Web Design in Focus: Join us for an in-depth look at creating original websites

Web design has often (and unfairly) been given less airtime than other more traditional forms of design. Yet it’s no great revelation to say that some of the most accomplished and creative designers in the world make the majority of their work in website form. To help redress the balance, we’ve teamed up with Wix Playground to bring you a new, completely free online event celebrating some of the talented designers pushing the boundaries of what a website can be and exploring what’s possible when technology and design are pushed to their limits.

For this event, taking place on Thursday 5 November at 18:15 – 19:30 GMT, we’ve called upon some of the world’s top designers and creative thinkers to talk us through their work and share some insights into their creative processes. The line-up is truly global, featuring Adam Rodgers and Stefan Endress from experience-design studio International Magic; Kenjiro Kirton from London’s Hato Studio; the creative coder and designer Yehwan Song, who will be dialling in from Seoul; and Hamish Smyth, the founder of Order in New York. (Scroll down to read more about them and their amazing work.)

These designers will each give a quick introduction to their creative careers and how they got where they are, and then will dive into one or two specific web-design projects, explaining how they came up with the idea, turned it into a reality, and overcame any challenges along the way. After each talk, there will be a short Q&A hosted by It’s Nice That’s editor-in-chief Matt Alagiah, and those in the audience will be encouraged to submit their own questions to our speakers.

And if you want an even more in-depth conversation with any of the designers, we will then also be offering up a few exclusive “meet the speaker” slots following the live event. Anyone can apply for these one-on-one video calls and you can use this time to talk through your portfolio and get some valuable feedback, or to ask for help with a particularly challenging brief, or anything else you want to discuss. These 30-minute sessions will take place at a later date (Thursday 19 November) and we’ll be letting you know how to apply for a slot in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out!

The live event Web Design in Focus will take place Thursday 5 November at 18:15 – 19:30 GMT (13:15 – 14:30 Eastern; 19:15 – 20.30 CET). To pick up your free ticket, please click the button below and sign up.

International Magic

We picked this studio, run by Adam Rodgers and Stefan Endress, as one of our Ones to Watch back in 2017. And they certainly haven’t disappointed. It’s been tricky to keep up with International Magic, as they’ve gone from building websites and digital experiences for clients across the cultural sphere (including Somerset House and Superimpose) to creating their very own digital product, Dekks. At Web Design in Focus, Adam and Stefan will be focusing mainly on their sharp website design for the Berlin-based fashion and culture magazine 032C, which perfectly matches the style and aesthetic of the printed publication.

Hato

With offices in London and Hong Kong, Hato is an international studio centred on playful learning and experimentation. It also runs a Risograph studio, Hato Press. Its projects aim to engage and collaborate with the communities they serve, whether that’s a local neighbourhood or a global brand. Take, for example, its site for London restaurant Sketch. Briefed to simplify the booking process while communicating Sketch’s adventurous spirit, Hato developed a website that translates each of the five unique dining spaces into digital experiences and whets the appetite for a trip without spoiling any of the surprises. Hato’s co-founder and creative director Kenjiro Kirton will be joining us at Web Design in Focus to discuss this project in detail.

Yehwan Song

When we spoke to Yehwan back in February, the creative coder and designer explained how she brings a graphic design sensibility to her web-design practice. “If you think about good general graphic design, it’s more focused on the content,” she said. “I think that it’s kind of ignored in the web world, and technology especially, because people are more focused on technique and just making the users’ lives easy. I’m more focused on, ‘How can I make things more content-based?’” She, therefore, approaches creative coding in a really playful way, with a fundamental aim to make people see websites in a different way and to challenge the identikit uniformity of many websites today. Yehwan will be dialling in from Seoul to talk us through her creative approach and referencing a couple of website-focused projects.

Order

Founded by Hamish Smyth and Jesse Reed, Order is a design office specialising in brand identity, with a rigorous, research-based and systematic approach. They’re arguably best known for their rebrands of MoMA, Floyd and Kickstarter. Based in New York, its founders also run Standards Manual, an independent publishing imprint that has published, among other things, comprehensive books on Nasa’s standards manual and the design systems through the ages of the US National Park Service. Joining us for Web Design in Focus, Hamish will be focusing on a related project – Standards, a new way for designers to create brand guidelines for branding clients.