The Layers of the Web

The World Wide Web turned 30 this year. The web has changed quite a bit over that time. But progress has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary: changes have accreted on top of what has come before. This layered iterative approach also works for building websites. Together we'll uncover how to build resilient, performant, accessible and beautiful structures that work with the grain of the materials of the web.

Conversational Semantics

This would branch off from my Designing the Conversation talk that I’ve given off and on for the past few years. The focus is understanding semantic HTML and the framing is the importance of this stuff in the world of headless UIs (like Alexa, Cortana, etc.). I plan to cover semantic meaning and how that translates into something that is meaningful for voice assistants and bots, taking advantage of native browser features to help users fill in forms more quickly via voice, and could even talk a bit about using JavaScript for speech recognition and synthesis if that’s of interest.

Interactive Web Animation with SVG

Have you ever felt uninspired by the every-day grind? Like coding is all work and no play? Come with me as I take you on a whistle-stop tour of delightful SVG animations. I’ll also ask for some audience participation, as interaction is what makes motion on the web so fun! By the end of this talk, you will feel enthused and inspired to make your own creative web animations with SVG.

On Finding Purpose

Burton Rast is going to describe his unorthodox path to the design industry. He’ll talk about how the ideologies borne of the music and activism that raised him now inform the work that he does as a designer.

Burton will talk about the future he believes we've all a responsibility to create through our work, one that upholds privacy as a fundamental human right.

Headbuilder

What makes a good portrait? Do portraits often say more about the artist than the sitter? What kind of face is good to do? What can you tell about someone’s personality from their face? I’ll be talking about my time at cult TV show Spitting Image, boring jobs that pay, interesting jobs that don’t, plus drawing people every day at my flat in Hackney.

The Story of You

Why do we do the things we do? What really drives our personalities? And how do our personalities form in the first place?

Each of us is complex and unique – but much like a handful of chords can produce a unique piece of music, or a few colors can combine into a full spectrum – our personalities are composed of far fewer ingredients than we might expect given the huge diversity we see in ourselves and those around us.

Utilizing modern neuroscience aswell as a contemporary system of psychology embraced by Hollywood Director David Fincher – the award-winning psychological storyteller behind Fight Club, House of Cards, Mindunter and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – this talk will simplify what complex psychology can tell us about why we behave the way we do in a simple, beginner friendly way.

This talk will provide you with a new way to understand you – and bring a new level of understanding and empathy for those around you – and shed light on the unconscious mechanisms that operate below the surface of your awareness – and how these automated mechanisms shape your life and your behaviour.