This year’s WebExpo will feature plenty of content relevant to us, design systems practitioners. Expect talks specifically about design systems, along with topics like accessibility, animations, or the evolving role of AI in our field.
Below, you can find curated sessions with some of the most respected voices in design systems and the design community to share their insights and practices that will elevate our day-to-day work. So which talks are must-attend? And are there some interesting workshops?
Featured design systems talks
Geri Reid: “Don’t worry – the design system takes care of accessibility!”
When: Thursday 11:00, Lucerna Great Hall
Geri Reid is one of the brightest voices from the design systems community and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Geri will share her personal experience of bringing accessibility into design systems, accompanied by her characteristic nerdy and quirky takes. If there is one person to learn from about how accessibility and design systems intersect, it’s Geri Reid.
Amy Hupe’s “How not to kill your design system”
When: Thursday 12:00, Lucerna Great Hall (right after Geri’s talk, so don’t go anywhere)
Amy offers a unique blend of content design, product management, and systems thinking. With her experience at GOV.UK and other high-profile projects, Amy brings fresh perspectives on sustaining the life of design systems. Together with Geri, they just started a new design systems podcast “Back to School”.
Adam Kudrna’s case study, “A deep dive into building and growing a multi-brand design system”
When: Thursday 13:00, Marble Hall
Adam Kudrna is a very experienced front-end developer, focusing on building modular UI for years. He is one of the driving forces behind Alma Career’s design system where they’re building one of the most advanced multi-product design systems in the Czech Republic. He also has some strong opinions on frameworks, which can be a fun topic to discuss with him later over a glass of beer.
“Enhancing designer experience: Usability considerations for Figma libraries” by Klára Scholleová
When: Wednesday 15:00, Lucerna Cinema
Every designer in a company is familiar with components in Figma from a design system. Interested in learning to architect components for improved usability? Join this short session by Klára Scholleová, a Figma power user and a rising star in the Czech design community.
Hands-on workshops
“Figma mastery – Enhancing components for efficiency and usability” by Klára Scholleová
When: Thursday 15:00, Lucerna Cinema Small Hall
Would you like to learn more than what was shared in Klára’s talk? Join Klára Scholleová for a very practical free workshop on creating amazing Figma components. It’s a no-brainer for everyone who wants to know how to prepare components that your team will love using.
Friday workshops
For everyone who’d like to deepen their skills and knowledge in an intensive way, WebExpo prepared three full-day hands-on workshops and two of them are highly relevant to us design systems practitioners: Making complex systems easy to use by Vitaly Friedman and Elevate your UI with GSAP by Cassie Evans.
If you want to go deep into animations and micro-interactions, and learn how to make them beautiful, performant, and accessible — go for Cassie. If you work in B2B and you need to design data-heavy components, filtering patterns, or your design systems require data visualisations — pick Vitaly. No matter which one you choose, you can’t go wrong. Secure your spot, the number of seats is limited and tickets are selling out fast.
Insightful sessions for broader perspectives
“Inclusive Design Patterns” by Vitaly Friedman
When: Thursday 10:00, Lucerna Great Hall
Opening the day, Vitaly’s talk complements the core talks by focusing on inclusivity and accessibility from a practical standpoint. With Vitaly, you can bet on 40 minutes packed with inspirational patterns, carefully picked by one of the biggest patterns experts in the world.
“Creating an accessible website: Expectations vs. reality” by Ondřej Pohl
When: Wednesday 12:00, Marble Hall
Helping with accessibility is one of the key value propositions of design systems. This talk helps to learn more about this topic, so you can apply the insights gained from it to scale to the rest of the company via your design system. Ondřej is one of the well-respected experts on accessibility in Czechia, known also for the “Bez bariér” podcast that he records with Radek Pavlíček.
“How to transform your release notes to drive feature adoption” by Stephan Delbos
When: Thursday 10:00, Marble Hall
This pick might be surprising, but don’t get fooled — being able to effectively inform about what’s new in your design system can significantly boost your engagement and lead to higher awareness and adoption of your design system. While this talk will not be focused on design systems release notes, you can definitely learn a few tips and tricks on how to write changelog from the Czech newest unicorn. 🦄 🇨🇿
“Animating the impossible” by Cassie Evans
When: Thursday 15:00, Lucerna Great Hall
Micro-interactions are a great way to design system components that can bring brand character and delight to the interface — so learning more about them in session by one and only Cassie Evans is a great starter.
Bonus?
“Robots vs. designers: Do we even need designers in the age of AI?” by Philip Bonhard
When: Thursday 17:00, Lucerna Great Hall
This talk will offer valuable insights for all, but particularly those involved in design systems. How might AI impact designers’ work? What role might design systems have in this global change? Can design systems empower designers for success in this new era?
While not guaranteeing answers to any of these questions, approaching this talk with an open mind can offer ideas to focus on for success in this evolving world. Or build design systems that support this reality to happen.
Join the community of practitioners
WebExpo 2024 is more than a conference; it’s a community coming together to share, learn, and push the boundaries of digital design (and design systems). Whether you’re looking to refine your approach to accessibility, understand the nuances of design system maintenance, or explore the future of design systems in an AI-dominated world, this is the place to be.
Mark your calendars, choose your sessions, and prepare to engage with the minds shaping the future of design systems. Let’s meet at WebExpo 2024 and contribute to the evolution of our practice. 🌟