Future Of Web Design 2011 in NYC

The Future of Web Design 2011 was my first web design conference and I need to be attending more of them.

Here's 5 reasons why I loved it:

1. It brings the web to life. Design heros who I've been admiring for a while, appear as real figures on stage and then you can actually go over to them and have a conversation. Nothing beats that experience!

2. The lectures were on topics that would normally not interest me, like "Design Principles: The Philosohpy of UX" by Whitney Hess. But it proved to be super interesting and was about the user interacting with products in general, which pretty much applies to anyone involved in creating things. She collects photos in her photo of the day section showing clever and thought-out products that have the user in mind, as well as mind blowingly, unsmart signage that totally ignore the fact that they were created for people.

3. I got to network with some really nice people. One woman I met, sat down with me while there were sessions going on, to walk me through the basics of setting up my website. She printed out tutorials, gave me video tutorials on CD and showed me where I can meetup with others learning the same thing. HTML5, CSS3, Wordpress - here I come!

4. The energy and inspiration is all around, making me itch to learn more and create.

5. NYC is the coolest city around, and I'm so lucky to be able to take advantage of it.

Useful links, articles and people from #FOWD:

Coding Tutorials:
HtmlGoodies.com
Nettuts.com
teamtreehouse.com
Peepcode.com
Think Vitamin on Vimeo

Technique Tutorials:
methodandcraft.com

Design Ethics:
designprofessionalism.com
robotregime.com
Photoshopetiquette.com

Documentries to watch:
Art and Copy
Objectified

Studios:
studiomates.com
yellowpencil.com/

Conferences:
meetup.com - Wordpress NYC, Girl Develop It, NYC Jewish Tech Meetup
BrooklynBeta.org
skillshare.com

Must read articles from (Whitney Hess):
Editing for Designers
Grit is More Important than Talent

Art
Etsy.com

People I met:
flightstudio1.com
dawnreel.com
thegrablet.com
placenamehere.com


Speakers
Tina Roth Eisenberg The Power of Side Projects and Ecentric Aunts
Cameron Moll Pith, Passion and Productivity: Pillars of a successful design carreer
Sara B. Nelson Web Design is a Cloud, Not a Clock
Steve Fisher The future of Mobile UX
Dan Rose The Lost Art of Design Etiqueete
Randy J. Hunt (etsy.com) The Future of Branding