The Future of Web Design is organised by Bath-based web agency and conference experts Carsonified, and has become one of the most popular and heavily anticipated industry events in the UK. Earlier this month I attended for the first time, sent by Makemedia to immerse myself in advice, experience and wise words from some of the brightest names in the industry and up-and-coming talent cutting their teeth at the London event.

Hosted at The Brewery (a Grade II listed building set off a private courtyard), it is an impressive venue with excellent facilities and hospitality. The main stage was set in a cavernous and highly-vaulted room with well-tuned acoustics and a useful elevated area towards the back of the room where attendees could blog away while keeping an eye on the action. Coupled with a number of large projection screens hung across the audience, a great view of speaker slides and demos was guaranteed front or back. Second stream presentations were held in the much smaller and more intimate side room just off of the lunch area which was also home to stands from sponsors and partners such as Opera, Adobe and Fonts.com.

The FOWD main stage

My expectations for the two days were high. At nearly £500 for an early-bird ticket (more if you’re not so quick), I hoped to return to Brighton inspired, clued-up and ready to share some new-found knowledge with my colleagues. The line-up included some of the biggest names in the industry, although experience had taught me not to be overlook some new faces on the line-up – I intended to draw myself away from the main stage at least a couple of times during the conference.

Ideas – Action = Shit

Kicking off day one was Brendan Dawes, creative director for magneticNorth who encouraged us to look for inspiration in new places, to take risks and not be afraid to experiment with the way we develop our ideas. His slides were unique, forming a Flash-based interface in which Brendan could call up slides or audience tweets based on the gestures he used on screen (much like the Magnetic North website). Sometimes it didn’t work, but Brendan was unfazed; it helped support his argument that we should take risks to break out of our design patterns, and here he was using an unfamiliar and sometimes uncooperative interface to deliver his presentation.

Brendans family background helps us understand his creative outlook in more detail when he enthuses about the time he would work with his father, a respected sports photographer. Brendan would be taken to high-profile Manchester United fixtures with his father, who would give task him with selecting and developing negatives at half time ready to ship directly to publications eager to be first to press with shots of the game. Dawes was expected to make split-second decisions over the best frames from a roll of negatives, then frantically dry the frame and develop them quickly. No time to ponder, no time to over-assess the framing of a shot, just instinct and belief. A great lesson to open the day.

HTML5 vs. CCS3

First decision of the day came at 10am; to stay in at the main stage and hear Dan Cederholm talk CSS3, or wander to the second stream and hear Peter Lubbers talk advanced HTML5? I decided to stick with Dribbble-creator Dan and hopefully pick up some neat new CSS3 tips.

Dan based his talk around a fictional case-study website dedicated to objects found on the moon after the NASA landings. Taking us through different visual elements on the page, he showed us where he had used CSS3 techniques to add a level of pleasure to the interactions on screen. A text-shadow here, some mild rotation there; it was a beginners overview of some of the design glitter we can already start using in abundance. Although Dans talk was titled ‘getting started with CSS3′, I had expected the level of the talk to be aimed at a technically higher level (this is The Future of Web Design after all).

Although CSS3 does allow us to add a layer of polish to our designs without the need to boot up Photoshop, I would have liked to have seen Dan explore more of the layout features of the spec which would help move peoples perception of CSS3 beyond the bells and whistles of rounded corners and drop-shadows. Dan clearly has the experience and knowledge to give a real insight into the best way to use CSS3 to full effect, and it was a shame his presentation only scratched the surface.

A jQuery eureka moment

After enough free coffee and cupcakes to keep us sustained for days, it was back to the main stage for Remy Sharps talk entitled ‘jQuery for Designers; all you need to know’. If Dan Cederholms presentation seemed pitched a little low for the London audience, Remy executed his at a level perfect for those who use jQuery plugins regularly but may not be familiar enough with the programming behind them.

Remy ran through his talk at a well metered pace, working from the assumption that most of us have at least dabbled in jQuery and understand how it relates directly to the ID’s and classes we use in our stylesheets. Remy took us through a number of examples of jQuery in action – from basic slides showing how the framework neatly slots into our presentational work, through to powerful JSON implementations which left me enthusiastic to explore the possibilities of Javascript far more than I felt brave enough to before.

It can be difficult to engage an audience when your slides consist of code examples (especially at an event appealing to designers), but Remy delivered them with the sort of clarity only someone who knows their subject inside-out possibly can. By far one of the highlights of the conference for me.

Web Standardistas

My first visit to the second stream was to see Belfast duo the Web Standardistas. It would seem I wasn’t alone in being intrigued by their UX Masterclass talk – the room was packed with many having to stand at the back. No pressure to deliver then.

Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson are the Standardistas, standards evangelists hoping to open our minds to excellent UX, with some surprise and delight thrown in for good measure. Their UX recipe took us through some excellent examples of paired down design (Dieter Rams getting his second mention of the day) and smile-inducing hidden delights (another outing for Paul Annetts Silverback parallax).

An excellent double-act, they delivered their talk with passion and some well judged audience participation. I’m extremely jealous of the students who get to call these guys their tutors at the University of Ulster – they’re way cooler than the lecturers I had to guide me through my degree. Another highlight of the conference.

Lunch at FOWD

Having had to choose between a HTML5 or CSS3 talk in the morning, I was surprised to see a web fonts talk as the lone stream after lunch. With no alternative (not that I was looking for one), the whole audience were all ears for Allan Haleys web fonts presentation. Cue a pitch for the Fonts.com webfonts service, and one which even had the Carsonified organisers cringing as Haley proclaimed the future of web fonts had arrived. Sign up today.

Presumably part of the sponsorship package offered to Fonts.com who were running product demos in the chillout area during breaks, perhaps this is the price we pay for Carsonified  being able to ship the biggest names to London. The talk failed to offer insight or advice into typography on the web, and if a search for the #fowd hashtag on Twitter mid-flow was anything to go by I wasn’t alone in my disappointment. A shame, and the only blot on what had been an excellent morning.

“Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly”

Day one closed on the main stage with a talk from Boagworld creator and ever present uncle of the web, Paul Boag. I’m a fan of the Boagworld podcasts and Pauls blog posts; he always manages to bridge the gap between practical skills and the business side of web design (one many prefer to shy away from). It may not be the coolest combination, but helps bring practical advice to those at ground level.

Pauls talk centred around learning new skills, but not the ones we were expecting. No CSS3 or HTML5 here, instead Paul told us we need to do some homework. Brushing up on SEO and taking a crash course in web psychology were just a couple of his suggestions. Most important was his lesson that we should stop looking at design galleries or other peoples work; it will only confuse and bewilder us, leaving us envious of other peoples work. Good advice.

Insightful CSS3

Day two kicked off with Molly Holzschlag giving us a unique insight into the workings of the W3C and CSS3 working group. A candid look at the processes and frustrations of trying to develop a well-rounded spec, she called on the audience to get involved in the process by taking more of an active role in the development of future HTML and CSS technologies through these organisations.

An insightful exploration of the exciting future and current limitations of CSS3, she gave an honest assessment of what we should and shouldn’t be using just yet (leave off the animation for a while). Mollys explanation of the exciting layout possibilities with CSS3 left me eager to get stuck into technology which can often feel frustratingly beyond our grasp as browser vendors vary in their uptake of new selectors, further emphasising the need for  ground-level practitioners to get involved with the specification.

Lets get ready to ramble

Having watched Simon Collison talk before I was looking forward to his down-to-earth musings on ‘What Web Design will look like in two years’. Simon kicked off with his future vision of Nottingham as a Buck Rogers style metropolis, before taking us on a journey through his predictions and hopes for the future of design.

Simon started by encouraging us to stop denying the machines behind the web, to extinguish any desire to mimic the real world online. No more sticky tape, and no more coffee cup stains (and that’s an order).

The examples he chose to support his thinking include the wonderful Sushi and Robots, Jina Boltons personal blog and portfolio with its visible grid and exquisite typography choices which helped influence Collys own redesign.

Cue another Dieter Rams example, followed by encouragement to strip away our designs until there is nothing left to remove – a popular mantra for the conference as a whole. His later slides feature some beautiful examples of typography-biased poster design, expressing an excitement but also concern about the ease with which we can start to use a plethora of typefaces – tread carefully and choose wisely.

Simon delivered his talk in a down-to-earth style, with an understanding of his craft that left me inspired to get sketching the moment I left the room for lunch. He encourages the audience to learn their trade fully, to embrace traditional design techniques and methodologies but not to be constrained by them. My personal highlight of the conference.

Emotional Design

After lunch on day two I decided to visit the second stream where independent developer Aral Balkan was discussing ‘The Art of Emotional Design: A story of pleasure, joy, and delight’.

Arals talk hit on a number of main themes from this years conference, namely the importance of putting the user first in design decision making and adding a layer of pleasure to our websites or applications. ‘Surprise and delight’ (a term motor manufacturers have been most associated with for the past couple of decades) is mentioned in a number of presentations, but Aral delivers his feelings on it with the most vigour and enthusiasm; his excitement for the subject is infectious and extremely well executed.

He starts with a quote ‘Edible = Usable’; the ‘eatability’ of food is not what excites us when we visit a restaurant, it is the unique flavours, the ambience and the service which encourage us to dive into a delicious meal rather than one to simply sustain us. A simple lesson, but one to build on since usability has finally become a given within modern professional web design.

Aral goes on to show us examples of his Feathers iPhone application, a Twitter client which allows you to encode custom characters and ASCII art into your tweets – it won’t save the world, but it may put a smile on your face. Aral uses a blue bird as an integral part of the user experience, chirping when you send a tweet, turning red if you run over your character count. He tells us of a dilemma he had when using the authorisation functionality in Twitter to allow users to sign up to his service, sending them back to a (rather dull) native log in from his application. He had a choice: promote his app by having the Feathers name show below every tweet of those who use it, or create a far more usable system which does not take the user away from Feathers but sacrifices the self-promotion. Aral put the user first, and when Stephen Fry used Feathers to send a pretty tweet earlier this year over a million users didn’t see it had come through Arals app. A difficult pill to swallow, but the integrity of his application and a great user experience were of greater importance. Who knows, maybe Stephen Fry would have bailed from the log in process had he been cockblocked by the native Twitter authentication.

Arals lesson was to make our work joyful. To not let ‘Surprise and Delight’ overwhelm the user, but to use it appropriately and with care to bring an added layer of fun and empathy to our work. An excellent presentation.

Aral Balkan: The Art of Emotional Design from Carsonified on Vimeo.

HTML5 demystified

I had been looking forward to Bruce Lawsons presentation since booking my ticket for FOWD. Although I’ve been making efforts to familiarise myself with HTML5, dipping into the specification and taking advice on the best strategy for using it for upcoming projects, I have still been doubtful of my own understanding and was looking forward to a practical demonstration of some HTML5 goodness and an honest analysis of the most sensible way to start using the new elements in anger.

Bruce started by defining what is and what isn’t HTML5 and providing a brief back story to it’s evolution. Most importantly, he put the audience in no doubt that HTML5 is something to be taking seriously now, not in twelve months time. His practical example centered around a fictional blog, within which Bruce was able to demonstrate the simplicity with which previously headache inducing elements such as video could be integrated with ease and manipulated quickly and efficiently with CSS3. Looking for excuses? Worried about HTML5? Lawson brought HTML5 Shiv to our collective attention, a jQuery plugin built by his Introducing HTML5 co-author Remy Sharp which makes Internet Explorer obey new selector names. You could almost see the lightbulbs being switched on in attendees minds as Bruce simplified and justified the HTML5 specification, demonstrating the ease with which we can all get started. A confidence-inspiring presentation which left me eager to take the plunge.

FOWD design clinic

And so ended my couple of days in the capital. The conclusion? Finally usability is being treated as a given in the industry, and we are able to concentrate our efforts (and learning) on ways to add a layer of interaction and pleasure which takes our applications or websites from usable to delightful.

Another trend among the more conceptual talks was an encouragement to strip away the layer of design we apply because we feel it necessary to justify our trade. We have moved away from the need to decorate, into a realm in which we need to strip away, adding delighters as a reward for exploration rather than applying a layer of unnecessary gloss which can often be design for designs sake.

I enjoyed my time at Future of Web Design. Big name attractions often fail to live up to expectation, but this wasn’t the case with the majority of speakers at the Brewery. Each delivered insightful and well judged presentations which left me inspired (Simon Collison) or enlightened (Bruce Lawson, Remy Sharp). Can’t wait to see what Carsonified have in store for 2011.

Tags: Carsonified, CSS3, FOWD, Future of Web Design, HTML5, Web Conferences

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 9:54 pm and is filed under Conferences, Events, Reviews, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.