FOWD London 2007

I'm actually starting this post while still in London at the Future of Web Design (FOWD) conference; there are a few presentations to go. So far I've found this event pretty well organized. Being a one-day event, it's been packed and maintains a high tempo. Ryan Carson has been "nudging" speakers to adhere to the allotted time, so everything has run like clockwork. As far as I'm concerned, the quality of speakers is not on par with @media (save Andy Clarke), but let's face it: it's five times cheaper, there was water and wifi (@media2006-goers will know exactly what I mean) and some of the lesser known speakers did have very interesting things to say. I enjoyed almost all of them. A few of the presentations seem to have been more sales pitches than anything else. One presentation made me want to hang myself from an eyelid. Andy Clarke's TopGear style presentation definitely stole the show. He's not only entertaining, but also made some great points, arguing his preference for using XHTML/CSS prototyping over Photoshop wireframes and mock-ups. Rei Inamoto presented 5 ways to strengthen your brand. One of the speakers presenting material not explicitly dealing with web design, he obviously took the time to make the points relevant to the audience. Web designers need to look outside their medium and technique to become and remain creative. Inamoto is a strong creative, and Ryan Carson and team did well in choosing him to speak. There were other good speakers, of course. As far as the sales pitches go, well, one can't really complain. I'm sure that's one of the many ways Ryan and crew were able to create a conference which costs roughly one-fifth of an @media ticket. For that price, it was well worth it. Anything new here? Nothing mind-blowing. But I applaud Carson Systems for daring to throw some cross-media experts (like Inamoto) into the mix. I'm interested in seeing where this conference will go in the future. See a few photos.