Article29th April, 2010 / speaking

Design To Communicate

Yesterday I had the pleasure of presenting at the first DIBI conference, held at the incredible Sage Gateshead.

DIBI (Design It, Build It) is a two track event covering design and development, and the first of its kind in the region I once called home ¹. The event was so much fun. Friends old and new from near and far gathered by the Tyne, with the likes of Tim Van Damme, Dan Rubin and Sarah Parmenter all speaking.

My Design To Communicate presentation is below, and on Vimeo, and Speakerdeck.

Here’s the blurb:

As designers, we manipulate all that is available to us, aiming to present ideas in a visually engaging form. But what are our motives, and why do we go in a particular direction? Why do great designers have the courage to do things a certain way, and succeed? Simon will explore how web designers can improve their thought processes by stepping away from the browser, and in turn bring clearer, well-reasoned thinking back into their work. He’ll introduce established and new ways of thinking, and key points of influence that can assist with any web design process.

You might be interested to know that two wonderful books partly inspire my thinking on this subject, specifically The Design Of Everyday Things by Don Norman, and also Visual Grammar by Christian Leborg. Both highly recommended for any designer in any field ².

If you enjoyed the presentation, or have an opinion on it (whether good or bad), do let me know by email or in the comments, or even rate me over at Speaker Rate.

Huge congratulations to all of those involved in organising DIBI ³. I cannot wait to see you all again next year.

Footnotes

1. I went to the University Of Sunderland, and spent a lot of drunken time in Newcastle. ↩︎
2. For more incredible design books, check out Jason Santa Maria’s reading list. ↩︎
3. DIBI was created and organised by the team at Codeworks, Sunderland. ↩︎

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