“Design” Track: March 10–14

The Forrest Four-Cast: February 9, 2017

Digital creatives who flock to Austin in March are fascinated by design in all its many forms and implications. At SXSW 2017, sessions for this track begin on Friday, March 10 and continue through the end of the day on Tuesday, March 14. Ten of the Design panels and presentations that we are most thrilled about for this year’s event include:

1. Accessibility: Why It’s So Important. Better accessibility results in better design, better code, better products, and better user experiences. This panel will make a compelling case to solidify accessibility as a staple of design, development, and product management. Scheduled Friday, March 10.
2. Beyond the Interface: Designing Wearables We Love. This panel looks beyond the screen and beyond fashion to explore new UX paradigms for wearables that put the user at the center and the craft of meaningful experiences at the forefront. From insights from seasoned product designers to experimental fashion futurists, join the conversation on what wearables might look like in the near future; and more importantly, how they might shape our lives. Scheduled Sunday, March 12.
3. Chaos is the New Calm. This solo presentation from Mill+ Creative Director Carl Addy looks at the role of chaos as a driver for innovation and change. It investigates the science of stress to further understand how to work best in highly pressurized problem solving situations. A session that is particularly appropriate for the Age of Trump. Scheduled Monday, March 13.
4. Crave Build-A-Vibrator Workshop. Crave is a luxury sex toy company that embraces modern design and manufacturing to create sustainable and beautiful products that empower more open conversations around sex. Our BuildAVibe workshop offers hands-on insight into manufacturing and assembly hardware products, as you assemble your own programmable version of our Duet vibrator. Registrations can sign up for either Group 1 or Group 2 of this workshop — both of which occur on Friday, March 10.
5. Design in Tech Report 2017. Back for his third year of giving this annual report at SXSW, John Maeda (Automattic’s Global Head of Computational Design and Inclusion, as well as a Strategic Advisor to Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers) provides a data-driven examination of the intersection of design and technology — and its implications for business. Scheduled Saturday, March 11.
6. Designing for the Internet of Things. This panel will examine how to best address the design challenges that come with bringing traditional things into the Internet of Things. Scheduled Sunday, March 12.
7. Neurodiversity Secrets for Innovation and Design. Understanding different kinds of brains can enhance the design process and catalyze innovation! In this session, we will explain how. The two speakers on this session have examined 60 engineering design approaches. Through the lens of neuroergonomics, they have created a canvas that can be used by designers and others to enhance the design process and unlock innovation. Scheduled Sunday, March 12.
8. The Role of Dataviz in Persuasive Presentations. Come to this session to understand the different types of charts that play best for different types of presentations; how to use the power of the visual and your own voice in concert so they don’t compete with each other; how to use storytelling to reveal data in ways that make it more accessible and more moving; and how to use other techniques like ‘lure procedures’ to make effective information visualization even more powerful. Scheduled Saturday, March 11.
9. A Tale of Murder: Why Netflix Killed Max. A talking concierge service from Netflix called Max was successful in testing, had significant time and financial investment, but still met his demise two and half years after his creation. Why did the company decide to kill him rather than release him to their 85+ million members worldwide? In this session, Sam Horner will share learnings from Max and a number of Netflix design projects. Scheduled Friday, March 10.
10. Wayknowing: The Future of Getting from A to B. Smarter wayfinding, open public data and conversational AI technologies are now converging and hold the promise to knit together more complex, intelligent “wayknowing” journeys. Learn how cities can better use this knowledge and technology to make our journeys from A to B both more efficient and serendipitous. Scheduled Tuesday, March 14.

Other compelling tracks at this year’s event include “Brands & Marketing” (March 11–16), “Food” (March 11–13), “Government” (March 10–13), “Intelligent Future” (March 11–16), “Journalism” (March 11–16), “Social Impact” (March 11–15) and “Startup Village” (March 10–16). Click here to browse all the incredible content for March 10–19 in Austin.

Save $100 on your badge for SXSW 2017 if you buy your badge before the end of the day on Friday, February 10. Before you purchase, please watch this short video to get a better understanding of how we have improved the badge system for this year’s event.

Hugh Forrest tries to write four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts generally cover technology-related trends. When not attempting to wordsmith or meditating, he serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW in Austin.