Some of the things remain the same –
The focus on a sharply curated speaker line up across a range of topics relevant to young practitioners and seasoned professionals – Product Design, Ux, Design systems, New-age interfaces, inclusive Design, craftsmanship and Design-doing.
What’s new?
One, this year, DesignUp extends to become a 3 day event – the first day is dedicated to Masterclasses with industry experts from round the globe. The 4 to 7 hour Masterclasses are for a small group of people, and they promise to be intense, hands-on and a great opportunity to interact with the Experts and fellow attendees.
The topics range from Mastering Design Sprints to using Animation in Interfaces to extend the Brand Story, Speculative and Provocative Future Design Objects and diving deeper into Conversational Interfaces. Masterclasses are held by some of the recognized experts in the field – between the 6 experts there are 3 published authors with 7 titles and textbooks.
Two, DesignUp 2018 lineUp includes some of the most recognized names in the industry – from Adobe to Atlassian (makers of Jira and Trello), AirBnB, Automatic (the people who power WordPress), Google – as well as niche studios like Sydney based Syfte and Bangalore based Uncommon. Adding to the varied mix are people who pursue passion projects and craft unique pathways, often using tech – DesignUp tries to give these gems a platform to tell their story and inspire the attendees to make a difference. And this year it has 2 surprise speakers which it’s being secretive about!
Three, the tracks this year include Front-end Development and Rich Interfaces, Design Systems and Design Language – and Inclusive and Participatory Design. The last one has attracted a lot of attention this year – and almost a third of proposals submitted fall in this category – from gender diversity, accessibility to stories of inclusive growth. DesignUp itself has a good track record of being balanced and having around 40-45% women speakers – this year it hopes to exceed that and possibly even have more women speaking, sharing their stories.
Finally, DesignUp now has a new home – the swanky Shangri-La just a few kms north of last year’s venue. It’s everything one has come to expect of the events – accessible, great food and ample parking. The exclusive speaker’s dinner will be held at the rooftop restaurant overlooking the Bangalore skyline.
DesignUp Pre-events
As is now fast becoming a tradition – DesignUp has smaller meets in cities before the big Conference in October. This year, DesignUp goes to Chennai (July 14), Hyderabad (July 19) and Singapore (Aug 14). Each of the pre-events are a mini version of the event – 2 workshops, a few hand-picked talks and the chance to meet over networking dinner. So if you’re around in any of these cities – come along in July and August.
More details on www.designup.io/2018 and their social media pages are always abuzz with new speaker announcements and community discussions.
YourStory is proud to be Media Partner for DesignUp 2018