Webstock 08 Wrap
Wow. Last week was absolutely crazy. Aside from being super busy at work and trying to keep several part-time music and design projects ticking over (!!), I attended Webstock 08 (aka The Nat Torkington Poodle Show) and even started yet another <a href=/introducing-historiographica">new design project</a>. Needless to say, I didn't really get much sleep until the after-party wrapped up at 4am and I stumbled home, degenerating into a brain addled state of info-overloaded exhaustion.
It's hard for mere words to do justice to the incredible efforts of the crew who put all of this together. No detail was too minute or low priority for them to make as good as it could be. The organization, the speakers, the venue, and of course the branding and schwag were beautifully cohesive and synchronous, and it encouraged a wonderful experience for everyone. I'm not exaggerating! As I wandered around the halls, I was particularly struck by the all round smiles and intense energy and passion of so many people. It's rare to find a community that has such a fervor for learning, growth and improvement on both personal and collective levels. I consider myself re-inspired and re-focused to do good things on the web again! (it's been a while).
One of the highlights of Webstock was the fantastic diversity and cross-over of specialties that was going on. It's great to see a mixture of designers, IA and usability people, managers, and programmers all sharing ideas and interacting on the same level, appreciating that they can learn from all aspects of the web process. Like Brian, I was immensely encouraged by the people first focus of so many of the speakers and attendees.
There were a few sessions in particular that really captured my attention, so I've slammed my notes together and tried to document and explain as best I can what I learned and the motivations and themes I want to apply to future design projects:
- <a href=/good-design">Good Design Ain't Easy</a>
- <a href=/age-of-frameworks">The Age of Frameworks</a>
- <a href=/the-transforming-web">The Transforming Web</a>
It's probably well to note that this is only the tip of the iceberg. So many sessions, so much information. In particular, I wish I had gotten my head around Scott Berkun's session better - his flurry of history, and lessons learned from failure was extraordinarily insightful and relevant. It was fascinating to learn that workplace innovations that Google and others are often credited with, actually originated at 3M.
I can't say that there were any particular lowlights. All of the speakers had awesome insights with totally diverse styles and manners of speaking to the crowd. Since so many of the sessions dealt with more abstract, philosophical issues rather than technical how-to, it seemed like everyone in attendance could take away something unique and personal that was relevant to them.
Mega congrats and much love to Mike, Tash, and everyone else on the crew. You have really created something special.