When I heard the new design week schedule was out, I was excited… then immediately overwhelmed. The wealth of wonderful events is always a thrill, but managing to choose can be a challenge. This year, I asked our designers, Nicole Niederhofer and Kellie O’Shea, to share a few of the talks they’re most excited about.
Follow along and learn what our team is putting first, and feel free to share your most anticipated events with us over on Instagram.
Accessible Design: Empathy in a World with No Averages
Accessible design is something every designer should know more about. I’m excited to hear from a company that is putting it first and improving the web and physical world. It’s also great that they will have exercises that simulate disabilities and send us back to work with simulation glasses. – Nicole
Designing for Everyone: Accessibility and the Web
I think it’s wonderful that there are so many accessibility events happening at Design Week this year. Accessibility is so important and it doesn’t get talked about enough in the design world. Since websites are everything these days I’m particularly excited to check out this presentation on how to design a more accessible website for all. – Kellie
Designing with Purpose: Using design as a force for change
I’m excited to hear from a company that invests 50% of its profits to NGOs and sustainable programs and how they leverage design for change. This talk promises to explore your own role in making stuff that means stuff. It will highlight expert voices in the experiential and ecommerce markets. – Nicole
Step One: People (A One Step Process) – How emotional intelligence makes better work
Being a designer also means you understand people. I’m looking forward to listening to an honest discussion about human connection and how we can come together to make better work, in the design world and beyond. – Kellie
Evolving design landscape – Designing for inclusivity
I’m very glad that there are so many good events this year focusing on designing for inclusivity. It’s a very important topic that needs to be talked about more. I’m looking forward to hearing from Tim Allen who is the lead for Microsoft’s Modern Life and Inclusive Design teams. – Nicole
Frames In Motion
I’m excited to learn about a more traditional form of animation from a studio that specializes in just that. I’m also looking forward to collaborating with other attendees by putting what we learn to the test and creating a final video. – Kellie
Still got time? Learn more about what our team has favorited by checking out their Design Week Portland profiles. You can check out Nicole’s schedule here, and catch up with Kellie here. You can view the whole schedule and filter by your interests on Design Portland’s website. Happy Design Week, Portland!
