A Playground Worth a Thousand Programmes

What if coding were as intuitive as playing in a playground? In this talk, Linda Liukas explores the concept of embodied knowledge in computer science, showing how future technologies will blend the digital and physical worlds. With insights from a Helsinki case study, she illustrates how playgrounds can be models for all learning.

Never Let Go of Your Dragon

After creating physical projects for many years there comes a moment that you are confronted with the size of your body of work. How did it come to this? What will happen to all my robots in the future? What is my role after I created them? How long do I need to take care of them? What do they expect from me?

This talk will leave you with more questions than answers, and hopefully you will learn something about robots and yourself along the way.

So You’ve Decided to Do a Technical Migration

It seems like there’s always a hot new library or framework promising great things. But people often forget about the pain and effort required to move from an old technology to a new one. How long will it take? If you finish, will it be worth it? And if you don’t, could it leave you in a worse place than where you started?

Drawing from her experience of the Typescript migration they recently completed at Monzo she’ll take you through some of the different outcomes of technical migrations and the things they learned along the way.

The Beauty of Solopreneurship

In the startup world, we’re often told the same story: get funding, grow fast, and aim for the big exit. But my journey thrived only when I let go of that pressure. Instead of chasing rapid growth, I chose to stay small, focusing on organic growth and profitability from day one. And in doing so, I found something unexpected—a genuine joy in the daily building process.

With today’s technology, automation, and AI, thriving as a solopreneur is not only possible—it’s a smart, financially sound choice. In this talk, I’ll share how embracing intentional, sustainable growth can lead to a more fulfilling and successful way of building digital products.

Craft & Graft

In his talk, Craig Black tells the story of his career so far — spanning from professional football (soccer) player, independent typographic designer to visual artist, sharing how it has shaped him and what he has learned along the way.

Craig dives deep into how he got his business up and running with no financial safety net. He speaks the truth about money worries and facing fear; remaining resilient and focused in achieving his dream, even in the toughest of times.

From the power of self-initiated projects to burnout and everything in between — Craig shares personal anecdotes on the challenges he has faced, overcoming imposter syndrome and giving back to his local community in the hope of inspiring fellow creatives to find what makes them happy and go achieve it!

Craig realised that to create the life that he wanted to live, he had to take charge and do it on his own. This progress in Craig’s career has made him understand the importance of sharing his journey and the responsibility to make an impact and inspire others.

Crafting the Life You Want

Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and “avid internetter” who has been in a position of prominence in the design industry for nearly two decades. During that time, so much has changed. Finding your place in this world as an artist and maker has become more complex. Technologies are ever evolving. Platforms and what they ask of us are constantly shifting. The internet offered us an incredible opportunity for connection but it feels harder and harder to find your people, especially because it’s not always clear who is showing up as their authentic selves and who is “building a brand”. In this talk, Jessica will walk through ways she’s navigated all of these changes while trying to stay true to herself – from client work & kids books, to opening two brick and mortar stores. She’ll talk about promoting your work without commodifying every part of yourself, the power of embracing local community, and how to align new technologies with your values to live the creative life you want.