SXSW Design Workshop

The middle of March is always my favorite time of year. The days start to get longer, flowers start to bloom and web workers from all corners of the world flock to Austin, TX for South by Southwest Interactive. On March 12th, I’ll be making my 4th trek to Austin and I’m looking forward to seeing old friends, making new ones and learning from experts who do what I do.

New to SXSWi this year is the concept of workshops. With the huge scope of interactive programming at the festival, it’s sometimes difficult to find talks and panels to attend that are relevant to your specific interests. Once you have determined which talks you want to attend, they’re often located on opposite sides of the massive Austin Convention Center. Workshops will help alleviate some of the selection woes and hallway sprinting by offering 3 consecutive talks on a given theme in the same room.

As an attendee, I’m excited about this concept, but I was even more excited when they asked me to choose the programming for a “Beautiful Web Design” themed workshop. The lineup for the workshop, which will take place in Ballroom E from 2-6pm on March 12th consists of 3 talks I wouldn’t have missed and if you’re going to be at SXSW, you won’t want to miss them either:

• Beauty in Web Design
  Cennydd Bowles, UX Designer at Clearleft
• Get Stoked on Web Typography
  Samantha Warren, Web Designer at Phase2 Technology
• Simple Steps to Great Web Design
  Matthew Smith, Principal at SquaredEye

I’ve created a promo site for the workshop at http://sxswdesignworkshop.com and you can RSVP for the event on Facebook. It should be a great way to kick off SXSW this year, so be sure to get your badge early and book it to Ballroom E by 2pm! Seeya in Austin!