SXSWi p1

It’s been two days, and overall, SXSWi has been pretty eventful.

Three general themes that I’ve seen so far:
1. Design is alive and well and encompasses more than pretty colors;
2. Good design is all about human experience
2. Social Media is transparent – don’t even think about fake campaigns.

Saturday I went to:
• Design is in the Details – a session by Naz, a friend from Chicago. It was a beginner-level course, but that’s OK.
• Suxors – It’s always fun to critique the social media campaigns that flopped hard.
• Expression Engine – Why not? This blog is on WordPress, but I thought I’d check out the competition. EE’s back-end looks nice-ish, but that’s about it.
• Blood, Sweat and Fear – We’re always defending our design and these guys were going to give a full house some meaningful tips. Not so much.

Then we hit some parties – Bike Hugger and Avenue A – followed by home. Long lines and a babysitter on the clock helped with that decision.

Sunday we were back at it, ready for more revelations:
• Responsible web design – the guidebook said intermediate, but this was so basic even I understood the code. The description was off base and they used zero samples (but talked about them). BO-ring.
• Lunch at BD Rileys (Irish music to remind me of yesterday’s Southside Irish Parade) and the tradeshow – Kurt rocked the drums.
• Does tomorrow’s world need designers? – apparently someone is arguing that it DOES NOT. I only look back to our forefathers who designed tools and houses and clothes every single day. It’s about living – that can’t be automated.

I’m thankful that they’re offering podcasts on some of the panels I’ve missed. At least the Meebo conversations kept me entertained.

Funny moment (that I didn’t see), the keynote interviewer was anything but professional and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and the
audience turned on her.

But it wasn’t her fault (uh huh):

Dorks on Segways…

Blocks are everywhere. They are fun to build and stack.