Design systems succeed or fail on one thing: whether teams can actually find and use the right patterns without guessing. That's been true for a decade, and it's still true now that AI tools are in the mix.

In this talk, TJ walks through the Context-Based Design Systems (CBDS) framework — a practical model for structuring components, tokens, and documentation so they hold up under real production pressure. You'll see what actually breaks design systems in practice — naming, governance, adoption — and how a stronger foundation fixes it.

AI shows up too, but as a supporting player: once a system has the right structure, AI tools can use that same context to generate more consistent, on-brand work instead of adding to the mess. You will leave with a clearer model for building resilient design systems, and a sense of where AI can responsibly extend that foundation.

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

In a world of lightning-fast AI translations, language is no longer a barrier. At last, users can enjoy apps in any language they wish… until one bad literal translation turns your friendly interface into a cross-cultural disaster.

This talk explores how to take advantage of faster, cheaper, and more accessible translations while creating the quality assurance systems needed for this new AI-driven era. From making your CSS safe for space-hungry German compound nouns to designing review workflows that catch mistranslations before they reach production.

Because language is not just swapping words, it's about culture, context and sometimes… comedy.

Eva will also be running a workshop on Accessibility from Code to Compliance, the day after the conference on Thursday, September 10.

Designers and developers often share the same frustrations: being sidelined from "upstream" decisions and treated as mere order-takers. This disconnect persists because we often view each other through narrow lenses — one side as impractical, the other as overly rigid. In reality, both groups are usually struggling against the same lack of leadership support and poorly defined goals.

In this session, Joe Natoli shares actionable strategies to bridge this divide and move toward a unified workflow. You’ll learn how to foster a partnership based on mutual respect, allowing both disciplines to contribute strategically rather than just executionally. By aligning early, your team can move faster and create better products with significantly less friction.

The unfolding AI revolution presents us with unique opportunities, challenges and responsibilities for designing our future. Learn how to exercise your critical thinking skills when it comes to integrating AI in your design craft, and how to build a solid ethical mindset around making design decisions in the Age of AI. Guided by Ioana Teleanu, the founder of AI-R Studio and ex-Lead Product Designer for AI at Miro, we'll explore the main themes that we need to reflect on as designers participating in shaping the future of humanity.

Behavioral Science to Supercharge UX and Product Design

You can prototype a product in minutes. But can you predict whether it will succeed?

💪 That’s where behavioral science comes in.

This session pulls back the curtain on the psychology that drives user decisions. These are the unseen forces that shape whether people use, love, and derive real value from the products we design.

Whether you’re designing with AI or not, your success ultimately depends on understanding human behavior. Without it, even the most advanced technology and polished designs can fall flat.

The future of UX isn’t about building faster. It’s about designing for the human truths that never change.

Developers wanted a way to customise <select> for years, decades even, but what took so long, and what features landed along the way?

In this talk, we’ll look at a smorgasbord of web platform features, and how they worked their way through the standards process.

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

Most conversations about AI in design happen at 1,000 feet — they feel speculative, polarized, and future-focused. Those conversations matter, but they can also make AI feel more frightening and unknowable than it really is. In practice, designers are already making daily, concrete decisions about how AI behaves in products. Like every major technology shift, the real risks and opportunities live in the details.

This talk takes a practical view of AI product work today. Rachel will share hands-on lessons from both early-stage startups and large tech teams where she's worked over the last year, focusing on interaction patterns, trust signals, system boundaries, and workflows that help AI-powered products feel coherent and well-crafted rather than chaotic or over-constrained. She'll share what surprised her and what she learned when it comes to making the most of these technologies for users.

A central thread is how her prototyping approach changed: using AI-enabled tools like Lovable to build living, interactive prototypes instead of static mocks. She'll walk through a 0→1 concept she prototyped this way across six months and multiple funding stages, where it worked, where it didn't, and what surprised her. She'll contrast this with mock-driven workflows, rapid AI-assisted website prototyping, and rebuilding a large-product experience connected to a prototype database to explore interactions for a scaled product, safely.

Expect real artifacts (where possible), practical methods, and immediately usable techniques — not future talk, but sleeves-rolled-up design practice.

After blowing everyone away with her fantastic CSS talk at SmashingMeets, Lyra is bringing her web magic to Freiburg! Prepare to be amazed by what CSS is truly capable of and walk away with a toolkit of fresh, cutting-edge techniques. This won’t be your average passive presentation, either — expect an interactive experience packed with plenty live elements!

In this talk, Marie van Driessche explores accessibility within design systems through the lens of inclusive design and Deaf experience. Drawing on her work as Accessibility Officer at UWV, she reflects on how accessibility principles translate (or fail to translate) into shared components, patterns, and guidelines.

Discover how rethinking assumptions drives better decisions, strengthens leadership, and builds more adaptive, collaborative teams.

The web is for everyone. That was the promise in 1994, and it held up for long. For years, we’ve been using the web to make money, do admin, watch cat gifs, and share what we want with the whole world. Fast forward to 2026: issues of speed, access, dullness are emerging on the platform. Does the web still serve us all?

In this talk, you’ll learn more about what we could improve, with practical tips on building the web to make it more sustainable, ethical, accessible, fun, and, last but not least, ours.

Hidde will also be running a workshop on Modern CSS for Everyday Development, the day before the conference.