What’s happening at Config 2023?
No need for FOMO—the Editorial Team reported live from the scene. Check out our live blog below and watch all the talks from Config 2023.
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That’s all, folks. We’re basking in the afterglow and already experiencing Config withdrawals. Good thing the party doesn’t have to stop here: There are plenty of inspiring talks to catch up on and endless hot takes and #confits to scroll on Twitter. Is it too soon to start planning for next year?
Day 2, June 22:
After an action-packed day of hearing from the smartest folks in tech and design, running into old friends, and making new ones, we’re back for more. Here’s a running log of what we’re up to in Config-land.
[3:01pm PT] Can we please take a moment to appreciate the swag haul? Peep our zine, The Playbook, or head to the Figma store for a game of washi tape Jenga.
[1:22pm PT] I totally got lost inside this Codepen! This was so fun to work with.
[12:19pm PT] Lunch time! Picking up a Thai beef salad (9 out of 10, exceeded expectations). Also, I ran into Product Designer Shana Hu, who’s been sewing since the pandemic and made her outfit. I repeat: SHE MADE THIS FIT.
[12:14pm PT] I was livestreaming embracing art to enhance your product with Duolingo Illustrator Megan Barker, Duolingo Senior Product Designer Robert Managad, and Duolingo Product Designer Anna Gusman.
[12:04pm PT] Hot take(away): Designers, content designers, and UX writers should be working together every step of the way. “The biggest success metric for content design is for people to talk about content design when we’re not in the room,” says Candi. “So please be a content champion.” I am totally not biased and I agree.
[11:50am PT] Overheard in the lunch hall:
You can stream a session, you can’t stream swag.
Speaking of which, you can stream the Config 2023 sessions here.
[11:42am PT] Candi Williams, Director of Content Design at Bumble, shows us the importance of syntax with these two examples: “Your fitness ring wasn’t closed” vs. “You didn’t close your fitness ring yesterday.” One is…way less judge-y.
[10:50am PT] Adobe just debuted a project named gingerbread (covered at Creativebloq). Adobe Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky and Principal Designer for Emerging Design Brooke Hopper doing a live demo of their project gingerbread. It can 3D render a text input, take into consideration the look/depth/perspective, and re-align the object. They run the same prompt, with different backgrounds and overlays, etc. 🤯
[10:24am PT] We stan a woman who “misbehaves.” Ovetta pulls up Hollywood Golden Age actor Hedy Lamarr who defied expectations to innovate technology that paved the way for today’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Johannes Gutenberg was a German craftsman who invented a new printing press method that revolutionized bookmaking in the 15th century.
[10:21am PT] TIL, from Ovetta’s speech: Gutenberg got kicked out of town for his get rich quick schemes. He wondered if he could mass produce a tin/alloy hat; the festival didn’t happen, he got sued by creditors, and he took the metal and combined it with the wine and food press to make the first movable type press. Rascal, or great inventor? (Why not both?)
[10:20am PT] Ovetta: “I always say the best tool for design—no offense to Figma—is a piece of paper and a pencil.” None taken.
This reminds me of Paolo Belardi's book, Why Architects Still Draw.
[10:14am PT] “Skynet, not yet!” That’s Google Director of UX Machine Learning Ovetta Patrice Sampson’s motto, and it’s one I can get behind. She tells us not to be afraid of generative AI. We breathe a collective sigh of relief. She says, “You are the hero you’ve been waiting for!”
[9:39am PT] On the main stage, Noah inspires us to think bigger: “We’ll spend less time wrestling with rectangles, and more time applying taste and curation.”
[9:36am PT] Noah Levin says, amidst many technological changes throughout history—and into the future, “Still, we design.” Diagram Chief Executive Officer Jordan Singer would later echo this message, emphasizing, “Designers aren’t going anywhere.”
Day 1, June 21:
Alright, day one is finally here! Can’t wait to see your smiling faces. We’re coming to you live from San Francisco. Scroll on for our latest dispatches from Config.
[5:05pm PT] Overheard at the happy hour: “A familiar face in a sea of…everybody!”
[4:42pm PT] We were all moved watching Haraldur Thorleifsson (Halli) talk about his road to design and his many accomplishments outside the design world. It was an important reminder that it’s never too late to try new things:
It’s possible to define your life by the things you can’t do. The list will always be very long. The things we can’t do don’t need to stop us from the things we want to do.
[4:15pm PT] Fire fit roll call: Figma Systems Administrator Alex Davenport, Slack Senior Content Designer Stuart Lovinggood, Microsoft Product Designer Chelsea Bishop, Software Designer Au Pleguezuelo, Figma Events Manager Vanessa Chung, Instagram Senior Design Manager Tin Kadoic, Instacart Product Manager Joey Loi, and Figma Design Manager Jenny Wen are all setting the bar high.
[4:11pm PT] Jenny and me, back to back with our swag bags!!!
[4:10pm PT] Checked in with Joe, Associate Creative Director at NBCUniversal, and Ken, Senior Product Designer at Giant Machines, both visiting from New York. “‘Figma like the pros’ was great,” says Joe. “I learned a lot of new tricks—swapping stroke to fill, didn’t know that one.”
“There are so many new features I want to try,” says Ken. “I can tell Figma’s shifting more to an engineering way of thinking.”
[3:42pm PT] Shouts out to everyone keeping their sense of humor as we navigate the crowd, and this banger tweet in particular.
[3:30pm PT] Another video of Uncle Miyagi having a great time on his phone and pedaling an exercise machine. The crowd loves him. “Let’s have a chill and fun time together,” says Yuka. (Amen!) “We’re all getting older. I’m curious about the future. Even when I’m 70, I think I can handle technology if it’s built on conversational AI.”
[3:24pm PT] I’m learning so much about keeping conversational AI accessible and inclusive for older folks! For example: Keep sentences short. Stick to 15-20 words per sentence. Like this. I’m doing it.
[3:11pm PT] Dialog engineer Yuka Miyagi kicks off “Conversational AI interface opens window on aging society,” and the first slide is…Mr. Miyagi. “We have zero relationship,” she clarifies, to laughs from the room. But she does have an uncle, Mr. Miyagi, who she’s been helping with tech. (He looks kind. I want to be his friend.)
[2:55pm PT] Carina is talking about digitizing Singapore's voucher system—RedeemSG—for financial assistance during COVID-19. Since its launch, it’s supported transactions totaling over $400M USD! *The room bursts into applause* 👏
[2:50pm PT] Rachel takes us through three principles for designing for public good:
- Speed makes policies actionable.
- Context matters.
- No one gets left behind.
“When designing for an entire nation, it’s important to emphasize [inclusion] further,” she says.
[2:46pm PT] Product designers Rachel Tan and Carina Lim take the stage to present “The needs of a nation: Experimenting for public good in Singapore.” They flew 16 hours to be here and look way fresher than I do.
[2:41pm PT] Chatting with my seat neighbor, Beth, who’s a designer and researcher from LA. “The keynote was amazing; I’m excited to use all the new features,” she says. “And the talk on ethical design was so good. I want to go to the swag store, but the line was too long!”
[2:32pm PT] People are streaming into “Designing for the evolving needs of society,” and Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” is playing. Thank you, whoever made this playlist, for the bop.
[12:30pm PT] Friends with Figma hats!
[12:00pm PT] Having a lot of fun with this FigJam wall. Reminds me of Design Manager Jenny Wen's tweet!
[11:03am PT] Getting a behind the scenes peek at the streaming room, where all of the magic happens. ✨ Design Advocate Manager Julia Kestner shows me around!
*Seeing this reminded me of this article... “I’ve made friends purely from going to Supreme every week and seeing what’s going on.”
[10:44am PT] The Figma Store. (We have one online, too)*
[9:50am PT] Kicking off the day with the opening keynotes: Live from the main stage, Figma Chief Technology Officer Kris Rasmussen launches Dev Mode How can a design tool work better for developers? It’s a question we’ve been asking ourselves and our community. Today, we’re excited to introduce Dev Mode, a new workspace in Figma that’s designed to get developers what they need, when they need it, harnessing the tools they use every day.
Making Figma better for developers with Dev Mode
Backstage: Saying hi to Whiskey. Big shouts to Director of Marketing Operations Cori Godfrey.
[8:17am] I'm here! As the Config crew is loading in, Meaza Abate, web developer extraordinaire, captured this shot from the escalator.
[5:52am ET] New York City: On the plane and psyched to make my way to SF! Please no one have any fun without me.
Day 0, June 20:
Cue the synths: It’s the final countdown to Config 2023, and here on the editorial team, we’re gearing up for the biggest year yet by fiddling with this infernal teaser (puzzles are not our strong suit), building our dream agenda, and figuring out what to pack for San Francisco’s fickle weather.
We’re hyped to see you IRL or in the browser in just a couple days—and if you’re not with the program yet, go ahead and register for free to livestream the conference from the comfort of your couch. Or, get the big-screen experience at one of the 55 watch parties happening around the world. And if you’re joining us in ol’ SF, check out the unofficial events and meetups happening so you can do all the things.
You’ll also want to bookmark this page because this year, we—Herbert and Jenny, reporting for duty—will be taking you behind the scenes with daily recaps of what it was like in the heart of the action. What will our Vice President of Product Design, Noah Levin, have to say about the future of AI? What epiphanies await about design-developer workflows? How are the food options at Moscone Center? And most importantly, who’s gonna be wearing the sickest fit?
For more Config content, watch all the talks from Config 2023 here!
—H & J
