March 16th, 2006
That was SXSWi 2006
I really don’t know where to start writing this post. There’s been so much that’s happened over the past few days, it’s really hard to encapsulate it all in a blog post.
I’ll give it a go though.
Following the Traditional design and New technology panel on Saturday, I kind of hung around with the nice chaps from Philly enjoying, not only the company, but the good restaraunts in Austin. Talk was, as you might expect, centred around the panels, the event and design in general. That’s the one thing that struck me compared to when I attended a couple of years ago; the socialising.
SXSWi 2004
When I attended in 2004, jetlag absolutely floored me. I’d be getting maybe three hours sleep a night, getting up in the morning at about 5am following lying there wide-eyed from 2am. As such, I didn’t really attend any of the parties. This year was very different though. As I’m writing this, I’m glad I’m leaving because I couldn’t really go out any more than I have in the past few days. Maybe I’m getting old, but there only so many loud, dark clubs and free beer a man can take.
I don’t really want to compare this year’s event to last time I came in 2004, but I can’t help it. This year was big. I mean, there were a lot of people in Austin this year. Busy panels, busy hallways and even busier bars. Don’t get me wrong, I like a buzz at an event, and nothing quite tops SXSW (yet), but for me, this year I felt like SXSW had put on a lot of weight and there weren’t many notches left on the belt.
The people
There are just too many people to mention here, so I won’t. If I met you, it was a pleasure. If I didn’t, maybe there’s next time.
Two days in Philly
Following SXSW in Austin, I’m spending two days in Philadelphia at the UIE Usability Roadshow. Sounds like it could be good fun. The part about Philly I’m most looking forward to however is Cheese Steaks and running up those steps Rocky did (Jason and Rob did promise they’d ditch, er, take me). Then it’s back on the plane on Friday afternoon for the flight to London, then the train to Cardiff.
It’s been cool being away, but I’m missing the wife and the creature comforts of home. Plus, the washing machine is on the blink and Emma’s going nuts with the computers in my absence. It’ll be good to be back.
It was a pleasure meeting you too. Great panel, great conversations, great parties. See you next year!
Erm… the last time you were at SXSW in 04, I kept saying “Let’s go here, let’s go there” — but like you say, the jetlag killed you.
The parties were there for the taking, if you wanted it. Of course, we didn’t know a soul at SXSW 2004. Being a uber-important panellist probably helps in getting to know people. ;-)
PS: Gissa job!
I know, I know. The Jetlag killed me this year too — to the point where I just couldn’t go to hardly any panels on the last day. I guess I’m just a soft northern jessie who likes sleep.
Mark, I’m glad you had fun and it was great to meet and eat (on several occassions) with you.
I believe we will all be doing that again this evening in Philly if I’m not mistaken?
I saw your panel, and I’ll admit to feeling frustrated that you guys didn’t have time to really address what I thought was a legitimate criticism of the theme of it: if “emotional responses” to sites are a real goal of design, how do we reconcile ugly, ugly sites like ebay and MySpace with the obviously strong emotional reactions to them? Does “traditional design” still matter in these cases, or is something else going on? Is “authenticity” more important than usability, style, beauty, elegance, and all the rest?
I’d really like to hear your thoughts outside of the five-minutes-on-the-microphone format of SXSW.
I was pretty pissed when our plane was delayed out of Austin but the chance it gave us (You, Eric, Dave, and myself) to hang out for an hour was worth it.
I too would like to hear more from you on the emotion response to a site and the role of design. As Andrew noted, ugly ugly sites seem to place design on the back burner and rely on content for driving the emotion response. (though not saying myspace has *good* content…)
He makes me sound like such a technophobe ;0) I’m actually looking forward to getting some meals cooked for me too Mr B!!
It was a pleasure to share a narrow airplane row with you. Unfortunately, my voice was shot and I was austinlagged ;-) If you make it out to Austin in 2007, the first round is on me and we can chat about typography and luchas and whatever else comes to mind.
have a good one
Thomas
Andrew: I’m hoping to get together some post panel thoughts on the subject matter. There’s a lot buzzing around in my head that I could do with clarifying and get out there for discussion. I’ll gather my thoughts and then wade into it in the coming months no doubt.
Got a holiday to Oz to arrange first though!
Mark,
It was great to meeting you.
Again excellent job on your panel. I think you guys tackled one of the biggest topics in our industry. Over the next couple of years I think this topic will be revisited on a constant basis.
For now it’s time to get back to post-sxsw life where unfortunately long days aren’t followed by open bar parties…