Quite simply, the Future of Web Design 2008 blew me away with the level of ideas, creativity and passion that I took from the day.

As a designer, I loved to hear people actually talking about the design aspect of the web, instead of just the technical, and FOWD delivered a well structured day of talks aimed at exploring the nature and delivery of design for web.

I don’t really have time to do the day justice, as so many of the sessions were excellent, but there was some first rate material from Patrick McNeil, Andy Clarke, Steve Pearce, Jon Hicks, Daniel Burka, Elliot Jay Stocks and Larissa Meek

Special mention must also go to Edinburgh’s own Paul Farnell of Litmus fame, who gave a great talk on “unconventional way to promote your site.” Great presentation from a really nice guy, and fantastic to see him holding his own with the established conference heavy weights.

Simply delightful

If I seem to be glossing over everything else, it’s because I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the stand out talk for the day for me: Andy Budd’s presentation on Designing the user experience curve. I loved Andy’s talk at the Fling last year, but this talk was on another level and genuinely inspiring for me.

The concept of the user experience curve is simple: from the moment you wake up until the point where your head hits the pillow, you’re constantly engaged in different user experiences. As the day goes on your mood, happiness and satisfaction of those experience fluctuates depending on the situations and events you encounter. Simple enough stuff.

Andy used the real life example of a recent holiday trip abroad to a wonderful hotel where the entire user experience was carefully crafted from check in to check out. He explained that while every moment wasn’t necessarily perfect, the fact that the majority of the experience was positive, punctuated with a few exceptional moments, meant the overall experience that was a joy to participate in.

This is what we should be doing with our websites. Every moment, from the minute a user hits the home page or logs in, to point where they confirm a purchase, to the second they log out should be crafted such that the entire experience is as simple, smooth and enjoyable as possible.

Easy enough in words, but harder to put into practice. It’s something which has been weighing on my shoulders a lot recently, as I’ve struggled to make every design and site look and function perfectly, only to inevitably fail.

Andy’s talk inspired me with the idea that every aspect of the user experience doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect, it just needs to be generally positive. But if you can then add some truly exceptional moments of user interaction then they can lift the overall perception of the entire experience to something that is both memorable and joyous.

Jeremy Keith later told me he referred to these moments as “delightfuls” which is a wonderful term to describe them.

Instead of a weight of expectation on my shoulders I now feel able to tackle the pursuit of perfection in the knowledge that I don’t always have to get everything perfect first time.

I just have to make it “delightful” one little piece at a time.

But there’s more

Another highlight of the day for me was seeing one of my own designs in Patrick McNeil’s presentation on current design trends. If I could have, I would have yelped when I saw FreeAgent Central pop up on one the slides. I’m just hoping it was nothing to do with us sponsoring the event.

Enjoying the Silence

Despite not being allowed to talk due to a recent throat operation I also managed to meet some really cool people, and have a great time at the after party. So mad props go to Olly, Ed, Paul, Sam and Cole for making my user experience what it was.

Due to my enforced silence I almost didn’t go to this year’s FOWD, but after the great time I had I’ll definitely be there next year.