Smashing Conference Live

Today is the second and last day of the Smashing Conference. As promised, we’ve collected insights, photos and highlights just for you — live from the conference venue. You can also track the tweets from the conference by following the hashtag #smashingconf and the permalink for live updates.

Please note that no live stream is available, but all videos will be made available for free after the event. You might want to check out the schedule of the conference as well and the report from day 1.

Tuesday, September 10th 2013

08.15

Good morning everyone! Are you ready for Day 2?!

Hangover, you say? No worries, we’ve got fresh coffee ready for you! And some beautiful Bavarian accordion music:

But no, he is not the mystery speaker we had planned for the #smashingconf event. It’s only a foretaste of what’s to come! ;)

Same rules today: if you have any questions to speakers, tweet them with #smashingconf to @brad_frost — Brad is collecting the questions!

— Smashing Conference (@smashingconf) September 10, 2013

08.20

Unfortunately the weather isn’t really on our side this time (it has been raining all night and still is!)… Please don’t forget to bring along your coats and umbrellas as well as your attendee badges as you head back to the Smashing Conference venue this morning! :)

“It’s pouring rain in Freiburg, but warm and cosy inside the beautiful #smashingconf venue.” Image credits — thatpita:

“My ‘haus’ for the last two days #smashingconf.” Image credits — cable_ready:

“Historisches Kaufhaus Freiburg. Location of #smashingconf 2013.” Image credits — k41z0r:

08.36

https://twitter.com/Mrfredclay/status/376957374260846592

09.00

Have you guessed who the Mystery Speaker is yet? All we know is that his second name is “Klaus Schmidt”! But… WHO IS THIS KLAUS?

09.05

Dum dumm dummm dummmmmm… The moment we’ve all been waiting for… The mystery speaker is… *drumroll*… the one and only, Ethan Marcotte!

Woohoo! Mystery speaker at @smashingconf is @beep ! Godfather of #rwd #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/fhBpaCsV7t

— Rowdy Rabouw (@rowdyrabouw) September 10, 2013

@Armstrong beepBEEPBEEPbeepbeeeeeepBEEPbeepbeeeeeeeeepBEEEEPbeeepbeeeeeeeeepbeepbeepbeepBeepBEEPbeeeepbeeepbeepbeeeep

— Brad Frost (@brad_frost) September 10, 2013

The mystery is revealed… Ethan Marcotte at the #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/fXDIGEg77p

— Robert Zierhofer (@rzierhofer) September 10, 2013

Day 2 of #smashingconf just started and Ethan Marcotte @beep as Mystery Speaker. Perfect.

— re-lounge GmbH (@relounge_gmbh) September 10, 2013

09.20

“We are getting away from pages and starting to think of small layout systems.” — Ethan M.

09.25

“We’re starting with the smallest piece of design. With every responsive process we work on we are building a new map of the Web. But we are only just beginning. Our map is far from complete.” — Ethan M.

09.34

“Something is always lost in translation. There is always a gap between a thing and the representation of it.” — Ethan M.

09.42

“How can we design more sustainably for the Web?” — Ethan M.

09.49

“Maybe some problems can’t necessarily solved with more code. And maybe we can invite our users in our design and let them help us solve our problems.” — Ethan M.

09.56

“We are designers and builders, but most of all we are map makers.” — Ethan M.

“Let’s start a discussion about sustainability in web design!” Really important stuff from @beep at #smashingconf. pic.twitter.com/sWKzCEzCBC

— Elisabeth Irgens (@sortenke) September 10, 2013

10.05

Jason Santa Maria on stage explaining how to get ideas out quickly through prototyping, sketching, and iteration. Not only can that help you work and test more quickly, but it can also help you to work smarter!

@jasonsantamaria on process at #smashingconf / #Ikea pic.twitter.com/vfeD1fl8V6

— Edgar Leijs (@edgarleijs) September 10, 2013

“Use whatever you need to tell your story… Actually holding type in my hand taught me how type reacts and made me understand type in whole different way. What if I could get people understand the physicality of type? What if I could get them that same idea?” — Jason S.M.

10.18

“Good design happens around good constraints.” — Jason S.M.

10.42

Jason S.M. refers to Wally Wood’s wisdom: “Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up.”

All these different ideas & approaches by people deeply caring about their work really seam to form a bigger picture today at #Smashingconf

— Alexander Woerndl (@awenro) September 10, 2013

11.05

https://twitter.com/smashingconf/status/377347752721518592

Yes, I'm having a smashing time at #smashingconf in Freiburg :) pic.twitter.com/xsE3BgmPVn

— Sven Hofmann (@hofmannsven) September 10, 2013

11.15

Congrats to another round of poster giveaway winners!

Image credits — eldh:

Image credits — codebryo:

Image credits — tinakesova:

Image credits — simontheis:

Image credits — pattydelgado:

11.20

Designers use type families all the time, but what is the logic behind developing larger type families such as the ever-growing Skolar type system? David Březina discusses various approaches of making type families functional, easy to use, and cross-platform… and also how to stay sane while doing that! ;)

@mrbrezina Rethinking Type Experience #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/HK2hcAxTlT

— Shift (@ShiftCph) September 10, 2013

Digging into type design with David Brezina #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/1XvFHzO1Vq

— Robert Zierhofer (@rzierhofer) September 10, 2013

11.37

“I’m really bad at artistic freedom. I don’t know what to do if I don’t have my guidelines.” — David B.

11.46

“Sans are like T-Shirts. They are pretty much all the same.” — David B.

11.52

“What is great type for, if you cannot use it easily?” — David B.

12.00

“How do you test your type faces before you buy them? Do you actually test them? Did you hear of temporary licenses…? Or, what we did is we thought of test fonts. So you can just go and get the font from us and test how it works.” — David B.

my notes on @MrBrezina ’s talk at the #smashingconf http://t.co/YsghpRiGNL

— Kevin Lorenz (@verpixelt) September 10, 2013

Sketchnotes from @MrBrezina’s #smashingconf talk on designing a type family like Skolar Sans – and type service. pic.twitter.com/Px0fW7iAdR

— Elisabeth Irgens (@sortenke) September 10, 2013

12.10

The one and only Addy Osmani on stage now — yeeeehaw!!

Finally something great for JavaScript Devs at #smashingconf with @addyosmani pic.twitter.com/ItbTYe7LA7

— philjs (@philjs) September 10, 2013

12.19

“Become BFFs with how browsers work.” — Addy O.

12.26

“I’ve never built anything without a performance flaw of some kind. We all have to ship things. Face your performance demons! Don’t feel bad poking at pages. Don’t feel like you’re asshole looking at performance issues. It’s ok!” — Addy O.

12.27

https://twitter.com/turkutuuli/status/377377856328044544

12.51

“What defines a great web experience? For example, a consistent frame rate… Why should we care about it? The frame rate can directly impact engagement and conversion rate. It matter if you want engaged users.” — Addy O.

12.52

https://twitter.com/rowdyrabouw/status/377382062338375680

12.55

https://twitter.com/tkadlec/status/377384846538330112

There’s no doubt that Addy Osmani rocked the stage — and this picture says it all!

@addyosmani your shoes rock! #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/kcIlxHR3RA

— Rowdy Rabouw (@rowdyrabouw) September 10, 2013

13.05

Time for the lunch break everyone — we’ll be back at 2 PM!

Written your postcard? Bring it to our team in the Smashing Lounge and we'll post it for you! #smashingconf pic.twitter.com/V2DCHdBOMf

— Smashing Conference (@smashingconf) September 10, 2013

Hehe #smashingconf RT @studiowolf This is what a break at @smashingconf looks like. pic.twitter.com/3RVwU64wba

— Aljan Scholtens (@AljanScholtens) September 10, 2013

Setting sail for the 2nd half of #smashingconf #catcontent with @brad_frost pic.twitter.com/ys8ZSv9eDi

— Andreas Klein (@ixisio) September 10, 2013

“Great time at #smashingconf.” Image credits — k41z0r:

14.00

Natalie Downe is on stage telling us all the story of Lanyrd from a two-week proof of concept to a fully-fledged startup, as well as the lessons learned along the way… Lessons like:

If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you have launched too late
Learn how to take advice
Circle yourself with a circle of trust
Raise money to last for 18 months

Image credits — blumenberg:

14.21

https://twitter.com/danielmall/status/377406494402420736

14.27

If you’re a founder, Natalie suggests you to make an investor checklist including:

Elevator pitch
Executive summary
Pitch deck
Answers to common questions
Introductions
The phone number of a really good lawyer!

14.38

Check out the press pack that Lanyrd put together after LinkedIn shut down its events application.

14.44

“Trust your gut instinct.” – Natalie D.

14.55

Nicholas Gallagher starts out talking about CSS Application Architecture with some definitions:

Architecture – a plan about how you’re going to structure your application. Your design principles.
Framework – the implementation of an architecture. Like scaffolding it gives you something on which you can build out your application.
Toolkit – a collection of pre-built patterns that you assemble into an application.

Image credits — blumenberg:

15.05

“The freest human is the one who never has to choose.” Nicholas G cites John Gray in this article.

15.19

https://twitter.com/Emanoule/status/377420977497714688

15.21

Nicholas G provides design principles for effective CSS:

Single responsibility
Extension over modification
Composition over inheritance
Low coupling
Encapsulating
Documentation

Image credits — brad_frost:

15.28

“Nothing is perfect. Nothing lasts. Nothing is finished.” — Nicholas G.

15.34

https://twitter.com/smashingconf/status/377424891835727873

And in the meantime…

Live editing at #smashingconf http://t.co/dU4yQOzir9

— Craig Lockwood (@craiginwales) September 10, 2013

16.25

Nishant Kothary is now on stage talking about everyone’s ability to understand and work with others — the project team, stakeholders, and users — that often determines the success of everyone’s work, as well as how they feel along the way.

Image credits — thatpita:

16.42

https://twitter.com/beep/status/377442008023195648

Image credits — blumenberg:

Image credits — rzierhofer:

16.50

“Logo re-design is like attacking an identity… What do people do if we fight people’s identity? They fight back. It’s normal.” — Nishant K.

17.05

https://twitter.com/markodugonjic/status/377447733692338176

17.06

A few of Nishant’s favorite cognitive biases:

Diagnosis bias
Loss aversion
Confirmation bias

17.06

https://twitter.com/beep/status/377448001092202497

17.12

https://twitter.com/brad_frost/status/377449624862068736

Image credits — thatpita:

More sketchnotes from #smashingconf, this is no summary but a small part of @rainypixels’s wonderful talk. pic.twitter.com/wciQ3jqS0F

— Elisabeth Irgens (@sortenke) September 10, 2013

17.24

https://twitter.com/EugeneTerehov/status/377452510539415552

Last talk! Must..Pay..Attention! #Smashingconf pic.twitter.com/vBzQaKXPci

— Tim Sluis (@TimSluis) September 10, 2013

17.28

Aaaand the last speaker of the conference… Welcome Jeremy Keith! Who just announced that he’s not going to use any slides today but instead share with us some of his failures and old works from the past.

Image credits — blumenberg:

Image credits — fran6:

Image credits — blumenberg:

17.33

https://twitter.com/g16n/status/377454812721197056

Listen up, kids. @adactio was building responsive sites for *ANY* width in the 90's. #smashingconf

— Nishant Kothary (@rainypixels) September 10, 2013

17.38

https://twitter.com/beep/status/377456143955947520

17.50

https://twitter.com/nagare_ip/status/377459024696193024

Its a myth that progressive enhancement means making lowest common denominator designs. Its just about starting there @adactio #smashingconf

— Brad Frost (@brad_frost) September 10, 2013

18.04

https://twitter.com/Emanoule/status/377462550541398017

18.25

“After the last talk: Vitaly, the head of @smashingmag at the Smashing Conference.” Image credits — blumenberg:

18.30

https://twitter.com/smashingconf/status/377573793301946368

Of course we were ALL fascinated by our one and only special speaker band and tried our best to convince them to sing another song… and they did! What a fantastic performance guys! Thank you once again — we sincerely appreciate it!

A standing ovation to Dan Rubin, Brad Frost, Nishant Kothary and Dan Mall! Y’all have melted many hearts that night!

A BIG thank you to the fantastic speakers — you've made the conference what it is, and for that we are eternally grateful. #smashingconf

— Smashing Conference (@smashingconf) September 10, 2013

Aaaaand… Cut!

Thanks again for coming everyone! It was indeed a SMASHING event — we couldn’t have done it without you! See you again next year, maybe? ;-)

Wi-Fi At The Conference:

A huuuuge Thank You to our technical team for taking care of the Wi-Fi. The attendees also sincerely appreciate it:

Excellent Wi-Fi so far at @smashingconf – congrats! #smashingconf

— Joschi Kuphal 吉 (@jkphl) September 9, 2013

Great #smashingconf conference so far. Good job @smashingmag team! You should be proud.

— Emanuel Blagonic (@eblagonic) September 9, 2013

Kudos to the Wi-Fi magicians at #smashingconf Wi-Fi is perfect so far :-)

— Sebastian Sebald (@sebastiansebald) September 9, 2013

I’m amazed by the notes people take and publish straight away.. And wi-fi is perfect! Btw, thanks @wordpress for the beer :) #smashingconf

— Sandra (@alexhris) September 9, 2013

Feedback & Reviews

Here are a couple of thoughts and feedback of the Smashing Conference 2013 by some of the attendees:

Yes, the talks at #Smashingconf are striking, but meeting all you inspiring people is what really counts. Great experience, great exchange.

— Alexander Woerndl (@awenro) September 10, 2013

Had two awesome days in Freiburg at the second edition of #smashingconf. Thank you! See you next year! pic.twitter.com/ESp137qPPM

— Esther Amor (@estereoeo) September 10, 2013

When it comes to cool conference locations, #SmashingConf definitely gets my award. pic.twitter.com/2XZOsmEkig

— Arin Sime (@ArinSime) September 11, 2013

Absolutely loving @smashingconf – so much effort put into the details! And great talks too!

— Ben MacGowan (@benmacgowan) September 9, 2013

What an inspiring day. Special thanks to @danielmall & @lukew who made my head spin. #smashingconf

— Nicki Uhlbach (@nimius_design) September 9, 2013

Great few days at #smashingconf in #freiburg. Definitely looking forward to next year! @ Freiburg,… http://t.co/4rarjddnnl

— Kieran Malone (@cable_ready) September 11, 2013

Thanks at everyone involved making my first #smashingconf such an amazing event with lots great of input to take home. See y’all next year!

— Daniel Wentsch (@klickreflex) September 10, 2013

a heartfelt thank you to all speakers, to vitaly and the team – two days filled with many human moments and fresh insights #smashingconf

— ajara (@nagare_ip) September 10, 2013

The #smashingconf 2013 was EPIC! Thank you (speakers, vitaly and the team) very very much. cu soon in england.

— Code Division (@CodeDivision) September 10, 2013

Speakers were amazing. People were amazing. Food was amazing. Best conference I've been to so far. You guessed it—#smashingconf

— Lucijan Blagonić (@lblagonic) September 12, 2013

Some behind the scenes shots from @smashingconf http://t.co/f4NSYW8dfp #smashingconf

— Daniel Harris (@DanHarrisFilms) September 10, 2013

For those who didn't attend #smashingconf 2013; this is my complete summary: http://t.co/xR1jtGgwC0 (updated)

— Sven Hofmann (@hofmannsven) September 11, 2013

Last But Not Least…

This year we had Elisabeth Irgens attending the Smashing Conference, and we’re so glad she did! Look at all these beauties she put on paper:

Inayaili de León Persson: “The Most Important Part Of Your Job” (Image credits)

Nishant Kothary: “The Design of People” (Image credits)

Natalie Downe: “Startup Lessons Learned: From Idea To Exit” (Image credits)

Luke Wroblewski: “It’s a Write/Read (Mobile) Web” (Image credits)

Ethan Marcotte: “The Map Is Not The Territory” (Image credits)

Elliot Jay Stocks: “Where are we now, and from where have we come?”> (Image credits)

David Březina: “Rethinking Type Experience” (Image credits)

Dan Mall: “Responsive Web Design is Hard/Easy! Be Afraid/Don’t Worry!” (Image credits)

Brad Frost Workshop Sketches (Image credits)