Author: Nate Dillon

An Event Apart: “Responsive Content Models”

Steve Fisher speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 4, 2018.

Responsive Content Models describe all of the content types on a target site, the elements of each, and then prioritize the content type that should appear on a specific page type. They help us define the content creation, design, and user experience concepts for the new or refreshed site. This is especially important for the responsive web—because layout and user context is constantly changing, we have to make sure that content priorities are represented consistently across all platforms. In this engaging talk, Steve Fisher will show you how to find the core piece you need, prioritize for multiple devices, and sketch out the solution to your responsive-content woes.

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An Event Apart: “Use Your Words”

Kristina Halvorson speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 4, 2018.

UI is language. Interaction is conversation. Content is the fuel that powers our designs. So what happens when the writer’s not in the room, or missing from your project team altogether? Good news: you don’t need to settle for lorem ipsum or half-baked prose. In this talk, Kristina will share language principles and content design tools anyone can put to work—yes, even the “non-writers” among us. Using examples from popular products and well-loved websites, we’ll uncover the secrets to stellar content that anyone can create, no matter your role or area of expertise.

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An Event Apart: “Tech Humanism: Data, Meaning, and Human Experience”

Kate O’Neill speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 4, 2018.

With so much emphasis in business on artificial intelligence, automation of various kinds, and digital transformation, the future of human work — and even humanity itself — can feel uncertain. And while we often talk about user experience, customer experience, patient experience, and so on, we rarely consider what a truly integrated human experience might look and feel like. But “Tech Humanist” Kate O’Neill presents the case for why the future of humanity is in creating more meaningful, dimensional, and integrated experiences, and how emerging technologies like chatbots, wearables, IoT devices, and more can be included in this kind of human-centric design. While weaving in examples from a range of industries, applications, and even pop culture, Kate offers an inspiring and useful framework for designers, strategists, or anyone creating experiences for humans.

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An Event Apart: “The All-Powerful Front-End Developer”

Chris Coyier speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

The internet is, without metaphor, just a bunch of servers tied together with wires. Without servers, we’d have no way to share our creations with the world. Yet in a bit of a paradox, servers are less essential to our work than they’ve ever been. We can now do things on the front end that used to require a back end. When we do need a back end, our front end skills can be put to work, giving us some surprisingly powerful new abilities. Join Chris on a whirlwind tour of the tools, tech, and code that puts more power than ever into our front-end hands.

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An Event Apart: “Designing Progressive Web Apps”

Jason Grigsby speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

If you have a website—particularly one that generates revenue for your organization—you need a Progressive Web App. So where do you begin? How do you decide which features of a Progressive Web App make sense for your users? What tools can make the process easier (or harder)? In this practical session, Jason will guide you through the key design decisions you’ll need to make about your Progressive Web App and how those decisions impact the scope of your project. He’ll also teach you how to avoid common pitfalls and help you take full advantage of Progressive Web App technology.

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An Event Apart: “Mobile In the Future”

Luke Wroblewski speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

In this session, Luke will take a look at what we’ve learned over the past ten years of designing for the largest, most connected form of mass media on our planet. Have all the mock-ups, meetings, emails, and more we’ve created in the last decade moved us beyond desktop computing interfaces and ideas? If not, can we find inspiration to go further from looking at what’s happening in natural user interfaces and hardware design? Find out in this session from the author of Mobile First.

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An Event Apart: “Navigating Team Friction”

Lara Hogan speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

Friction is a common, and necessary, part of team growth–but when left unchecked, team friction is unhealthy for you, your coworkers, your company, and ultimately your end users. In this engaging talk, Lara will draw on her experiences at organizations large and small to illuminate the sources of team tension, how you can better understand and manage unexpected teammate reactions, and the best ways to give actionable feedback without escalating drama. You’ll walk away with tactics you can employ immediately to address and improve your relationship with your teammates. Your coworkers, your organization, your users, and you will reap the benefits.

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An Event Apart: “Performance as User Experience”

Aaron Gustafson speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

Design is problem solving. Each and every day, we are tasked with finding ways to reduce the friction our users experience on the Web. That means streamlining flows, reducing cognitive load, and writing more appropriate copy, but user experience goes far beyond the interface. Our users’ experiences begin with their first request to our servers. In this intensely practical session, Aaron will explore the ins and outs of page load performance by showing how he made the web site of the 10K Apart meet its own contest rules, by having a site that was functional and attractive even without JavaScript, and was less than ten kilobytes at initial load. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the page load process as well as numerous ways you can improve the projects you are working on right now.

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An Event Apart: “The Way Of The Web”

Jeremy Keith speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 3, 2018.

Do you ever get overwhelmed by the ever-changing nature of web design and development? Exhausting, isn’t it? How are you supposed to know which technologies and tools you should invest your time in? Will they stick around or will you just have to relearn everything in another few months? Join Jeremy as he takes a tour of the past, present, and future of working on the web. From the building blocks of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript through to frameworks and libraries right up to the latest and greatest Progressive Web Apps, this talk will examine our collective assumptions with a critical eye. By learning from the past, we can make sensible design decisions today to build the web of tomorrow.

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An Event Apart: “Everything You Know About Web Design Just Changed”

Jen Simmons speaking at An Event Apart Seattle 2018 on April 2, 2018.

2017 saw a sea change in web layout, one that few of us have truly come to grips with. We’re standing at the threshold of an entirely new era in digital design—one in which, rather than hacking layouts together, we can actually describe layouts directly. The benefits will touch everything from prototyping to custom art direction to responsive design. In this visionary talk, rooted in years of practical experience, Jen will show you how to understand what’s different, learn to think through multiple stages of flexibility, and let go of pixel constraints forever.

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