Schedule

Our conference in Antwerp has 2 days of talks (single track), and 2 workshop days, with plenty of friendly side events before and after the event. We will announce talks and workshops soon! All of them have one thing in common: wonderful speakers and practical takeaways!

The conference will explore design systems, usability, inclusive design, UX research, product design, enterprise UX and much more. We’ll also explore uncharted territory: from age-friendly and environment-friendly design to privacy UX and remote collaboration.

Great experience speaking at SmashingConf in Antwerp last week—the most thoughtful, welcoming, and warm design conference I’ve been to in recent years. The @smashingmag team have something really special going on there.
— Fabricio Teixeira

Audience during SmashingConf Antwerp 2023

A friendly person looking forward to get a ticket!

Excited to join, but your manager needs a little more persuasion? Check Convince Your Boss PDF and a Letter For The Boss. Good luck! 🤞🤞🏼🤞🏾

Pre-conf day Sun 27th | Workshop day Mon 28th | Conference Tue 29th | Conference Wed 30th | Workshop day Thu 31st

Sun 27th – Workshops

13:00

Walking Waffles Tour with Vitaly 🧇

Join Vitaly as he strolls through the heart of the city, and shares all his best tips on waffles, chocolate, Belgium beer and much more. We'll be meeting in front of the venue at 13:00.

Please register your free ticket so we know you're coming!

15:00

Chocolate Workshop 🍫

Immerse yourself in this Belgian tradition and take part in an interactive and entertaining chocolate workshop right in the center of Antwerpen!

Come with us to learn a lot about making chocolate. Learn about ingredients, preparations, tasting and decoration, while making your own 'BonBons'.

The workshop fee of €50,- is not included in your conference ticket, so make sure you register seperately. Did you come to Antwerp with family, they are very welcome to join too!

Learn more and register your spot!

Mon 28th – Workshops

9:00 – 17:30

Workshop day

On Monday, we’re running three hands-on workshops. Our workshops offer the opportunity to get to grips with new ideas and techniques in real depth, with a full day spent on the topic of your choice.

It’s a great way to round off your conference experience, and lunch will be provided, too. Our doors open at 9 for a 9:30 start.

Figma Deep Dive with Christine Vallaure.
Practical Chart Masterclass with Nick Desbarats.
Designing For Complex UIs, 2024 Edition with Vitaly Friedman.

18:00 – 22:00

Jam Session

The night before the conference kicks off, we're hosting a warm-up event, with drinks and short talks from your fellow attendees.

Tue 29th – Conference

7:00

Morning Run 🏃‍♀️

Join speakers and attendees for a 5k run! On both conference days we'll meet in front of the conference venue at 7:00 and run about 5k, taking in the scenery of Antwerp! We'll leave at 7:30 on Wednesday. We'll be running for approximately 30–40 minutes.

Everyone is welcome, it'll be a gentle jog to stretch our legs and chat with new friends!

8:30

Doors Open

9:40

Welcome 🌄

We can’t wait to welcome you for two days of practical talks.

10:00

Christine Vallaure

Figma

We enjoyed having Christine at our conference last year so much that we invited her again. She'll join us with a brand new talk! We assure you she'll teach you Figma's finest, whether you're a pro or a beginner.

Christine will also give a workshop on Figma too!

10:50

Nathan Curtis

Design Systems

Design systems are maturing across organizations, as are the component libraries they contain. Now, expectations of design systems are rising.

During this session, Nathan will share experiences working across design systems as a consultant. Informed by interviews, planning, and leading teams, he’ll explore questions that evolving design systems encounter like.

Nathan will also give a workshop on Design System Planning and Process.

11:40

Lunch Break 🥗

Go for a nice stroll in the city and enjoy some fries or a more healthy option ;-). There are many wonderful options not too far from the venue, we've listed a few of our favorites on a map.

13:10

Nick Desbarats

Practical Charts

Almost every designer and developer has had to make a chart at some point in life. And making a good one is surprisingly hard, Luckily, making good charts is a learnable skill.

In his talk, Nick will go into how to design a clear, compelling, and professional-looking chart that will leave your stakeholders and your audiences wanting more.

Nick will also give a workshop on Practical Charts too!

14:05

Gemma O’Brien

Beyond Fonts: Elevating Lettering to Art

Join Australian artist Gemma O’Brien for a step-by-step look at her process of creating lettering for large-scale murals.

From collecting inspiration, sketching by hand, colouring on the iPad Pro, to painting the final piece, Gemma will share insights and tips on how she takes her designs off the page and into a physical space.

With live demos in analogue and digital, this session is perfect for designers who want to escape the screen and try their hand at calligraphy, lettering, and painting.

14:55

Afternoon Break 🍵

Time for an afternoon break! Why not visit the sponsors and see what they have to offer. We'll take care of coffee, tea and snacks.

15:35

Harrison Wheeler

Design Management

Harrison, Design Director at LinkedIn and host of the popular Technically Speaking Podcast will be sharing his insights and practical tips on how to excel as a design manager. Whether you are aspiring to become a design manager or looking to enhance your skills in this role, you will benefit from his guidance and experience.

16:30

Maggie Appleton

Squish Meets Structure — Designing with Shoggoth

Language models feel like squishy, alien minds we've organically grown inside a GPU cluster. They are unlike any of our existing computational tools. They're predictably unpredictable and break many of our pre-conceived notions of how computers work. How are we supposed to design with these messy, unwieldy, Shoggoth-like creatures?

In her talk, Maggie will cover how to balance squish and structure, why compositionally matters, and explore the potential of treating models as small, single-purpose reasoning engines.

17:20

Closing ✨

19:00

After Party

Time to party it up! Take your team members, or make some new friends, and we’ll have a great night of networking and fun.

This party is only for Smashing attendees, please don’t forget to bring your badge.

Wed 30th – Conference

7:30

Morning Run 🏃‍♂️

Join speakers and attendees for another 5k run! On both conference days we'll meet in front of the Bourla at 7:30 and run 5k taking in the scenery of Antwerp! We'll be running for around 30–40 minutes.

Everyone is welcome, it'll be a gentle jog to stretch our legs and chat with friends, not a race.

9:15

Doors Open

9:40

Welcome Back!

10:00

Mystery Speaker

Life is a Mystery

Mysteries are the threads that weave the fabric of life.

10:50

Jason Mesut

Shape Your Future Self

Uncover your unique value and forge your own path

Jason will unveil the latest visual frameworks he has been developing and using over the past 19 years. Helping design teams, leaders and designers to reflect on their career, understand themselves better, define their unique profile and sharpen the focus of their future path.

Discover how these frameworks can help you gain a broader understanding of your capabilities as a designer, leader, and manager, and enhance team cohesion and strengthen individual identity within your organisation.

11:40

Lunch Break 🍟

Go for a nice stroll in the old center and get some frites, make some new friends and have a wonderful time. Make sure you check out our favorites.

13:10

Stay tuned!

We hope to reveal the two talks after the break very soon!

14:55

Afternoon Break 🍵

Time for a little break. We'll take care of coffee, tea and snacks. Have you visited the member stand already?

15:35

Cameron Worboys

Made for the World. Design Systems at Scale.

Wise works almost everywhere. 170 countries, 50 currencies, one account. But how do you design for everyone, everywhere? How do you create a product that whoever you are, wherever you go, it looks, sounds and works the same?

In this talk, Cameron will give a behind-the-scenes look at how Wise created a design system that's made for the world.

16:30

Pablo Stanley

UI meets AI

Pablo does many things, from his illustration libraries to UI meets AI. We don't know what he will be talking about yet, but we assure you you'll be inspired and can't wait to start creating yourself.

He'll be giving a workshop too, details live soon.

17:20

Closing ✨

18:15 – 19:45

Walking Tour

🍫 If you don’t want your SmashingConf to end yet, join us for a Walking Tour!

On this fun historic city tour, our guide will not only introduce you to the history and some of the most beautiful sights of Antwerp, but she will also share some of Antwerp’s fun facts and anecdotes; linked to a couple of unique, local delicacies.

Thu 31st – Workshops