A quick review of the 99U Conference. If I don’t do this now, I’ll have to wait until they post all the the videos from this year and reference backwards.
Wednesday, May 4th
Kickoff Meet & Greet
Highlights for a nerd like me were ski-ball and a street fighter set up where you played on a screen on an adjacent building.
Thursday, May 5th
Studio Sessions: Spotify, Getting Started with User Research (On a Budget)
There was a lot of good info in this talk. The only problem was that it was painfully slow. For the kickoff talk, at 9:15AM, I needed something with a little more energy, or at least pace. I also wished they would have given us a little more behind the scenes from the Spotify office, where the talk took place.
Speaker Session 1
Ryan Carson: CEO & Co-Founder, Treehouse
Great kick off talk. Ryan gave some really good insights on balancing work and life and was up-front about their goals and mission matching with the office philosophy and structure. He referenced this article on ‘Wait But Why’ which really got the crowd thinking in a scary/deep way.
Kristy Tillman: Design Director, Society of Grownups
Kristy was inspiration and action and a perfect match for the 99U stage. She talked about how she’s had to invite herself to the leadership table throughout her career. She had real world examples and her humble and strong approach had the crowd on her side. The group saw themselves in her–a designer who took action and let the results speak for themselves.
Jason Fried: Founder, Basecamp
I’ve seen Jason speak before. He’s always good and was on point again. Key quote: “At the end of my talk I’m hoping you’ll end up destroying something you love”
Speaker Session 2
William Deresiewicz: Author, Excellent Sheep
This was a key one for me. Mr. Deresiewicz has been doing a lot of reaseach about the creative professional. He gave a detailed account of how we’ve evolved over history and gave a pretty grim state of affairs on how hard it is for us to make money and keep the creative dream alive. He tried to pepper in some positive notes, but the overview was clear. The creative fields are in crisis and if we don’t protect it then it will be out of our hands. I really hope he puts all these thoughts together in book form. I’d buy that in seconds.
Tristan Walker: Founder, Walker & Co
Interview style talk with Mr. Walker was insightful and interesting. I don’t view him as a creative in a tradition sense. But, he’s able to bridge the world of entrepreneurship and design in a easy way.
Master Class
An Ode To The Journey In-Between: Insights From Start To Finish
Scott Belsky
I’m a Belsky fan, so yeah, I enjoyed seeing him talk again. He talked about the less glamorous part of the design process: the in-between. We all love the beginning of projects. That’s the fun part. We adore the end part: the big win, success or acquisition for millions. The middle part is dirty, not fun and probably the most important part.
Friday, May 6th
Offsites
Slow and Steady: Enjoying the Journey of Building a Design Driven Brand: Jeff Sheldon, Ugmonk
Jeff was humble, honest and I related to him immediately. He’s a designer’s designer and it was evident to me that his curiosity and work ethic battle for attention. He’s clearly winning that war and has created a company over 7 years that is defined and smart.
Speaker Session 3
Dan Mall: Director, SuperFriendly
I know Dan personally and was excited to see him on the big stage. I didn’t know what he was going to talk about and I was surprised by his new effort–apprentices. It was awesome and I’d hire anyone who comes out of his program. I’m big on mentoring and education, so this was a natural for me. Check out the Superfriendly Academy here.
Effie Brown: Executive Producer, Project Greenlight / Duly Noted
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but I didn’t know who Effie Brown was. I do now–she rules. She detailed her creative rules. Short version: Know Thyself — What&Why — DBAD. Know what your strengths and weakness are. What are you doing and why. DBAD=Don’t be a dick.
Jennifer Daniel: Graphics Editor, The New York Times
This was easily the most entertaining talk of the conference. She shocked the crowd with body parts, GIFs and honesty. I wish I could better summarize, but this one you’ll have to watch on your own.
Speaker Session 4
Cap Watkins: VP of Design, Buzzfeed
I have heard of Buzzfeed. I’ve even accidentally clicked on a few of their articles. Cap was awesome. He talked about how he’s been working to reshape the design culture within the office. There was a lot of good advice, but my main takeaway was to make your team the best, most efficient department and let that guide the rest of the office. He observed that often times when this happens, the rest of the office will try and emulate that successful group.
Yuko Shimizu: Illustrator
Do you want to be Justin Bieber or Bjork? Yuko explains why she chose the later and how that decision shapes your work and creative experience. This was many people’s favorite of the conference.
Tobias Frere-Jones: Founder, Frere-Jones Type
The finale and Alva award recipient was Mr. Frere-Jones. This talk was polarizing. I loved it. It was detailed, personal and if you care about type (and I don’t know why someone at this event would not) amazing.
and some links…
It was a short week in the office since I had the good fortune of heading to New York City to attend the 99U conference. I did still find a few decent links to share with my team.
Web Icons — https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/elegant-icon-font
Design/Type — https://medium.com/@BethanyHeck/the-value-of-multi-typeface-design-ccd67227b0ee#.w4pu8x7sd
UX — http://blog.invisionapp.com/world-class-ux/
Design — 99U Conference 2015 — http://99u.com/videos