Speaker Introduction – Vitaly Friedman

I got to know Vitaly Friedman through a road trip in 2011 I did with a handful of people. We all did not know each other. All together in a van we were on the way to an event called “New Adventures in Web Design” a wonderful event that took place on 20th January 2011 and was organised by my friend Simon Collison. Little did I know how much Vitaly and I would explore together and how many adventures were ahead.

On that journey I told Vitaly about my event, which I was just about to start. He was in for it instantly and gave a talk at the very first beyond tellerrand conference in Düsseldorf, November 2011 (side note: on which Simon also spoke). His talk back then was titled “The Invisible Side of Design” and he (not me) refers to it as something like ”[…]my worst talk ever[…]”.

Next to this, we got into conversations about starting an event for the online magazine he had co-founded in 2006 and which we all knew too well, since it was one of THE goto address for web designers: Smashing Magazine. I loved the idea, he loved the way I was running events and the atmosphere at my events and so we started the first Smashing Conference in 2012 in Freiburg, the town were Smashing Magazine was based.

Now, 14 years after the first appearance, Vitaly is back with a new talk and a full-day workshop.

beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf 2025 is taking place on May 5 and 6 with workshops and Side Events on 4th and 7th.