Digital Design Blog

Rocking the Digital World at SxSW Interactive 2008

SxSW Interactive is now well and truly underway. The crowds have gathered. This year the Interactive Festival is expecting more than 7500 attendees drawn from all walks of life including designers, developers, usability professionals, start ups, consultants, authors, tech evangelists, cultural theorists, project managers, bloggers and journalists to name but a few.

The first day of the festival - Friday was low key and a gentle introduction to the intense, fun and occasionally overwhelming days to come. One of the biggest challenges most attendees are faced with is deciding which of the great panels and parties to go to. If you happen to miss one or are unable to attend due to conflicts, many of the panels, core conversations and keynotes are being recorded and will eventually be made available online. Check http://2008.sxsw.com/coverage/ for more details.

Being a SxSW newbie, I thought I should attend the panel discussion: How to RAWK SxSW.

The panel discussion was a light hearted look at how to make the most out of the festival and was opened by an accordian player covering AC/DC songs. It included helpful tips for the newcomer including:

• Don’t try to pace yourself - try to do everything at the conference.
• Consult the quick fold out guide to find out where panels and core conversations are.
• Leave laptops behind at social events
• Non Americans should carry passports or id with them
• Take a break and go and see a film
• Check out the Fray cafe for mellow open mic share
• Don’t be shy, talk to people
• Be memorable
• Some of the most interesting conversations happen in the hallways
• Drink plenty of water
• The liver is evil and should be punished (!)Online Resources for the festival include:
• 20×2.org
• adactio.austin.com
• sxswbaby.com
• sxsw.ning.com
• sched.org - online sxsw planner
• Flickr photos should be tagged with sxsw2008 or sxswinteractiveKeep in touch with people:
• Twitter
• Dodgeball
• Follow sxsw on twitter

The Adobe Day Stage Cafe

Dustin Diaz, Google Developer talks about his Pro JavaScript Design Patterns book

One of my favorite things at the festival is to go and sit in the Adobe Stage Cafe and listen to one of the short but informative talks given by one of the 20 plus book authors. Highlights for me so far have been Dustin Diaz talk about how to use javascript design patterns to write smarter code. Dan Roam’s “The Back of the Napkin Workshop - Solving Problems with Pictures”. Dan demonstrated how sketching on napkins or white boards allows for flexibility and a level of discourse which enables decision making and consensus with the client and can be used to gain client buy-in early on in the process which is something a pre-built presentation cannot do. He recommended handing the client the whiteboard marker and early conceptualization being a true collaboration between client and designer. Ben Rigby spoke about how the media can be used to recruit, engage and moblize youth in his Mobilizing Generation 2.0 talk. Principles of Beautiful Web Design author Jason Beaird ran through some fundamental design principles including texture, colour, typography, layout and reminded us all that good design is in the details. He gave a shout out to the Kuler website from Adobe Labs - the flash app. that lets you pick out a quick and harmonious colour scheme.

All books were on sale at the merchandise table inside the cafe or online at Amazon!

Popular diversions at the festival include Guitar Hero and Lego…

Rocking the GH

The Lego sandbox

And then there were the parties….

The Avenue A Razorfish Party at Six Bar

The Frog Design SxSW Interactive Opening Party

Google Party at the Light Bar

The AMODA Digital Showcase

Stay tuned for coverage of panels, sessions and keynotes at this years SxSW Interactive…