Everything web is so complicated these days, isn’t it? With responsive multi-screen multi-input applications, the web is now a highly unpredictable, complex environment. How can designers and developers even manage this complexity themselves, much less build a great experience that will attract users? How do we approach regular tasks and complicated challenges efficiently? How do we build scalable design systems that will stand the test of time? What do we need to know today in order to stay relevant in the future? What skills and expertise are absolutely necessary to be prepared for designing digital experiences of tomorrow?

In this talk on Thursday, September 29th (4pm), Vitaly Friedman, founding editor of Smashing Magazine, discusses User Experience Design (UX) and careers and opportunities in this rapidly growing field, along with a few things he has learned in his experience and some little dirty tricks to keep in mind when designing for the web. Beware: you might not be able to unlearn what you learn in this talk, and it might change your life forever. Seriously.

As web applications are becoming swamped with data, and data reporting applications move to the web, both are faced with the same question: How do we deal with displaying and manipulating data, including both corporate and/or user-generated data, in responsive interfaces?

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THE WORKSHOP:

We’ll look into designing modular systems incorporating both universal components such as complex navigation and tables as well as custom-tailored interactive controls and user-specified filters and parameters. We’ll explore rules of thumbs, techniques and practical strategies for achieving just this goal by looking into innovative examples and best practices of designing advanced real-life UIs, including:

• adaptive content,
• complex navigation, drop-downs, filters, tabs,
• advanced tables and data grids,
• multi-level carousels and accordions,
• elections graphs and charts, and data visualization in general,
• administration dashboards,
• multi-lingual experiences,
• better chat interface design,
• detailed maps and lightboxes,
• scheduling applications and calendars,
• responsive animations and transitions,
• custom car configurators,
• seating plan selection,
• eCommerce checkout flow,
• responsive upscaling for large screens,
• delightful details in UIs,
• use of audio, video and storytelling techniques,
• conversational interfaces,
• offline experiences (progressive web applications), incl. web notifications.

Designing is just one part of the story though. With our responsive interfaces operating in a complex, diverse and unpredictable environment — with a wide range of screens, input modes and connection speeds — how can we make sure that the designs which pixels we so thoroughly craft, remain consistent and coherent over time? Coordinating designs across teams is vital but always a challenge, especially in “responsive” world.

Therefore we’ll also look into current and emerging UX tools, techniques and strategies that pertain to team development of web-based interaction with data, including:

• pattern libraries,
• components cut-up workshop,
• components naming strategies,
• design workflow,
• user stories,
• user journey maps,
• design sprints,
• priority lists,
• content reference wireframes,
• visual inventories,
• content inventories