5 Design Conferences To Get Your Hands Dirty In 2019
Five events that offer designers hands-on learning workshops
While we all love a great conference fireside chat, hands-on learning is critical to open up and advance those creative outlets. For all you hands-on kindred spirits, check out this list of five design conferences coming up where you can enjoy immersive workshops and experiences.
1. Dribbble’s Hang Time NYC
Date: June 6, 2019
Location: New York City, NY
Dribbble’s Hang Time design conference is your chance to join hundreds of designers in NYC for a day of inspiration, learning, and career growth. With more than 25 talks led by design luminaries, Hang Time features designer showcases, live drawing, workshops, discussion panels, case studies, fireside chats, and personal stories of living creatively — each in an intimate, limited-seat setting for a meaningful conference experience.
Cool workshop: Intro to Dimensional Typography Workshop with Danielle Evans
Wrap your brain and hands around lettering with everyday items. In this tongue-in-cheek two hour class, Danielle Evans teaches students at all experience levels the forgiving nature of food and object type, a perfect intro to hand lettering.
Create two final pieces from start to finish and snag videos, boomerangs, and wipes for social channels. Learn to align your message with the chosen materials, follow your intuition, and take calculated risks. Leave with sticky fingers and new perspectives to inform your current workflow. Snacks included!
More info: https://dribbble.com/hangtimes/2019
2. Typographics Conference
Date: June 10–20, 2019
Location: New York, NY
This 2-day conference offers talks by leaders in design where typography is central including publication design, corporate identity, user interface, motion graphics, book design, and more. Workshops and tours are scheduled before and after the conference, covering everything from hand-lettering to responsive typography.
Cool workshop: Branding with Type with Ellen Lupton
Use your senses to develop a visual system for your own highly personal line of ice cream. Create a menu of visual elements and apply them to a unique product family. Use typography, color, and graphic elements to express sensory delight and explore personal culinary themes (heritage, nostalgia, health, futurism, feminism — you name it). Use this one-day workshop to spark your creativity, find new inspiration, and create a chill portfolio piece. Participants receive copies of Ellen Lupton’s latest books from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Design Is Storytelling and The Senses: Design Beyond Vision.
More info: https://2019.typographics.com/
3. LA Design Festival
Date: June 20–23, 2019
Location: Los Angeles, CA
The LA Design Festival honors the city’s rich design culture and celebrates its status as a global design capital. Their definition of design is purposely broad to ensure that the festival is reflective of LA’s diversity and talent. The Festival is the only citywide festival of its kind, featuring events throughout LA.
From architecture and interiors to graphic, industrial, fashion, set, costume, and experiential design, the LA Design Festival showcases the best of the local design scene as well as some exciting national and international voices.
Cool workshop: Watercolor Moons & Galaxies with Electric Eunice
Join Eunice of Electric Eunice for a fun Saturday afternoon as part of the LA Design Festival where you will learn the techniques of watercolor blending to paint moons and galaxies! During this 2 hour workshop, you will learn how to paint a moon floating in a colorful galaxy from start to finish and walk away with the skills to create more -out of this world- paintings. We will walk through the wet on wet technique, Eunice’s marbling technique, splattering, smudging and more to create this celestial sky. From this workshop, you will receive a watercolor starter kit that includes a 36 watercolor pan set, black liquid watercolor, dinky dip of Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleedproof White, dinky dip of Eunice’s gold paint, round brush, tooth brush, compass tool, pipette, rubbing alcohol, watercolor paper and an Electric Eunice personalized moon.
More info: https://www.ladesignfestival.org/
4. design/content
Date: July 17–19, 2019
Location: Vancouver, BC
Designers and content strategists team up. Hear from industry leaders about crafting experiences and telling stories that shape the future of the web. A day of workshops, two days of talks, and thoughtful extras in one of the most beautiful cities, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Cool workshop: Object-Oriented UX with Sophia V Prater
Through the magic of object-oriented UX, we will learn a repeatable, foolproof process for creating simple, naturally intuitive digital environments. Using every UX designer’s favorite medium (colorful sticky notes), we will map out the answers to fundamental questions. By baking these answers into the bones of our information architecture, we’ll gain clarity on our screen design, interaction design, content strategy, and even how the product should be built.
More info: https://content.design/
5. TypeCon2019
Date: August 28–September 1, 2019
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Come chat with influential industry experts, learn new techniques in exclusive workshops taught by seasoned creative professionals, and find inspiration in the stories of TypeCon speakers from around the world. All while you explore one of the most artistic and progressive cities in the Midwest!
Cool workshop: Brush-written Romans to Roman Type Forms: The Anatomy of Majuscules
The ancient Romans devised systems of proportion that are still applicable today. The flat brush was the basis of formal Roman lettering. Understanding the tool enables students to incorporate important principles in both hand lettering and type design. The first day will be devoted to brush technique and refining the letterforms. The second day will be devoted to pencil tracings and preparation of the drawings for the eventual purpose of scanning and digitizing. We will not, however, be using scanners or computers in the classroom. The exercises will be strictly analog.
More info: https://www.typecon.com/
