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.

You built a shiny new dashboard to help colleagues make data-driven decisions. You listened to their needs, studied dashboards designed by experts, and launched your baby into the world to... crickets.

Everyone logged in immediately after launch but usage then fell off a cliff. When you ask why, you get vague answers like "I'm too busy" (code for "It's not giving me enough value") or "It's missing what I need" (despite the fact you built exactly what they asked for).

What's going on? Most dashboards fail to answer basic questions like, "Are these numbers good or bad?" or "Do any of these numbers require action?" Often, important problems don't appear on the dashboard at all.

Designing dashboards that meet these fundamental needs isn't easy, but it is doable. How? Find out in this engaging talk by dashboard design expert and best-selling author Nick Desbarats.

Nick will also be giving a workshop on Practical Dashboards Masterclass on Monday, October 6.

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.

As the web grows more powerful, so do user expectations. What feels fast today will be slow tomorrow, and meeting current performance standards will soon be the bare minimum. The real winners will be the apps that push beyond “fast enough” and strive for near-instantaneous performance.

Fortunately, a wave of new web standards is emerging, allowing us to inch closer and closer to making instantaneous performance a reality. In this talk, Tim will explore some of the exciting new tools available right now, and how you can start using them to stay one step ahead of your users and provide performance that feels instantaneous.

Imagine trying to use a website with no labels, buttons, or messages: just shapes and vibes. In this talk, we'll look at how language quietly carries the UX, from tiny tooltips to big brand moments.

You'll learn how interface copy shapes interaction, why tone matters more than you think, and how a few well-chosen words can rescue even the clunkiest flow. We'll also touch on how AI tools can help scale your content work, and what to watch out for if you care about quality and accuracy.

There are a number of surprises developers run into when working with custom properties (aka CSS variables) – all coming from the way CSS handles typed values and syntax validation. New features like style queries, if(), and custom functions/mixins will make these surprises even more common. So let's talk about CSS types, syntax validation, and value resolution!

She will also be giving a workshop on Modern CSS Architecture on Thursday, October 9.

In the realm of secrets, curiosity is your compass …

Type is the voice of our words—and the majority of what we put on screen (the rest is dog pics and cat memes). Ever wonder why it doesn't work better? Me too.

So let's explore ways we can do it better, faster, and with greater finesse. How do we unblock render and display content faster? Can we respond to device size, settings, and layout more intuitively? Could we be more expressive and refined without resorting to hard-coding? Typographic curiosities to satisfy these challenges abound—so let's explore them together!

How do you bring clarity, consistency, and trust to complex data? In this talk, we’ll explore how the team at VISA approached the challenge of building a unified design language for data, from early principles to practical components.

It’s a story of systems thinking, visual storytelling, and the power of patterns in making data not just readable, but meaningful.

CSS features and behaviors have grown exponentially over the past few years, so let's dive into features that can enhance the accessibility of interactive experiences.

Most features are well supported across evergreen browsers so you can start using them right away! Others make for excellent progressive enhancements, meaning they will provide an even more optimal experience when used in a supporting browser. We'll also sneak a peek at incoming features that directly impact accessibility, and that you can provide feedback on to the CSS Working Group.

While encouraging the development of inclusive experiences is the goal of this talk, we are pretty sure you'll pick up a few fresh CSS ideas to use in all kinds of projects too ;-)

Stephanie will also be giving a workshop on Building Interactive, Accessible Components on Monday, October 6.

What happens when your design system faces complex interconnected problems? Where do you begin when you don't even know what challenges lie ahead?

In this talk, Nate will show how he used AI prototyping to understand the challenges ahead for Adobe Spectrum's token system redesign. Instead of building prototypes to test solutions, he built them to discover hidden problems and explore different solutions.

You'll learn practical methods for using AI prototyping to explore challenges and help your team gain clarity on complex problems.