The 10 best design conferences in 2020
UX, UI & Product Design conferences I am most looking forward to this year.
Never before has there been a wider selection of conferences for Design and Research. Workshops, retreats, remote conferences, and many other new formats are making it tougher and tougher to select conferences that you would enjoy and benefit from the most.
To make that process of finding the best conference easier for you, I have built Design Conferences 2020 where you can filter by date, location (continent, country or city, so you can be more flexible), price and duration.
While building that site, a couple of conferences really stood out. Multiple people also asked me which ones are my favorite, so here they are :)
1. Best UX Research conference
#UXRConf
$806 | June 4th & 5th | Toronto 🇨🇦
The UXR Collective is bringing together people from across the globe who are committed to championing their users, surfacing better insights, and bettering the tech ecosystem.
#UXRConf speakers have a strong connection to their talks, sharing their techniques, reflections, and insights through the narratives they tell.
2. Best design leadership conference
Leading Design
$1,495 | March 4th & 5th | San Francisco 🇺🇸
Now in its fifth year, Leading Design is a sell out conference for people leading design teams, overseeing design direction, or instilling a culture of design within their organisations.
Our past speakers have worked at Facebook, Netflix, IBM Design Studio, Spotify and Google. This year we are assembling a wonderful group of design leaders who will cover a wide range of topics to help you make the most of your Design Leadership journey.
3. Best retreat for designers
JAM Product Leaders Weekend
£800 | May 14th - 17th | Cardigan 🏴
Hosted in the beautiful Welsh countryside, this experience is designed to help you connect candidly with peers, grow your product leadership skills and solve your biggest challenges together.
From managing your team to making complex product decisions, being a product leader is no easy task. Come participate in 3 days of practical talks by experts in their field, take part in immersive discussions and get the opportunity to discuss tried and test solutions with other product leaders.
4. Best design conference for networking
SXSW Design
$1,145 | March 13th — 18th| Austin 🇺🇸
The Design Track covers all aspects of this industry, from futuristic product design to design-thinking approaches that can be applied to numerous other disciplines, businesses, and organizations. This programming will examine how design informs our interactions, shapes our experiences, and plays a critical role in problem-solving.
Dive into 2020 Design Track sessions like Voice Is The New Command Line, Designing for a World Beyond Screens, Combating Bias Through Inclusive Digital Products, and more.
5. Best design conference for a smaller budget
Beyond Tellerrand
€299 | April 27th & 28th | Düsseldorf 🇩🇪
beyond tellerrand is the affordable single-track event where creativity and technology meet. Taking place in Düsseldorf, Berlin and Munich with 500+ attendees each in a renowned, familiar and friendly atmosphere.
The community spirit and family atmosphere at beyond tellerrand are truly special and lead to an intense and memorable experience for all. This is also part of what drives our attractive pricing for attendees.
6. Best design conference with a focus on diversity
Design + Diversity
$399 | July 30th - August 1st| St. Louis 🇺🇸
We believe by developing a collective acumen of traditional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in addition to using our creative craft to meet the needs of specific identities, we can address social ills and systems of oppression through Designing Diversity and Social Justice.
Join us in St. Louis for the 5 year celebration of the Design + Diversity Conference — the conference which inspires, celebrates and promotes not only diversity in design, but the diversity of design.
7. Best design + tech + business conference
Web Summit
€950 | November 2nd - 5th | Lisbon 🇵🇹
Forbes has said we run “the best technology conference on the planet”;
The Atlantic that Web Summit is “where the future goes to be born”;
The New York Times that we assemble “a grand conclave of the tech industry’s high priests.”At a time of great uncertainty for many industries and indeed, the world itself, we gather the founders and CEOs of technology companies, fast-growing startups, policymakers and heads of state to ask a simple question: where to next?
8. Best enterprise design conference
Enterprise Experience
$1,295 | June 10th - 12th| San Francisco 🇺🇸
Enterprises - huge, distributed, complex businesses, government agencies, and other large organizations - account for an enormous portion of the global economy. Yet people who engage with enterprises face experiences that are tedious, fragmented, complicated, and just plain awful, especially when compared with consumer-facing experiences. It’s time to right these wrongs and that’s why we created the Enterprise UX conference series.
Each year, over 500 enterprise design and research leaders meet to sharpen their ability to create transformational products at scale. Come join your tribe and have conversations that will move your design forward at warp speed.
9. Best conference for creativity & makers
Seattle Interactive
$549 | October 20th - 22nd| Seattle 🇺🇸
SIC is a celebration of the incredible work happening at the intersection of technology, creativity and industry. We spotlight innovation in experience, design, and strategy. We believe in the power of creative thinking, and that data and technology can be leveraged to help us make better, intentional choices.
SIC brings Seattle a world-class technology and digital media event to call our own. Your boss and your company will benefit from the things you’ll learn and the connections you can make — and you don’t have to book travel and hotel for places like New York, San Francisco, or Austin for SIC! In short, it’s a great investment.
10. Best design conference with a focus on ethics
UX Copenhagen
€800 | March 30th - 31st | Copenhagen 🇩🇰
What is influence in UX? This is the subject we have given our speakers for 2020: “Influence & Designing for Good”. Some of the subjects you will be hearing about are DesignOps, privilege, tech for social good, futures thinking, ethical OS, designing against domestic violence, and maybe even rocket science!
Join us for two days filled with superb content from 20+ speakers, hands-on workshops, inspiration, networking, new knowledge, and new insights.
Bonus: Best conference that doesn’t cost a penny
UXCamp Europe
Free | May 30th — 31st| Berlin 🇩🇪
The 2020 edition of the largest unconference for UX Professionals in Europe. 500+ active participants from all over the world meet for inspiration,
networking and lots of fun in Berlin every year.Thanks to our sponsors, tickets are free! But: their number is limited. Due to insurance and safety reasons, a ticket is necessary to attend UXcamp Europe. The space — although large — can only hold so many people.
I hope at least one of these sparks your interest, otherwise you can still have a look at the complete list of design conferences in 2020.
