Looking for an excuse to leave your desk and stretch your legs (and mind?) Why not attend one of the numerous design conferences 2020 has to offer.
These annual events are also a great way to stay on top of new trends and developments while meeting people doing cool things in your field. After all, conferences are designed to help you stay inspired, keep trying new things, and gain valuable perspective on your craft and career. And who knows, maybe soon you’ll be the one on stage with a fabulous deck and eloquent presentation to charm the entire room.
Charge your phone, pack your bags, and get ready to absorb a ton of knowledge. Whether you’re planning on attending with your whole team to build camaraderie or embarking solo to celebrate your successes and develop in new areas, these are the best UX and design conferences in 2020 worth attending. You might be surprised what life-changing thing might just come back to you in return:
January
In/Visible Talks 2020
When: January 17, 2020
Where: San Francisco, United States
In/Visible Talks 2019: Christina Amini – You + You + You: The Power of Collaboration from In/Visible Talks on Vimeo.
What to expect: This creative conference focuses on design practitioners having candid conversations and sharing real-life experiences. Speakers will be covering topics such as, “Design No Harm: Why Humility is Essential in the Journey Toward Equity,” and “Bring Your Whole Self to Work: How Your Purpose Drives Impact.”
DesignTO 2020
When: January 17-26, 2020
Where: Toronto, Canada
What to expect: The approach here is threefold:
- Hosting independent projects, such as exhibitions, events (e.g. tours, talks, workshops), and window installations that are wholly created and executed by an individual or organization.
- A venue-designer matchmaking program if you’d prefer to collaborate with a host organization
- DesignTO Projects, which are either open by invitation or submission to the festival.
UXCamp DC 2020
When: January 18, 2020
Where: Washington DC, United States
What to expect: UXCamp is an “unconference,” where ideas are led by the people who attend, not the organizers. Each year, the event “gives people a platform to share ideas freely, to build confidence, and make career-changing connections.” Past talks have included:
You Got This! 2020
When: January 18, 2020
Where: Birmingham, United Kingdom
What to expect: This is an affordable one-day conference for early-career developers to talk about the non-technical skills needed for a better working life. The conference also hosts an excellent inclusion program and offers tickets or full scholarships for those who want to attend but lack the resources to do so. All speakers are paid to appear, and first-time speakers get one-on-one mentoring sessions before going on stage.
Design Thinkers Conference 2020
When: January 23-24, 2020
Where: Tokyo, Japan
What to expect: Organized by the digital design awards platform Awwwards, this year’s lineup includes speakers like Smashing Magazine’s co-founder and creative lead Vitaly Friedman, Dropbox’s design program manager Michelle Morrison, and Google’s senior interaction designer Min-Sang Choi.
February
Interaction Design Education Summit
When: February 2-7, 2020
Where: Milan, Italy
What to expect: A wide range of experience is welcome here—professionals and students from academia, industry, and the public sector are invited to explore where we’re at with interaction design education.
Interaction20
IxDA 2020 Trailer from Lobster Studio on Vimeo.
When: February 2-7, 2020
Where: Milan, Italy
What to expect: The week will include practical inspiration for interaction designers. There will be talks, workshops, and opportunities to connect with attendees. Expect keynotes from Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang and environmental psychologist Adeola Enigbokan.
Outcome 2020: UX for Narrative Design
When: February 8, 2020
Where: Chandigarh, India
What to expect: Prepare to get nerdy about all things UX with some of India’s top product, experience, and design teams. Sessions will span user research, design systems, taxonomy and architecture, brand voice, customer success, business goals, onboarding, dark patterns, and churn rate.
Experience Design 2020
When: February 24-26, 2020
Where: Denver, Colorado, United States
What to expect: Experience design means more than user experience: It involves both the digital and physical realms, engaging customer experience and human behavior. XD 2020 pushes for deeper discussions around how interaction design principles impact the work of experience designers.
March
The UX Conference
When: March 2-3, 2020
Where: London, United Kingdom
What to expect: This year’s conference celebrates collaboration between three design disciplines: UX, UI, and content. Expect talks and workshops from designers at Abstract, Transport for London, Dyson, Shopify, InVision, and Open Table on content design, A/B testing, ethical design decisions, and automative UX.
South by Southwest (SXSW)
When: March 13-21 2020
Where: Austin, Texas, United States
What to expect: Spanning interactive design, music and film, professionals from around the world gather here to talk advertising and brand experience, experiential storytelling, government and politics, climate and social action, and of course, design as problem-solving.
UX Copenhagen
When: March 30-31, 2020
Where: Copenhagen, Denmark
What to expect: How do you design for social good and positive influence? This is the topic of 2020’s UX Copenhagen. Topics covered include: rocket science, DesignOps, privilege, future thinking, ethical OS, designing against domestic violence, among other yet-to-be finalized topics.
April
UXinsight 2020
When: April 6-8, 2020
Where: Breda, The Netherlands
What to expect: This year’s conference is full of workshops to help develop hard and soft skills, as well as a day of talks devoted to exploring how UX research was born in academia but became a bridge between the creative and tech industries.
New this year is a day for speakers specializing in research ops to present their work, from case studies to deep dives, collaborations, and test projects.
WebCon
When: April 8-10, 2020
Where: University of Illinois (Champaign, Illinois, United States)
What to expect: For digital professionals working in higher education—including designers, developers, social media marketers, and content managers. Past topics have included unlocking your analytics potential, how to better understand Google’s algorithms, using emojis for business, and how to scale design systems.
An Event Apart 2020 Washington
“Use Your Words” by Kristina Halvorson—An Event Apart video from An Event Apart on Vimeo.
When: April 13-15 2020
Where: Washington DC, United States
What to expect: An Event Apart’s first 2020 event will span digital design, UX, content, and code. The three-day conference includes sessions from some of design’s most prominent names sharing lessons and takeaways to improve your design life.
IAC: Information Architecture Conference
When: April 14-18, 2020
Where: New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
What to expect: This year’s theme is “sense and sense-making,” acknowledging that while sight is an important sense in our professional and personal lives, it’s only one of many senses we use to make the best experiences possible. Sessions will explore intangible aspects of UX design, such as serendipity, interpretation, and intention.
Health Experience Design Conference
When: April 14-15 2020
Where: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
What to expect: If you’ve ever wondered what the future of healthcare will look like—and especially if you’re currently working in the industry to create change and forward momentum—this is the conference for you. The speaker lineup features experience designers, design transformation experts, and medical professionals covering medical experience design from all angles.
Beyond Tellerand
CSS at the Intersection – Natalya Shelburne from beyond tellerrand on Vimeo.
When: April 27-29, 2020
Where: Dusseldorf, Germany
What to expect: Beyond Tellerand Dusseldorf is 2020’s first edition of Germany’s premier design conference and—while the lineup is still largely TBD at time of publishing—early bird tickets are already sold out. Keep an eye on this small, familial conference if you’re interested in learning about design practices and the important players in the field.
May
UX Burlington: 20/20 Hindsight
When: May 1, 2020
Where: Burlington, Vermont, United States
What to expect: This year’s conference will be filled with entertaining—and sometimes scary—retrospectives about what went well, or wrong, and what words of wisdom can be passed along to other UX designers in the field. It’s all about getting perspective and seeing things more clearly after the fact.
Pixel Up!
When: May 4-6, 2020
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
What to expect: By designers, for designers, this three-day conference aims to inspire and arm professionals with practical advice that they can start using the minute they get back to the office.
How Design Live
When: May 4-7, 2020
Where: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
What to expect: Designers, solopreneurs, agency principals, creative leaders, and marketing professionals can use the knowledge acquired here to refine their skills, positively impact client work, inspire their staff, encourage collaboration, and adopt strategies, trends, and tactics from international leading brands and businesses.
User Experience Lisbon
When: May 19-22, 2020
Where: Lisbon, Portugal
What to expect: Early speakers announced include And End’s Joe Macleod, BrightEdge’s Marianne Sweeny, Bracket’s Alison Coward, and Avanade’s Austin Govella.
#gamesUR Summit North America
When: May 14, 2020
Where: Montreal, Canada
What to expect: For designers focused on creating the best gaming experience possible, this is an opportunity to find your community in a conference setting. Last year’s talks and presentations included topics such as the business of user research, leveraging a player’s life cycle with data, and developing a UX research strategy and budget. For those interested in playtesting, analytics, and expert analysis: Get your game face on.
ACE! 2020
When: May 20-22, 2020
Where: Kraków, Poland
What to expect: If the terms Agile, Scrum, Kanban, lean UX, and design thinking are meaningful to you, Central Europe’s largest software development conference is for you. This year, a workshop day has been added so attendees can explore and apply skills.
June
#UXR Conference
When: June 3-5, 2020
Where: Toronto, Canada
What to expect: UX researchers unite! This conference is for anyone committed to championing their users, surfacing better insights, and improving technology-based ecosystems—especially if they believe advancing the discipline of user research makes the world a better place.
Future of Branding Week
When: June 22-26, 2020
Where: London, United Kingdom
What to expect: If you have an interest in sonic branding, AR, or VR, this one-week immersive course will introduce you to those doing world-class work in the field. As a participant, you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the work happening in real-time, too: with studio visits, mini-workshops, and chats with some of the most influential London digital and creative agencies. Plus, there’s a party at the end for participants with industry leaders, special guests, and lecturers to celebrate all your hard work and learning.
Mind the Product Engage Hamburg
When: June 24-26 2020
Where: Hamburg, Germany
What to expect: Keynotes, interactive sessions, workshops, and a leadership forum focused on the unique challenges of product strategy, as well as building and leading product teams will make up this year’s MTP Engage. Brush up on your German if you can, as sessions will be presented in both English and German.
UX Strat
When: June 29-July 1, 2020
Where: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
What to expect: You can expect design leaders, strategists, user researchers, design-focused data scientists, and product managers to come together and unpack the latest trends at the intersection of business strategy, user experience, product design, and service design. In previous years, they’ve had speakers from leading companies like Google, Spotify, Shell, Fjord, and VMware.
Have a conference you want us to add? Tell us on Twitter! @InVisionApp
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