Speaking and workshopping at Directions 2016 in Sydney this November
Do you know where you were or what you were doing exactly ten years ago (next week?) I do. I was speaking at my first, in fact the first Web Directions conference in Sydney, Australia. (I gave a talk called ‘Creating Inspired Design’ and there’s audio of it if you’re interested in listening.)
I love Australia and I love Web Directions, so I couldn’t be more pleased to have been asked to speak there again at Directions 2016 on November 10th. It’s even more of an honour to be asked as this year is the tenth anniversary of Web Directions.
Maybe it’s a coincidence, maybe I need to change the record, but this year I’m talking about creativity, inspiration and design again. I’ll be giving my new “Art Directing the Web’ talk which went down so well in Zurich:
For years we’ve been told that websites shouldn’t make people think, that they should be accessible, easy to use and fast. But what if that isn’t enough?
In this talk, art director and designer Andy Clarke explores how art direction can make designs that are visually distinctive and more effective by using design to communicate the essence and purpose of our our content.
This will be my fifth Web Directions conference and I’m really looking forward to speaking alongside Josh Clark, Matt Griffin and Mark Pesce who I’ve met before, and plenty of other speakers who I’m looking forward to meeting.
Workshop: Designing And Developing Imaginative Layouts
I’ll also be hosting a new workshop (masterclass) that I’ve designed to work alongside my talk. It’s called “Designing And Developing Imaginative Layouts:”
With more and more websites following the same tired layout patterns, it’s time be bring imagination back to our digital products and websites. This workshop will teach you how to design inspired layouts, without compromising accessibility, responsiveness or user experience.
I’ve divided the workshop into two sessions. The morning, ‘Designing imaginative layouts,’ is primarily for website designers, but graphic and UX designers and front-end developers will benefit too. In this half day we’ll cover:
- Origins of grid systems for the web
- Using Golden and other ratios
- Golden rectangles and Fibonacci numbers
- Going beyond twelve even columns
- Choosing symmetrical or asymmetrical grids
- Creating your own grid system
- Making compound grids
- Using modular grids
- Making the most of white space
- Designing with irregular shapes
In the afternoon session, ‘Developing imaginative layouts,’ we’ll cover:
- Recapping imaginative layouts
- Using Flexbox to develop with ratios
- Improving readability with CSS columns
- Introducing CSS Grid
Both sessions will include tuition and practical work, so bring your laptop, a sketchbook and a mind that’s open to new ideas. This workshop will take place on November 9th and you can buy tickets now.
See you there
I couldn’t be happier to be going back to Directions, especially for the tenth anniversary. It’s the best conference series I’ve ever been involved with, so if you haven’t made it to the conference before, this is the year to change that. I hope I’ll see you there.