If you’re a typographer or designer, it seems like you could spend your entire salary this year on excellent conferences in the design industry. There are a number of truly exceptional conferences coming up between now and the end of the year. I’ll show you some of my favorite events that are coming up in the design and type communities, talk about the speakers and their topics, and give you my take on the conference as a whole.

Future of Web Design

The Future of Web Design, a great web/UI/design conference

The Future of Web Design is a conference held in London that focuses on new web technologies. This conference features the conference and workshop model, so while you can see speakers in a larger setting for more general topics, you also have the opportunity for some more intensive workshops. This can be a great occasion to learn from the giants in the field. Among the topics are designing for iOS devices, designing for humans, and HTML5, and the Open Web.

Details

• Date: May 16-18
• Location: London
• Speakers: Sarah Parmenter, Dan Rubin, Jeff Veen, more.
• Cost: £714-834
• Student Rate: Sold Out
• Registration: site

Interlink Conference

Interlink Conference in Vancouver, Canada

Interlink Conference is a boutique conference run by Shawn Johnston in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. I’ve been really impressed by the conference schedule, given that it’s basically run by one person. The featured speakers are Meagan Fisher from Hoefler & Frère-Jones (as I’ve already conjectured, her presence almost certainly confirms the future of H&FJ webfonts), and Simon Collison, as well as a few other notables. This conference also runs on the conference-workshop model, and the list looks absolutely impeccable. This is the one conference I’ll be attending this year, both because it’s close to home, and beacuse of the amazing lineup and obvious care Shawn has taken to craft a progressive and exciting conference.

Details

• Date: June 2-4
• Location: Vancouver, BC
• Speakers: Meagan Fisher, Simon Collison, Dan Rubin, more.
• Cost: $350-500
• Student Rate: N/A
• Registration: site

Typecamp

Type Camp, the summer camp for font nerds

Typecamp has a pretty innovative model: gather a bunch of typography geeks together for a week, cook them gourmet meals featuring local ingredients, and talk about selecting typefaces, webfonts, and more. This camp is less of a conference and more of a week-long gathering designed to be extremely comprehensive. It has a more boutique feel than the most boutique conference. The advantage here is that you can get a great deal more individual attention. The goal of this camp seems less to be forums and networking, and more education and hands-on work. If you’re looking for more of an experience than a conference, this might be a great one to check out.

Details

• Date: June 12-17
• Location: San Louis Obispo, California
• Speakers: Stephen Coles, Tiffany Wardle (aka Typegirl), more.
• Cost: $2490
• Student Rate: N/A
• Registration: site

Ampersand Conference

Ampersand: The Web Typography Conference

Ampersand Conference, held in Brighton, UK, has a more specific focus than most conferences this year. A one day event, Ampersand Conference has narrowed its focus to web typography. It’s an excellent time for this conference, particularly because the excellent speaker list represents the future of web type. Notably, Jonathan Hoefler is speaking, and we all know what that means. Speaking topics include The Future of CSS Typography by John Daggett and More Meaningful Typography by Tim Brown. I particularly love that Tim Brown seems to be developing the theme he created with “More Perfect Typography,” his excellent presentation at the Build Conference last year. This conference promises to be the breeding ground for insightful conversation and brilliant ideas.

Details

• Date: June 17
• Location: Brighton, UK
• Speakers: Jonathan Hoefler, Tim Brown, Jon Tan, more.
• Cost: £125
• Student Rate: N/A
• Registration: site

Typecon

"I don't know, Matthew Carter. What do you think of this typeface?"

The preeminent type conference, Typecon boasts some of the most inspiring speakers from around the world. The speaker list and list of topics hasn’t yet been released, but you can bet it’ll be first rate. One of the most compelling things about Typecon is the organization that runs it: the Society of Typographic Aficionados. They’re the folks behind the Font Aid project, which speaks to their dedication both to the type community as well as to leveraging the design community to bring about social change. They’re an important group, and are responsible for the vanguard of typography. This conference is the place to be.

Details

• Date: July 5-10
• Location: New Orleans
• Speakers: TBA
• Cost: $310 / $265 for SOTA members (until April 30)
• Student Rate: $180 / $160 for SOTA members (until April 30)
• Registration: site

ATypI

The new Harpa Concert Hall on the old waterfront in Reykjavik city centre

Rejkavík is a gorgeous and international city, home to some of the most beautiful architecture—and people—in the world. It’s also home to the Association Typographic Internationale conference this year, a world-class event encompassing workshops, seminars, and presentations. The topics will range from type design to web typography. (As an aside, if Iceland seems a bit too exotic, Icelandair flies to Continental Europe from most of the Eastern US at pretty great rates with a stopover in Reykjavík. I wasn’t paid to say that.)

Final Thoughts