Understanding Layout Between UI Design and Code

Designers and developers often approach layout with different mental models, especially around grids, spacing, and responsiveness. That disconnect leads to friction and broken expectations.

In this talk, we look at layout from both sides: CSS Grid, Flexbox, and Container Queries from the code side, and Figma and Penpot from the design side. This is not about handoff perfection, but about building shared understanding and better outcomes through clearer collaboration.

Christine will also give a workshop on Figma too!

AI is powerful, fast, and exceptionally good at exposing cracks in how teams design and build products. Without structure, it amplifies confusion instead of clarity.

In this talk, TJ shares recent, real-world experiences working with AI and design systems in production environments. You'll see how teams use context to guide AI more effectively, why certain approaches fall apart, and how structured design systems help bring coherence across design and development workflows.

The session introduces a Context-Based Design Systems model that helps teams move beyond prompt experimentation toward repeatable, scalable patterns. Through concrete examples and live demonstrations, attendees will leave with a clearer mental model for working with AI in product teams and a stronger sense of where design systems provide real leverage.

TJ will also give a workshop on Building Context-Based Design Systems for AI-Driven Product Teams!

Main Stage

Let’s be honest: even the best devs spend a lot their time feeling stuck. Sara and Kevin will ditch the slides to talk about how they navigate the “I have no idea why this isn’t working” moments. They’ll share when & why get stuck, and more importantly how they get unstuck again.

Have a specific technical headache? Add it to the board in the lobby and we’ll pull it live during the session.

Stage 2

Building a product is usually the easy part; dealing with people is way harder. Calvin and Chris have spent years in agencies and corporates, managing clients and team dynamics. They’ll discuss the hard stuff: how to secure budgets, handle difficult stakeholders, a project going sideways or saying “no” to a client.

Got a tricky workplace dilemma or a team hurdle you’re facing? Bring your stories for some honest advice.

Stage 3

Most writing on the web is just noise. Nick is here to show you how to find a voice that sounds like a human. This is a look at why some things stick and others don’t, using real examples to show how simple tweaks turn stale text into something worth reading. Whether it’s a confusing interface, an email nobody opens, or just a general writing rant — bring your content problems and we’ll figure out a better way to say it.

When building interfaces, often we think about making them accessible when it's just a bit too late. What about baking accessibility into the front-end development from the start?

In this session, Sara will be building and refactoring common UI components, and share a couple of techniques she often uses to build with accessibility in mind. Even though she will be building only as many patterns as the time allows, you'll leave with many small but important and impactful strategies that you can apply to many other UI components, as well as to your design process and coding. From this sweet series of mini component-level case studies, you will learn how to think, and code, accessibly.

Sara will also be teaching an Front-End Accessibility workshop on Monday, April 13th.

Artificial intelligence has changed the way we think about digital product design. And now that anyone can "generate text," the role of the writer is more important than ever. In this talk, Nick will explore how clear, thoughtful language will make your interface more usable—and how AI can be a force for good in the world.

This talk explores how people actually interact with digital products — often under stress, distraction, or cognitive load. We'll look at what that means for interface design, and how we can create experiences that are more forgiving, intuitive, and empathetic. Expect practical examples, some design philosophy, and a few surprises about human behavior.

Mysteries are there to be solved, by those with curiosity and perseverance...

AI has pushed design systems to improve the structure, precision, and durability of their core asset: the UI components catalog. System users expect components to be produced fast, evolve predictably, and work consistently across platforms. In this talk, Nathan will reflect on his past year architecting component specifications as a platform-agnostic source-of-truth separate from any single implementation (including Figma). Components aren’t defined in any one tool, implementation, or visual; instead, they are an intent recorded as data and managed through a lifecycle.

In this talk, Nathan will cover how he translates design intent out of Figma by modeling component anatomy, props, layout and styles as structured data. He will outline the principles for designing a component schema that machines love—one that is deterministic, complete, and succinct—and how teams use Architecture Decision Records to discover and evolve the schema that works for them.

Attendees will see data-driven workflows that leverage and feed AI yet remain relevant for designers and dev collaboration too. This includes using AI to plan and analyze legacy assets across platforms (iOS, Android, and Web) and the back-and-forth between data and Figma design activity to get components right. Nathan will describe how machine-readable specs are used for generating cross-platform code and analyzing visual and API consistency by reflecting on client experiences. Finally, Nathan will detail the evolution of Figma plugin, command line and MCP tools into a robust engine to produce and version specs over time.

Nathan will also give a workshop on Design Systems; Architecting Component Anatomy, Props and Slots!

Main Stage

Design systems are supposed to make our lives easier, but building them can be a headache. Nathan and T.J. are sitting down to chat about what’s actually working in the world of tokens and AI — and what’s just hype. They’ll be talking about bridging the gap between design and code without losing your mind. Struggling with a messy library or a specific component? Add your system questions to the board for the guys to tackle.

Stage 2

One builds with complex digital data; the other builds with physical, everyday objects. On the surface, their worlds couldn’t be more different, but their creative process is surprisingly similar. They’ll be talking about the art of “making” — from breaking things down to finding beauty in the bits and pieces. Wondering where to find your next spark? Come share what you’re curious about and let’s explore the process.

Stage 3

You have an idea for an app, but you don’t know how to code. Now what? Christine is going to show you how to use AI tools to build a working prototype in real-time. This isn’t a lecture; it’s a “show and tell” about moving fast and figuring it out as you go.

If you’ve been sitting on a “what if” idea, bring your concept to the Stage and let’s see how quickly we can make it real.

The amount of data being gathered keeps growing. And since humans are visual beings, we need to see data to understand patterns, trends, and outliers. That's why data visualizations are everywhere on the web.

In this talk, Nadieh shows how to create a unique, effective (and even beautiful) chart using D3.js. Starting from an empty browser window, she codes live and walks you through the building blocks of a visualization: from working with data and SVG, to shaping, scaling, and refining the chart.

Along the way, she shares practical tips, common pitfalls, and a few "why didn't I think of that?" tricks for using SVG in unexpected ways — so you can turn your own data into something clear, useful, and a little delightful.

Modern CSS has opened up new possibilities in how we can author our stylesheets, yet many people are so used to the familiar patterns that we were forced into with the limitations of older features that they don't take full advantage of what the new features have to offer.

In this talk Kevin dives into the new patterns he's been exploring, showing what's now possible thanks to modern CSS and hoping to inspire people to start breaking free of the old limitations we've lived with for so long.

Kevin will also give a workshop on the new CSS Toolkit!

What would your leadership look like if influence and integrity were not just aspirations but daily practices?

This talk invites you to rethink leadership. Let's move beyond titles and embrace leadership as a transformative force that begins with you and extends to those in your care.

Drawing on this expertise, Calvin explores what it means to overflow with leadership — a mindset where influence, insight, and integrity are not merely reserved for those with prestigious titles but instead define leaders who inspire action and uplift others through intentional practice.

Through this session, you'll discover how to unlock your leadership potential while empowering those around you to rise to theirs.