Are you sick of your web apps looking like they were put together in the late 90s? Are your animated logos and rainbow borders not getting the reaction you hoped? Is it possible for you to break the myth that developers can’t design?



At our next meetup, we’ll be hearing from some of the most creative people in Australia, they know the mistakes you make every day, and they’re going to spill their secrets so you can take your web apps to the next level.



Stuff Designers Don't Want You to Know



Samantha Thebridge @samthebridge (https://twitter.com/samthebridge)



Why does bad design happen to good code? Great design starts with learning how to see. Sam will take you through some basic design principles that will make your apps look infinitely more polished. Whether you work with a design team or you're a weekend hacker using Bootstrap or other libraries and frameworks, this will ensure what you ship looks slick.



About Sam



Sam’s been an interaction and visual interface designer since 1997, and has designed web apps for Qantas, Panasonic, Telstra, YHA, BigPond and JIRA for companies like Red Square, Boomworks, Wax, Atlassian, Westpac and now Cochlear. Samantha's passion is enabling development teams both client-side and agency-side to take a more active role in the design process.



The Power of One. Responsive design workflow for David OR Goliath



David Rennie @reactive (https://twitter.com/reactive)



In the world of Digital Design there are many different ways to work, design philosophies and skill sets. Davy has worked with different types of CD’s, AM’s , CFO’s and too many other abbreviations to remember.



But most importantly, he has worked in 2 very different fashions;



Number One: In a small design agency not specifically digital centric, as Senior Digital Designer, but the exact title would have been ‘Senior Digital Designer Front End/Back End/Flash Developer Artworker’. A role that gives you complete control from the initial strategy briefing right through to delivery only restricted by ability to ask Google the right questions.



Number Two: In a large, awards winning, digital centric agency, as Senior Designer, that’s it. A role that has an embarrassment of resources from brilliant front end developers, to ‘Jedi level’ Solutions architects. The only restrictions being timings and budgets.



So which way is better? Tough call.



Here’s a good example, mobile responsive design projects, the way the industry is going, everyone is talking responsive design. And why not it’s awesome. But, what can you do with your skillset, how can you maximise your potential and deliver great digital experiences. What do you need to know when you are working in these two gloriously different environments, how can you do it all, how can you work in a big team?



Davy will try and shine some light on both, what you need to do it on your own, what tools, tricks and tips helped him when he was a ‘Jack of all Trades’ and how that has given him the right tools to create even richer projects now with the help of his team of geniuses and gurus.



About Davy



Davy has been in Australia for almost 8 years now, stepping into his first role as ‘Multi-Media Designer’ at Bang Australia. Cutting his teeth in that role he specialised in web and conceptual design with a mixture of FED and DEV thrown in for good measure. He quickly became infatuated by the revolution of responsive web design and how much of an impact that was having, had and would have on the industry as we know it.



In 2012 he moved from Bang to Reactive, as Senior designer at the agency, working on a plethora of exciting projects.



Check out some of Reactive’s work at: reactive.com (http://www.reactive.com)



How to fake a UX team in 5 minutes



Dan Johnston @thelastbean (https://twitter.com/thelastbean)



Or the who, what, why, how and eh? that can save you a heap of pain before a line of code is written. It's like a cheat sheet for the pre-build fluffy stuff.



About Dan



Previous lives in Biotech and Medical Informatics didn't prepare Dan for the vagaries of human nature that UX designers frequently encounter. Who would have thought a giant button with 'Upload logo' would not be clear to users?



After years agency side, Dan is now Senior UX designer at Bigcommerce, spending his day asking users questions and then drawing boxes. Really.



The importance of design for developers in 5 minutes



Julio Ody @julio_ody (https://twitter.com/julio_ody)



A few game-changing things that knowing design brings to the table.



About Julio



Julio is an independent developer / designer based in Sydney.