Better Off Studio Talks Figma Config Conference 2024.

The design and development scene’s hottest schmooze ticket is upon us as the fine folks at Figma will share the latest and greatest about all things digital product technology at their annual Config conference on June 26-27 in San Francisco.

Those who are socially adverse, geographically challenged, or economically squeezed, can forget the obstacles of attending the live, in-person event at $699 per ticket — don’t even bother, it’s sold out anyway — and just slip into your jammies and stream the entire event for free.

I’m planning to join the feed in sweatpants and a supple pima cotton tee. But I promise to brush my teeth. The virtual sign-up took about two minutes, and that’s because I’m notoriously slow and was reaching for coffee between form fields.

The Config site — which is a UI/UX design clinic in itself (well done, Figma!) — says that virtual tickets are limited to one per-person. But what’s to stop you from going full Figma fanboy (or girl) and throwing a Config Conference Watch Party at your apartment with a dozen other dev tweakers? Haflway through Figma CEO Dylan Field’s kickoff session at 9 a.m. on Wednesday would a notification register on a computer in the compliance department at their downtown SF headquarters, alerting them to revoke your single, virtual ticket? Oh, wait, never mind. The social anxiety. You’d never willingly invite a bunch of people over for anything. And watch parties are already a thing. Check the site!

The opening session hosted by Field should be a banger. Super interesting guy with one of those typical coming of age tech stories about a young computer science hacker turned billionare. He’s in his early ’30s now, but it started with a string of deadend internships, most notably at LinkedIn and Flipboard, that sent him into an existential tailspin before landing a coveted Thiel Fellowship for $100K that stipulated that he must drop out of Brown University and dedicate at least two years to his project full-time before accepting the grant. Which seems harsh, but it obviously paid off, since Adobe purchased Figma in 2012 for a clean $20B and Field is now personally worth upwards of $2B (I’ll save you the Google search).

Anyway, besides Field’s opener, there are quite a few exciting and worthwhile sessions scheduled on the agenda for the expected more than 8,000 in-person attendees. I’ll summarize a few notables.  

Wednesday, June 26

“The Human Algorithm”, hosted by Henry Modisett, head of design at Perplexity.ai. He leads a seminar about how robots still need us bags of bones for our brains. Because it’s still our thinking that tells the AI what to do and what outcome we hope to achieve. The description on the Config site reminds us that “technology is not useful on its own.” The machines still rely on us congnitive relics who decide what the problems are, how to wrap the digital output with brand and storytelling, and then determine how to use it to improve people’s lives.

 “The Future of Software is Couture”, hosted by Sam Whitemore and Jason Yuan from New Computer, a startup “reimagining personalized computing in the age of AI”. Which sounds kind of vague. But the gist is: they’ll talk about how, as AI creeps further and further into every facet of our lives, the computing experience will transform to our tastes. Basically, the behaviors and presentation of the software UI/UX will customize based on the user’s individual preferences. And Sam and Jason will let us know how, as designers and product developers, we can prepare ourselves to craft those interactions through software development.

Thursday, June 27

“Eames and teamLab: crafting for the physical space”, hosted by Llisa Demetrios, chief curator of the Eames Institute and Amber Bravo, the director of editorial and content at Figma. There are two “L’s” in Llisa’s name and Amber Bravo sounds like a superhero, so right off the bat this one feels memorable. Plus, their credentials are impeccable. Llisa as the artist granddaughter of Charlie himself, and Amber a band architect who cut her chops at Google and Herman Miller. They’re gonna talk about the enduring importance of applying legacy creative techniques to modern design challenges. Pretty much, don’t forget how Charles and Ray approached their craft because it worked. And will still work by teaching us a thing or two.

 “Beyond the hype: a critical look at design systems”, hosted by Cam Worboys, head of design OS at Cash App. From the writeup, Cam poses a question asking whether design systems are living up to the promise of making our work higher quality, faster, and more cohesive. It’s always good when someone holds the progress of technology to a measure of accountability in an effort to improve the overall experience. Good on ya, Cam. Looking forward to it.

Why it's smart to attend.

That’s just a snippet of the full lineup. The entire portfolio of speakers and topics has serious depth and breadth, plenty of coverage for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the curve. As a verteran of the conference circuit, walking the convention aisles for hundreds of miles at many lesser summits than Config, my feeling is that these events, if executed properly, contribute to our commercial arts community and to us personally as craftspeople.

These are the reasons that I find Config, and similar conferences, a redeeming exercise:

Networking

I’m guilt of getting comfy and insulated in my bubble, relying on the funnel to furnish leads. Every now and then it’s healthy for me to dust off my social skills and go talk to some people. I always connect with exactly who I’m supposed to meet at these events.

Inspiration

No doubt that my team and I scour the same list of inspo sites as the rest of you, trying to water our seeds that will grow into new concepts or fresh approaches to a creative challenge. But something different happens inside a hall crammed with people buzzing with energy. The influx of ideas just resonates differently. Maybe it’s the body heat, or, if streaming, having a fresh channel flowing the information into the cranium.

Relevancy

It’s tough for me to feel “a part of” the ever-evolving sphere of design and development until I’m participating in it. I don’t continue to grow as a creative through osmosis, because transformation isn’t a passive pursuit. For me it has to be lived through direct action that goes beyon scrolling the same old pages. To be an active member of our community, I must engage. Otherwise, I’ll look up one day and wonder why I became irrelevent. Config is the perfect forum for that dose of interconnectivity.     

Craft

Technology is hurling at warp speed. As far as industries go, we are sitting in the cockpit of the rocketship. It is incumbent upon me to pay attention to the shifts, whether slight or monumental. Lately, it’s all been pretty monumental. Shows like Config are where some of the brightest and most informed minds are sharing the flight coordinates to Mars. Paying attention is better for our studio, my personal toobox, and for our clients satisfaction.

Since the live event is sold out, consider taking the 60 seconds or so it takes to sign up for the virtual ticket, for all the reasons I shared above, or for your own damn reasons. We'll see ya in there, powwowing among the pixels.