Neon Monday #233 — The 23 of 2023

Welcome to Issue 233!Happy New Year! I hope you had an excellent holiday season and New Year celebration.

Currently, there are 100+ conferences and events announced that focus on digital and print design. Topics go from all things web to motion design and from graphic design to sound design, animation to typography. Bringing together the global community of designers, artists, developers, professionals, and students. All events are curated to provide you an epic experience. By offering you the opportunity to learn about new techniques, network with peers, and stay up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies. From my database, I've selected 23 conferences that create epic experiences for the global design community. I've ordered the list by the start date.

23 events to attend this year

1. Graphika Manila, February 11 - 12, Manilla 🇵🇭 — Graphika is the creativity conference in the Philippines, hailed as one of the most influential events on design in Asia. With a mix of local talent and the world's best creative minds, every year Graphika brings a strong showcase of the contemporary visual world.

2. South by South West, March 10 - 19, Austin 🇺🇸 — SXSW Interactive covers all aspects of design, 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.

3. OFFF Barcelona, March 23-25, Barcelona 🇪🇸 — Born as a post-digital culture festival, now feeding the future through a 3-day design conference, workshops, and performances by the most relevant artists of our time. OFFF hosts innovative and international talents to share their insightful experiences. It’s one of the key meeting points for all talents around the world to unite and collaborate. (link)

4. Post Design Tangle, April 14 - 15, Copenhagen 🇩🇰 — POST is a platform working to challenge the place of visual culture and communication in society while addressing the ethics of design, the politics of image-making, and the unknowns of our creative futures. In four chapters, the festival takes us deep into the theme of “entanglement,” where they will unravel the intersections, interconnections, and invisible strings that give shape to our visual and political surroundings. The third chapter, communication, takes place April 14 - 15 in central Copenhagen, Denmark. Bringing together wildly inspiring designers and an artists' collective for two intense days. (link)

5. beyond tellerrand, April 17-18, Dusseldorf 🇩🇪 — beyond tellerrand brings you 2 days of code, creativity, inspiration and networking, plus side events around the core conference. The best part of beyond tellerrand are the nice people on stage and in the audience. You are guaranteed to have a fantastic time. This year, the documentary about host Marc Thiele will premiere at the event. (link)

6. The Art Department, April 20-21, Eindhoven 🇳🇱 — The Art Department focuses on concept art and design for film, animation, and games. At The Art Department, you'll dive into the process of creation, and the festival spotlights the artists responsible for designing worlds, characters, and stories of some of the world's greatest productions. (link). The Art Department is also in Berlin

7. Dehache festival, April 20-21, Querétaro 🇲🇽 — Dehache festival began as a project to gather friends, a small auditorium. 23 years later, the graphic design congress "dejando huella" or "dh" has consolidated as one of the most important events on creativity in Mexico.

8. Mouvo, April 21-22, Prague 🇨🇿 — Mouvo, a combination of Mouches Volantes, is a two-day festival presenting motion design in all of its forms. The program shows the dynamic field of motion design, combining graphic design, animation, video, special effects, and new technologies. Mouvo focuses on the entertaining aspects of motion design. Games, TV shows, music videos, live performances, and also how to design by playing and having fun.

9. c/o pop, April 27-28, Cologne 🇩🇪 — Once a year, the c/o pop festival transforms Cologne into an urban music mecca, bringing newcomers, star acts, or insider tips to Cologne's most beautiful stages. The c/o pop Convention 2023 in Cologne is the first industry gathering of the year for the music industry and cooperating industries such as digital business and media. In keynotes, panels and workshops, we take a practical look at the future of the music world. The conference is for everyone who wants to start the season with new contacts, ideas, and opportunities. This year c/o pop celebrates its 20th anniversary.

10. NEW 👉 Proof of conference, May 11-13, Los Angels 🇺🇸 — A web3 celebration of art, culture, community, and technology.

11. NEW 👉 All flows, May 12-13, Milton Keynes 🇬🇧 — All Flows is a new two-day, creative, digital, and technology conference. With speakers like Jennifer Estaris, Gavin Strange, Eva Cremers, and many others.

12. Smashing Conf SF, May 23-26, San Francisco🇺🇸 — Friendly, inclusive event focused on front-end and UX but they also cover everything web, be it UI design or machine learning.

13. DesignThinkers, May 31 - June 1, Vancouver 🇨🇦 — DesignThinkers, Canada's largest annual graphic design conference. DesignThinkers 2023 will take place in person in Vancouver with the theme of "Question Tomorrow." The design community will explore the many ways that design questions tomorrow. Whether it’s the democratization of tools, constantly evolving technologies, A.I. generated content, or the uncompromising vision of a new world by younger generations – the world of design is in rapid flux. This leaves us all with endless questions about the future. Progress is only ever threatening those afraid to ask the right questions and embrace more than one answer. Question. Tomorrow.

14. Five Talks Type, June 1, Arnhem 🇳🇱 — At Five Talks Type, five leading speakers take you to the wonderful world of typography. June first will be the place for five dazzling talks on graphics in motion supported by a delicious lunch and a glitzy quiz. Let's slap on some Motion Lotion! Note that most talks will be in Dutch.

15. By Design Conference, June 10-11, Bratislava 🇸🇰— This international multidisciplinary conference focused on design and business. By Design Conference brings together the world's most successful designers to share their personal experiences and pragmatic insights on how to put theory into action.

16. Do Wales, July 11-14, Wales 🇬🇧 — The idea is simple. To gather together the world’s DOers, disruptors and changemakers, have them share their hearts and stories and encourage others to go and DO great things to.

17. The Conference, August 29-30, Malmo 🇸🇪 – The Conference is a two-day conference where curious minds from all over the world meet to delve further into the promises and pitfalls of digital development and the human and machine relationship. Over two days The Conference explores the complexity of systems. The micro and macro of it all. Societal changes. Niche trends. Human behavior. Art and culture. The future and the past. Stuff like that. The sessions are carefully curated to help you connect the dots between the widespread topics. Speakers, programs, and side events will be announced continuously during Spring.

18. Forward Festival, September 14-15, Berlin 🇩🇪 — This will be the third installment of Forward in Berlin, one of our user's favorites of 2022. A festival gathering around a conference with the best international and local personalities who provide insight and success stories. Accompanied by a saucerful of side events with workshops, live art, and networking sessions.

19. Brand New Conference, September 21-22, Chicago 🇺🇸 — Brand New Conference is a two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world.

20. Design Matters, September 28-29, Copenhagen 🇩🇰 — This Copenhagen-based event gathers a community of people passionate about digital design, technology, art, and our societies. The program of the event is expected to include many talks, workshops, and so much more!

21. Hatch Conference, October 5-6, Berlin 🇩🇪 — An invite-only event for seniors, leads, and managers in the UX, UXR, and Product Design fields. You have to apply for a ticket.

22. Blend, October 5-6, Rotterdam 🇳🇱 — Playgrounds Blend is a catwalk of inspiring, progressive and innovative makers. Artists known for stretching outside of a genre and mashing things up take over our stage. With Blend, Playgrounds aim to signal new trends and developments in the industry and to connect visual art with other genres.

23. Blanc!, October 19-21, Barcelona 🇪🇸 — Blanc! is a design festival with a focus on emerging talent and recognition of the great masters and pioneers of design. But it's much more than conferences, masterclasses, product stands, and exhibitions. This three-day event also features a live rock band, other unique performances, and activities focusing on design and creativity; both emphasizing emerging talent and recognizing the great masters and pioneers of design.

Which conference are you attending?

If you plan to attend any of the mentioned conferences and have a question, drop me a line. I am happy to help you. And if you want to share your experience send an email, submit[at]neonmoire.com.

Quick tip on how to decide where to go?

When I attend a conference, I consider the speaker line-up, travel time, city, ticket price, the event’s track record, and don’t forget the attendee list. I also check if there are any interesting workshops or network events, before, during, or after the conference. A bonus for me is attending locally organized side events and exciting exhibitions or tourist attractions to visit.

Want all events from our database in your personal calendar? That is possible. I made a calendar file (.ical) that contains all upcoming events for 2023. It's only €5,99 and you can buy it at ko-fi.com/thomasdahm/shop.

2023 Wall Planner

Just before Christmas, Valerie aka Madame Robot asked me if I could update my 2022 Wall Planner for 2023. Of course, I could. My useful wall planner for 2023, giclée-printed in black or blue on thick and durable matte, easy to write on, paper. It measures 700x1000mm, and the paperweight is 189g/m² with a paper thickness of 0.26 mm. The planner ships flat, within 5 workdays.

Organize an event?

Are you or do you have a friend/colleague who organizes a workshop, field trip, meet-up, festival, or conference and it’s a good fit for Neon Moiré? You are invited to add the upcoming event to our event guide.❤️

If this issue of Neon Monday inspired you, share it with a friend, and you want to help me make more like it, buy me a coffee or sponsor this newsletter to get your message in front of 2.5K+ creators.

Find your next experience on Neon Moiré

Thomas ✌️