director at Salesforce discuss the industry shift and explain why now is such an important time to be a designer. It’s a revolution!
-
Track 1:
5:00 - 5:40
The Unknown Voyage
Joshua Davis
There are people who have complete visions in their minds and are content with crafting those visions, 100 percent in some artistic craft. Joshus Davis not that guy. Most of his days are filled with failure and being lost.
It’s this alone, that keeps him interested in my profession. He hope that at any moment, under a mountain of failure, The Unknown Voyage presents a path to some new discovery.
He loves the process, and will be spending my session walking though process with some latest projects I’ve been working on.
-
FOWD After Party!: 7:30 - 12:00
The legendary FOWD After Party – come and let your hair down after two days of hardcore learning!
This year we have 4 Workshops to choose from. They’re full day workshops, so you can really get stuck in and learn loads about the topic you’re most passionate about.
Workshops Day ~ 9 November, 2011
-
1:
9:00 - 5:00
Designing Great iPhone and iPad Apps
Josh Clark
From first concept to polished pixel, learn to create iPhone and iPad apps that delight. The workshop explores the practical principles of mobile and touchscreen design, teaching you to “think iPhone” by planning and creating app interfaces in tune with the psychology and ergonomics of an audience on the go. You’ll learn to conceive and refine an app’s interface and user experience in tune with the needs of a mobile audience… and their fingers and thumbs.
What you'll learn:
- The expectations of a mobile audience
- The ergonomic demands of designing for touch
- Strategies for crafting your app’s visual identity
- How to work with gestures
- Unique considerations for designing for the iPad
- Techniques for creating sensational app icons
-
2:
9:00 - 5:00
Designing Your Framework With Compass & Sass
Brandon Mathis
HTML5, CSS3, and the explosion of mobile browsing have redefined our role as web designers. The game has changed and we must be ready to change with it.
In this workshop, Brandon will teach you how to wield Compass and Sass to design your own lean, reusable CSS3 frameworks.What you'll learn:
- How Compass and Sass can make you a better designer
- How to build the CSS3 framework you really need
- To conquer layouts with your own simple grid system
- The deep magic behind color theory
- How to be agile with in-browser design
-
3:
9:00 - 5:00
The Ideal Workflow
Sarah B Nelson
Wireframe, code, design, deploy, test? If you google “design process” you’ll find hundreds of handy workflow diagrams that describe an ideal workflow. Process diagrams and carefully detailed plans make people feel good. The only problem is that few of these workflows have ever survived an encounter with a real project.
Here’s why. Creative processes aren’t linear. They are messy. Development is messy. People are messy. And that’s ok.
In this workshop, participants will turn a diagnostic lens on their own process. Together, we’ll examine current workflow practices and expose the structures, assumptions, and values inherent in them. From there, each participant will develop a plan for improving — or radically re-working — the design process of their own practice or organization.
What you'll learn:
- In-depth exploration of varied workflow practices
- The thinking and theory behind established creative processes
- Real-life application of the design process to projects
- A personalized, best practice creative workflow
-
4:
9:00 - 5:00
Get started with HTML5 and CSS3
Aaron Gustafson
In this in-depth workshop, Aaron Gustafson will drop mad HTML5 & CSS3 science and cram your brain full of practical ways you can put these two emerging technologies to use immediately. The first half of the day will be a whirlwind tour of HTML5, covering everything from its semantic shifts to its accessibility enhancements to the new APIs it introduces for JavaScript. In the second half of the day, he’ll school you on the latest CSS3 techniques, showing you how to integrate the latest and greatest design advancements into your own work. You’ll want to bring a laptop to this one as Aaron has quite a few hands-on exercises planned to help you hone your skills.
What you'll learn:
- HTML5: structures & semantics, accessibility & ARIA, audio & video, and APIs (localStorage, geolocation, etc.)
- CSS3: advanced selectors, backgrounds & borders, colors, transforms, and transitions & animations.
