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Complex UIs don’t have to be complicated. In this in-person workshop with Vitaly Friedman, UX consultant for European Parliament and creative lead behind Smashing Magazine, we’ll dive deep into dissecting how to solve complex design problems. Whether you’re working on enterprise-grade tables or complex multi-page forms, this workshop will give you the techniques and tools you need to excel at your work.

The workshop includes:

• 1500+ workshop slides with practical examples and action points
• 100 checklist cards on everything from carousels to web forms
• Editable checklists as text files to adjust for your needs
• Access to the evergreen deck, updated regularly
• Hands-on exercises and reviews
• All workshop recordings
• Dedicated Q&A time for all your questions
• A Smashing Certificate

Who Is This Workshop For?

This workshop is for UX designers, interface designers, front-end designers and developers who’d love to be prepared for complex and time-consuming design challenges. You’ll walk away with a toolbox of techniques and examples of doing things well — in your product, website, desktop app or mobile app, be it a small mobile app or a large enterprise application.

In this workshop, you’ll learn:

• Complex mega-dropdowns with 4+ levels of navigation, layout, interaction design, sideways navigation, breadcrumbs, top task analysis, mobile/desktop (e.g. large university websites),
• Complex modals and overlays, confirm vs. undo behavior, right timing, intraction design, with guidelines and best practices to improve click-through rates and decrease mistakes (e.g. enterprise software),
• Lengthy multi-page forms, focusing on form components, one-column vs. multi-column layout, error recovery, progress steps, inline validation, routing, conditional reveal, disabled buttons, input buffering (e.g. complex multi-column multi-page forms with dozens of steps),
• Enterprise-grade tables, complex use-cases with inline editing, filtering, tagging, sorting and search — on mobile and on desktop (insurance, loss prevention),
• Complex filtering, layout, auto-apply vs. manual apply, filtering overlays, filtering and sorting intervals, best practices and guidelines, on mobile and on desktop (public archives, media library, large catalogs of products),
• Advanced search and autocomplete UX, with layout and interaction design, when to show/hide suggestions, search query iteration, autocomplete blindness, faceted search, smart suggestions, type-ahead pattern, keyboard navigation, on mobile and on desktop (e.g. in enterprise software),
• Dashboards and spreadsheets, with complex layouts, data editing, inline filtering, infinite scroll UX, “load more” vs. pagination, access to footer and access to the current state, mobile optimizations,
• Data visualization, how to choose charts, how to design honest and effective charts, incl. formatting, color palettes, legends, formatting, tables and interactive filters,
• Sustainable UX, incl. presets, defaults, data collection, archiving, deletion, exporting and how to measure digital sustainability,
• Designing For AI, with AI presets, contextual suggestions, temperature knobs, invisible clustering, scoping and how to design better AI UIs.
• Design patterns for expert interfaces and B2B, with advanced features, visual indicators, customizable widgets, complex business logic, enterprise products, legacy systems, keyboard shortcuts, query constructors and 3rd-party integrations,
• Accessibility of complex interfaces, with UX considerations, colorblindness, designing for older adults, children, people with autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, WCAG 2.2 compliance and EU Accessibility Act,
• Authentication and Privacy UX, and how to design authentication and gather accurate data while avoiding legal battles and respecting user’s data,
• 100s of real-life examples, government and university websites, trip planners, financial services, eCommerce, online banking, configurators, insurance and mortgage calculators, data grids and enterprise products.
• Checklist for complex UIs with guidelines and decisions to consider when designing any component in a complex setting.

What Hardware/software Do I Need To Bring?

You’ll need to bring along good sleep your preferred coffee mug. We’ll be spending a lot of time thinking, designing, sketching. Be ready to challenge your design process and familiar design patterns. You’ll need a lot of sleep reserves since it’s going to be a packed day. Also, bring a lot of attention to detail and non-standard thinking to this one! ;-)

About Vitaly Friedman

Vitaly loves beautiful content and does not give up easily. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he moved to Germany in 1999 where he studied computer science and mathematics. While writing algebra proofs and preparing for software engineering at nights in the kitchen, at the same time he discovered passion for typography, UX and writing.

His curiosity drove him from interface design to front-end to performance optimization to accessibility and back to user experience over all the years.

Time & Location

This full-day workshop will take place the day before SmashingConf. The workshop will be running from 9:00 AM to 4:45 PM on Monday, October 7, at the Microsoft Conference Center.

Schedule for Monday, October 7

8:30 AM – Doors open, Registration
9:00 AM – Introduction & Kick-off
10:30 AM – Coffee Break
12:00 PM – Lunch
1:00 PM – Afternoon Session
2:45 PM – Coffee Break
4:45 PM – The End

Save US$100 when signing up for the conference and a workshop!