25 Design Conferences That Will Blow Your Mind in 2017

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The key for personal and professional growth is self-development and lifelong learning. Visiting and contributing to any relevant events, such as conferences, trainings, meet-ups, or summits, are a great way to do both.

With the user experience and user-centered design taking center stage in the technology product development recently, not only UX experts, but everyone involved in the industry should keep up with the recent advances in the field.

So here is a list of the must-visit UX & design conferences for 2017.

April

UX in the City: Oxford

UX In The City
  • Location: Oxford, UK
  • Date: April 20-21
  • Cost and Tickets: 1-day ticket – £216 ($265), 2-day ticket – £420 ($516), Workshop ticket – £480 ($590), Workshop & 2-day conference ticket – £810 ($995). All prices are valid until March 10.

UX in the City are practical events for the UX community held across a number of locations in the UK. Taking place in Oxford, the event will bring design professionals and scholars from the leading UK universities to speak about UX, share practical experience, case studies and tutorials. The keynote speaker is the Head of Design Management at Capital One, Kristin Skinner.

More Info: Official website / Twitter

Generate Conference 2017

Generate Conference
  • Location: New York City, USA
  • Date: April 27-28
  • Cost and Tickets: $375 – Conference pass; $499 – Workshop pass; $749 – Conference + workshop ticket.

A must-visit event for web designers, Generate Conference takes place across several locations including, New York (April 27-28), San Francisco (June 9), and London (September 20-22). The first event will feature 2 days, full of hands-on workshops and talks from world-class industry experts.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

May

UX Immersion: Interactions

UX Immersion Interactions
  • Location: Portland, USA
  • Date: May 1-3
  • Cost and Tickets: $1,975 (the offer expires on April 6).

The event is centered around new techniques and methods of interaction design. Featured talks will include such subjects as, enterprise design for small screens, guidelines for creating animations, Design Thinking, Lean UX, and Mapping Experiences.

More Info: Official website

HOW Design Live

HOW Design Live
  • Location: Chicago, USA
  • Date: May 2-6
  • Cost and Tickets: $895 (1-day pass) – $1,925 (Big pass). The prices are valid till March 21. Special offers available for groups and students.

The HOW Design Live conference is one of the largest annual events aimed at creative professionals. Every year, it gathers about 4,000 design, business and technology professionals from all over the world to share experiences, improve their skills and preview new tools presented at the venue. With over 80 sessions, 13 keynote speakers, and numerous workshops and master classes, the event provides endless opportunities to foster your creativity, improve professional skills, explore new tools and products, and create connections.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

UX London

UX London
  • Location: London, UK
  • Date: May 24-26
  • Cost and Tickets: £425 ($522) for a one-day ticket (standard price expires on April 3), £1,125 ($1,383) for a three-day pass.

This three-day conference will focus on digital product design, the basics of service design, explore the emerging trends in design and UX, and investigate new platforms and modes of interaction. The main speakers include design experts from Google, Capital One, Uber and Nike, as well as a number of independent professionals and authors.

More Info: Official website / Twitter

TYPO Berlin 2017

TYPO Berlin 2017
  • Location: Berlin, Germany
  • Date: May 25-27
  • Cost and Tickets: € 649 ($689)

The biggest and most successful design event in Europe. The 3-day conference covers a wide variety of topics including, typography, graphic design, digital media, technology, culture, entertainment and business. This year’s TYPO Berlin will host over 60 presentations, various workshops, interviews, and discussions from more than 60 speakers.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

June

Los Angeles Awwwards Conference

Los Angeles Awwwards Conference
  • Location: Los Angeles, USA
  • Date: June 1-2
  • Cost and Tickets: $475 – $550

Held by Awwwards is a Digital Thinkers Conference and a go-to resource of web design inspiration. The conference will focus on a number of hot topics: UX/UI Design, Virtual Reality, Semiotics & Wearables. The event will feature 20 inspirational talks by the leading industry influencers; including, the Founder of Behance, Matias Corea, UX Lead for WebVR at Google, Josh Carpenter, and a former UX Designer at YouTube, Google and Digg, Marc Hemeon.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

UXPA 2017 International Conference

UXPA 2017 International Conference
  • Location: Toronto, Canada
  • Date: June 6-8
  • Cost and Tickets: $900-$1,900 (early bird tickets for members); $1,000-$2,000 (early bird tickets for non-members). Special offers for students and single day tickets available,

UXPA 2017 International Conference is considered to be one of the most influential user experience annual events in the world. The event offers optional pre-conference courses as well as a three-day conference with keynote talks by the industry experts from Microsoft, Facebook, and IBM.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

Enterprise UX 2017

Enterprise UX 2017
  • Location: San Francisco, USA
  • Date: June 7-9
  • Cost and Tickets: Conference only – $1,595 (early bird pricing – $1,395), Conference + Workshops – $2,290 · (early bird pricing – $1,990). The early bird offer expires March 12.

Rather than covering basic UX topics, the conference deals with the problem of designing high-scale, complex user experiences for large organizations. Providing inspiration and success stories from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Pacific Gas & Electric, and SAP. The event will be useful for mid- and senior-level UX practitioners.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

99U Conference

99U Conference
  • Location: New York City, USA
  • Date: June 7-9
  • Cost and Tickets: $999 – $2,999 (Patron Ticket).

The 99U Conference is an annual event featuring inspirational talks and workshop sessions by the industry leaders and design practitioners. This year, the conference will host a number of international speakers, including, design experts from Instagram, Airbnb, and Adobe.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

UX STRAT Europe

UX STRAT Europe
  • Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Date: June 15-16
  • Cost and Tickets: €795 ($840)

UX STRAT is a series of events focusing on UX, CX, and Product & Service Design. Taking place in Europe (Amsterdam, June 15-16) as well as in the USA (Boulder,CO, September 18-20), the conference gathers industry leaders and design practitioners sharing their experience and real-life cases on how to innovate, conduct design research, analyze complex data, structure teams, and sell ideas and visions to executives.

More Info: Official website / Twitter

July

Inspirefest 2017

Inspirefest 2017
  • Location: Dublin, Ireland
  • Date: July 6-8
  • Cost and Tickets: Early Bird tickets – €295 ($311), Regular – €395 ($417). Group and academic offers available.

Inspirefest is an international event dedicated to technology, science, design and the arts. The conference features a number of inspirational talks and discussions from the leading experts in science, tech and innovation, including representatives from, Nokia, Mashable, and Intercom.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

International Conference of eXperience Design 2017

International Conference of eXperience Design 2017
  • Location: Beijing, China
  • Date: July 12-16
  • Cost and Tickets: ¥ 3,500 (about $30) – ¥20,000 (about $175). Special offers are available before March 31.

The conference, hosted by IXDC, is one of the world’s most influential events in the field of UX and design. It is dedicated to the subjects of user experience, design strategies and their role in the business. With over 5,000 participants, 13 keynote speeches, 37 summits and 96 workshops held by some of the most prominent industry influencers, the conference is definitely a must-visit.

More Info: Official website

Design & Content Conference 2017

Design & Content Conference 2017
  • Location: Vancouver, Canada
  • Date: July 17-19
  • Cost and Tickets: Early bird offer – $795 – $1195 (expires on March 31); Standard price – $895 – $1295 (expires on June 24); Late – $995 – $1445 (expires on July 17).

The conference brings together design professionals and content strategists in order to, “shape the future of the web”. Featuring some outstanding speakers from Facebook, Microsoft, Buzzfeed, and the New York Times, the event will offer a day full of workshops, two days of talks and multiple additional activities to facilitate networking between the attendees.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

August

UX Week 2017

UX Week 2017
  • Location: San Francisco, USA
  • Date: August 29 – September 1
  • Cost and Tickets: Early Bird Price – $2,395 (expires on March 31), Regular price – $2,795.

The event is organized by the service design experts from Adaptive Path: a part of Capital One. This year, the UX Week conference will welcome design professionals from all over the world for the 15th time. The full agenda is still to be announced.

More Info: Official website / Twitter

UX Australia 2017

UX Australia 2017
  • Location: Sydney, Australia
  • Date: August, 8-11
  • Cost and Tickets: $600 (workshops) – $800 (main conference). The prices are valid until June 30 (limited number of tickets).

UX Australia is a 4-day conference: 2 days of hands-on workshops and 2 days of presentations and case studies, focused on user experience design. The agenda and speakers are still to be announced, as the organizers are accepting presentation proposals until 17 March.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

September

Design Matters

Design Matters
  • Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Date: September 27-28
  • Cost and Tickets: DKK 5,995 (about $900).

The conference will welcome design practitioners from all over the world, including industry thought leaders from Uber, Spotify, Instagram, Zendesk and Netflix. This year, the main themes of the conference will be: Conversational UI, Spreading the Product Design DNA, Embrace Failure! and Designing against the trends.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

EuroIA 2017

EuroIA 2017
  • Location: Stockholm, Sweden
  • Date: September 28-30
  • Cost and Tickets: To be disclosed in April.

EuroIA is the leading Information Architecture (IA) and User Experience (UX) conference in Europe. The event showcases: best practices, real-life case studies and proven methods of information architecture and UX design. This year’s main theme is, “Adaptation and designing for change.” The speakers and program will be disclosed in April.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

October

World Usability Congress 2017

World Usability Congress 2017
  • Location: Graz, Austria
  • Date: October 10-12
  • Cost and Tickets: 420 € – 2,622 € ($444-$2,776). Early bird offer expires on June 30.

The Congress is a one of a kind event due to its application-oriented, economic and holistic approach to Usability, UX & Customer Experience (CX). Among this year’s topics are UX Management, Automotive and Aviation, eCommerce, Virtual and Augmented Reality. Top speakers include leading specialists from Intel, Autodesk, Uber, Walmart Labs and BMW.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

AIGA Design Conference

AIGA Design Conference
  • Location: Minneapolis, USA
  • Date: October 12-14
  • Cost and Tickets: $900 (Discounted rate for members) – $1,250 (For non-members). Early bird offer expires on May 10.

Hosted by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design, the conference is a major event for every design professional. Featuring over 100 speakers and thousands of attendees, the conference provides endless opportunities for networking and inspiration.

More Info: Official website

November

Mobile UX London

Mobile UX London
  • Location: London, UK
  • Date: November 24
  • Cost and Tickets: £ 200 ($244) – early bird tickets; £250 ($305) – general admission. Special group discounts available.

With the main focus on mobile UX and mobile app design best practices, the conference is a one-day event and will touch on such issues as IoT, VR/AR, AI & Chatbots. The program and speakers are still to be announced.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

CanUX

CanUX
  • Location: Ottawa, Canada
  • Date: November 3-5
  • Cost and Tickets: Pre-Sale Tickets – $269 CDN ($200), Regular Tickets – $359 CDN ($267), Final Tickets – $449 CDN ($335).

CanUX is the longest running and largest annual UX event in Canada, featuring a three-day conference, workshops and presentations. It’s focused on the modern experience design trends and will be interesting for those who want to learn and share their expertise about UX and design. The program is to be announced. Among the confirmed speakers is Dan Ramsden, the Creative Director for User Experience Architecture at BBC.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

December

Digital Summit Dallas

Digital Summit Dallas
  • Location: Dallas, USA
  • Date: December 5-6
  • Cost and Tickets: $245 – $645

Digital Summit is a digital marketing community and conference series taking place across some major US cities annually. The event touches on multiple subjects including, Content, Mobile UX Design, and Strategy. While this year’s program and speakers are still to be announced, the event typically features a number of industry thought leaders and visionaries including, Steve Wozniak and other leading experts from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Pinterest, Cisco and Yahoo.

More Info: Official website / FB

An Event Apart Denver

An Event Apart Denver
  • Location: Denver, USA
  • Date: December 11-13
  • Cost and Tickets: $1,390 (early bird pricing expires on October 9)

An Event Apart (AEA) is a series of events focused on digital design, UX and much more. This year’s event in Denver is a special edition conference, which means there will be more speakers (18 instead of 12), sharing even more takeaways and insights. The program is still to be announced, but there is already a list of confirmed speakers, including Daniel Burka, Design Partner at GV, and Luke Wroblewski, Product Director at Google.

More Info: Official website / FB / Twitter

These are the must-visit UX design conferences and events for 2017. Obviously, the list is far from being complete. We have tried to include the most interesting or significant events so you can choose something to your taste and plan your trip ahead of time.

Frequently Asked Questions about Design Conferences

What are the top design conferences to attend in 2023?

The top design conferences to attend in 2023 include the Awwwards Conference, The Design Conference, and the Digital Thinkers Conference. These conferences are renowned for their insightful presentations, networking opportunities, and the chance to learn from industry leaders. They cover a wide range of topics, from graphic design and UX/UI to digital marketing and entrepreneurship.

How can I benefit from attending a design conference?

Attending a design conference can provide numerous benefits. It offers the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and technologies in the design industry, gain insights from industry leaders, and network with other professionals. Additionally, it can provide inspiration and new ideas for your own work.

What topics are usually covered in a design conference?

Design conferences typically cover a wide range of topics related to the design industry. This can include graphic design, UX/UI design, web design, digital marketing, entrepreneurship, and more. They also often feature presentations on the latest trends and technologies in the industry.

How can I prepare for a design conference?

To prepare for a design conference, it’s a good idea to research the speakers and topics in advance. This will help you decide which sessions to attend and what questions to ask. Additionally, bring business cards for networking opportunities and a notebook to jot down any important information or ideas.

Are design conferences suitable for beginners?

Yes, design conferences are suitable for professionals at all levels, including beginners. They offer a wealth of information and learning opportunities, and can provide valuable insights into the industry. Plus, they’re a great place to network and meet other professionals who can offer advice and guidance.

Can I attend a design conference virtually?

Yes, many design conferences offer virtual attendance options. This can be a great alternative if you’re unable to travel to the conference location. Virtual attendees often have access to live streams of presentations, as well as recordings to watch at a later date.

How can I stay updated on upcoming design conferences?

You can stay updated on upcoming design conferences by subscribing to industry newsletters, following relevant organizations on social media, and regularly checking industry websites. Many conferences also have their own websites where you can sign up for updates.

What should I do after attending a design conference?

After attending a design conference, it’s important to review your notes and reflect on what you’ve learned. Try to implement new ideas and techniques into your work. Also, follow up with any contacts you made during the conference to maintain those professional relationships.

Are design conferences worth the investment?

Yes, design conferences are generally considered a worthwhile investment. They provide valuable learning opportunities, networking experiences, and the chance to gain insights from industry leaders. However, it’s important to research each conference and consider your own professional goals to ensure it’s the right fit for you.

How can I make the most of a design conference?

To make the most of a design conference, plan your schedule in advance, attend a variety of sessions, ask questions, and take advantage of networking opportunities. Also, be open to new ideas and approaches, and take the time to reflect on what you’ve learned after the conference.

Valeriia TimokhinaValeriia Timokhina
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Valeriia Timokhina is a blog editor at Eastern Peak, a top-ranked European software development company focused on helping startups and mid­size businesses reach their full potential by building great websites and intuitive mobile apps.

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