Patterns Day

Brighton, England

A one-day event for designers and developers focused on design systems, pattern libraries, style guides, and components.

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Speakers

Jeremy Keith

A smiling middle-aged white man with grey hair. Patterns Day Host

Jina Anne

A woman with long multi-coloured hair dressed in black, looking to the side. Design systems advocate

Débora Barreto Ornellas

A smiling woman with dark hair and glasses wearing a jumper. Senior Software Engineer

Yolijn van der Kolk

A curly-haired woman with glasses taking a selfie outdoors. Product Manager, NL Design System

Geri Reid

A smiling woman with shoulder-length dark hair. Design systems and accessibility consultant

Richard Rutter

A middle-aged man wearing a hoodie in front of a wall. Author of Web Typography

Samantha Fanning

A smiling red-haired woman wearing earrings indoors. Head of Digital Experience, UCL

Mary Godservant

A young woman wearing a necklace and dress smiling at the camera. Product Designer, Design Systems, FT

Vitaly Friedman

A shaven-headed bright-eyed man smirking against a dark background. Smart Interface Design Patterns

My name is Jeremy Keith from Clearleft. We’re the people behind Patterns Day and I’ll be your host.

Schedule

Registration.
Jeremy introduces the day.
Jina delivers the opening keynote.
Débora talks about the outcomes, lessons and challenges from using design tokens.
Break.
Yolijn talks about the relay method for design system governance.
Geri talks about her journey navigating accessibility in design systems.
Lunch.
Richard talks about responsive typography in design systems.
Samantha talks about getting buy-in for a design system.
Break.
Mary talks about transitioning from a single to a multi-brand design system.
Vitaly delivers the closing keynote.
Jeremy wraps up the day.
Have a drink and a geek pub quiz at the Hare And Hounds pub.

Patterns Day has something for everyone: designers, developers, content strategists, product owners, project managers …we all face the challenges of creating and maintaining robust design systems.

Spend a day in Brighton in the company of your peers, learning all about modular design and development processes, illustrated with case studies of all shapes and sizes.

Workshop

There’s a workshop with Vitaly Friedman on the day after Patterns Day. Places are limited so not everyone coming to Patterns Day will be able to attend.

Designing for complex UI

With Vitaly Friedman
A shaven-headed bright-eyed man smirking against a dark background.
68 Middle Street

Not much can surprise us when it comes to interface challenges. We can design a decent card, a well-rounded accordion, an accessible modal and an exquisite hamburger navigation. But what if there are slightly more complex UX challenges ahead of us?

Well, complex UI doesn’t have to be complicated. In this in-person workshop with Vitaly Friedman, UX consultant and creative lead behind Smashing Magazine, we’ll dive deep into dissecting how to solve complex design problems. Whether you’re working on a complex nested multi-level navigation or creating enterprise grade tables, this workshop will give you the tools you need to excel at your work.

The workshop includes:

  • 1500+ workshop slides with practical examples and action points
  • 100 checklist cards on everything from carousels to web forms
  • Editable checklists as text files to adjust for your needs
  • Access to the evergreen deck, updated regularly
  • Hands-on exercises and reviews
  • Dedicated Q&A time for all your questions

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is for interface designers, front-end designers and developers who’d love to be prepared for complex and time-consuming design challenges. You’ll walk away with a toolbox of techniques and examples of doing things well — in your product, website, desktop app or mobile app, be it a small mobile app or a large enterprise application.

When is the workshop happening?

This is a full-day workshop on Friday, March 8th 2024 — the day after Patterns Day.

It starts at 9am and finishes at 6pm.

The workshop is fully-catered. We’ll provide a healthy lunch, snacks, and refreshments.

Where is the workshop happening?

The workshop is at at 68 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL.

Venue

Attendees milling about outside the Duke of York's cinema during a break.

Patterns Day takes place in the beautiful Duke of York’s Picturehouse in Brighton. It’s a gorgeous venue — one of the UK’s oldest cinemas. You’ll be very comfy indeed.

Map. Duke of York’s Picturehouse, Preston Road, Brighton BN1 4NA

The venue is just a ten minute walk away from Brighton train station so if you’re coming down from London, it’s really handy.

There are plenty of hotel options close by.

Accessibility

The ground floor of the Duke Of York’s is accessible to customers with limited mobility including wheelchair users. The access toilet and auditorium are located on the ground floor. There are four wheelchair spaces in the auditorium. From the foyer there is a small ramp from which to access the auditorium.

We can reserve wheelchair spaces or seats in any particular part of the auditorium if this is helpful. Just let us know ahead of time.

Guide dogs are welcome. If you want to bring your dog, let us know so that we can reserve an aisle seat for you. The Duke Of York’s staff will be happy to provide drinking water for your dog.

Workshop venue

If you’ve also bought a ticket to the workshop with Vitaly Friedman the day after Patterns Day, note that it’s happening at 68 Middle Street.

Map. 68 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL

Previously

The first Patterns Day was held in the summer of 2017. It was glorious! So we did it again in 2019.

You can watch the videos of all the talks.

Sareh Heidari. Alice Bartlett. Rachel Andrew. Conference speakers in the first row listening to the talks. Attendees listening in rapt attention. Looking from the balcony at the audience and the stage during a talk. The interior of the cinema is plush with a retro vintage vibe.
Photos from the first Patterns Day in 2017.
Amy Hupe. Inayaili de León Persson. Heydon Pickering. Una Kravets. Alla Kholmatova. Jeremy Keith.
Speakers on stage at Patterns Day 2 in 2019

Sponsors

Supernova is a comprehensive design system platform that empowers companies to effectively manage, scale, and distribute their design systems. With its end-to-end approach, Supernova streamlines the entire design system process, from design to code, documentation, and automated delivery.

By consolidating all aspects of a design system in one platform and integrating with popular tools like Figma and Storybook, teams can save resources, drive adoption, and empower their existing workflow.

Etch makes problem-solving software that's built to last. Since 2012, they've helped dozens of brands to design and scale services for millions of people. They work with teams to create interfaces that are user-friendly, fast-loading, and accessible.

zeroheight helps teams to create, manage, and maintain their design systems. Beyond our exceptional product, we also curate valuable industry insights, such as our 2024 “How We Document” report—a comprehensive state of the industry forged from the experiences of hundreds of professionals, just like you. The data is meticulously analyzed to provide year-on-year comparisons and insights, enabling you to benchmark your team’s progress, enhance workflows, and stay ahead of the curve.

Code of Conduct

Patterns Day is an inclusive event based on treating all individuals respectfully, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or software preferences. So please don’t be nasty or mean. Be nice. Be considerate. Be civil. It’s easy.

If you are harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of conference staff. Or if you spot me, Jeremy Keith (I’ll be the one introducing the speakers), please don’t hesitate to grab me. If you can’t immediately spot me or a Patterns Day volunteer, please speak to a member of the Duke Of York’s staff and they’ll be able to get hold of me quickly.

You can phone or text me on 07792 069292 but if I’m not responding, Louise Ash will be at the front of house, so if you can’t get hold of me, please speak to her.

Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

If we ask a participant to stop any harassing behavior, they must immediately comply. If a participant engages in any of the aforementioned behavior, we may take any action we deem appropriate, from warning the offender to immediately expelling the offender from Patterns Day with no refund.

This code of conduct is based on confcodeofconduct.com, licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.