beyond tellerrand – Düsseldorf 2025

Vitaly loves beautiful content and does not give up easily. Born in Minsk, Belarus, he studied computer science and mathematics in Germany. While writing algebra proofs and preparing for software engineering at nights in the kitchen, at the same time he discovered passion for typography, interface design and writing. After working as a freelance designer and developer for 6 years, he co-founded Smashing Magazine back in 2006, a leading online magazine for designers and developers. His curiosity drove him from interface design to front-end to performance optimization to accessibility and back to user experience over all the years. Vitaly is the author, co-author and editor of Smashing books, and a curator of Smashing Conferences. He is creative lead of Smashing Magazine and front-end/UX consultant with the European Parliament and Smashing Media, in Europe and abroad, working with Haufe-Lexware, Axel-Springer and a few other companies. He also runs Measure UX and Smart Interface Design Patterns, friendly video libraries on UX and design patterns, along with a live UX training for UX and product designers. Oh, and surely you don’t want to miss his full-day workshop at beyond tellerrand titled “Designing For Complex UIs In 2025”.

Inclusive Design Patterns: From Gen-Z To to Aging Audiences
When designing for a specific user group, we often tend to generalise, following assumptions, biases and stereotypes. So how do we design effectively to invite a use group and broaden our user base? How do we design for children and teenagers? How do we adjust our content and design for Gen-Z? What should we keep in mind for older adults? And what about people who have to make critical decisions under stress and time pressure? How should our products adapt for people who are deaf, autistic and neurodivergent? In this session, Vitaly dives into practical design patterns to design better — and help everyone get their tasks done better and faster. With plenty of real-life examples and UX guidelines that you can apply to your work right away.

Gavin Strange is a Director and Designer for the UK’s beloved creative studio Aardman. Working there for over sixteen years, Gavin’s creative output ranges from title sequences to channel idents, short films to Christmas ads and everything in-between. His work is diverse in nature but all held together of a common thread of fun and high energy. By night he goes under the alias of “Jamfactory”, indulging in all manner of passion projects, from filmmaking to illustration, music to photography. Gavin is a keynote speaker and has spoken around the world, from Mexico to Manchester, the Middle East to Munich. After speaking at the Do Lectures in 2016, he wrote the book “Do Fly”, a motivational mantra published by The Do Book Company.

Less Thinkering More Tinkering
A neon-soaked passion-filled presentation of all things creativity, trying to strike the elusive balance between uncurbed enthusiasm and pragmatic process. Director & Designer Gavin Strange plots his creative journey through his time in the design and film industry– picking it apart and extracting the lessons and learnings from it all. It’s loud, silly, and hopefully energising. The aim of the game is to convince YOU to make more of the stuff that makes YOUR heart sing.

Léonie is a Director of TetraLogical; Chair of the W3C Board of Directors, and co-Chair of the W3C Web Applications Working Group. She's also co-organiser of the Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) conference; and co-author of the Inclusive Design Principles and the Do No Harm Guide: Centering accessibility in data visualisation.

There Is No Spoon
Generative AI can feel astonishingly real, but like the spoon in The Matrix, it is nothing more than an illusion—patterns of probability masquerading as truth. Just like Neo had to bend his mind to see beyond the illusion, we must recognise that AI does not understand, reason, or perceive reality; it just generates plausible facsimiles. This talk will explore the relationship between humans and generative AI, particularly in the realm of accessibility, where accuracy, clarity, and real-world impact are critical. We’ll examine the risks and limitations, but also the extraordinary potent

Amber Case studies the interactions between humans and technology, and how technology affects culture. Case is an internationally recognised design advocate and speaker, and the author of four books, including Calm Technology and A Kids Book About Technology. She spent two years as a fellow at MIT’s Center for Civic Media and Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and was a 2021 Mozilla Fellow. Named one of Inc. Magazine’s 30 under 30 and Fast Company’s Most Influential Women in Technology, she was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in 2012 and received the Claude Shannon Innovation Award from Bell Labs. She was the co-founder and CEO of Geoloqi, a location-based software company acquired by Esri. Case is the founder of The Calm Tech Institute, a foundation that exists to establish new standards for designing harmonious human-tech interactions that improve our lives. She works on design, governance, and AI through her position as a Research Director at the Metagovernance Project.

Designing Calm Technology
In a world where attention is our scarcest resource, how do we create technology that enhances rather than disrupts our lives? This talk explores the principles of calm technology – a design philosophy where devices know when to step forward and when to fade into the background. Drawing from historical concepts and modern challenges, we’ll examine practical approaches to designing technology that respects human attention while maintaining its utility. Attendees will learn strategies for creating products that strike the right balance between automation and human agency, ensuring technology fulfils its original promise of augmenting our capabilities without demanding constant engagement.

Brendan Dawes is a British artist and designer renowned for his playful yet thought-provoking explorations of data, technology, and everyday objects. Rooted in the ethos of remix culture, Dawes’s code-based work often re-contextualises existing materials to examine how people experience the physical and digital worlds. By blending code, found objects, and tactile interfaces, he creates works that invite audiences to consider the poetry hidden in mundane moments and the hidden structures within complex data. Exhibited globally, his acclaimed piece Cinema Redux is part of MoMA’s permanent collection, whilst his works have been auctioned at both Sotheby's and Christie's. In 2024 he collaborated with American film maker Gary Hustwit to make the world’s first generative film, about the musician, producer and artist Brian Eno. The film, titled Eno, is unique every time it is viewed, with 52 quintillion possible versions. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024 and was later shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A Lumen Prize alumnus, he is a Visiting Professor of Computational Art at Manchester Metropolitan University and is represented by Gazelli Art House, London.

Certain Irregularities
Brendan Dawes, a UK-based artist renowned for his innovative use of generative processes, explores the intersection of data, machine learning, and algorithms to craft interactive installations and abstract environments. In this talk, Dawes will delve into his creative journey, illustrating how he transforms everyday data into thought-provoking art. He will discuss the balance between control and chance in generative systems, the importance of embracing imperfections, and the role of curiosity in the creative process. Attendees will gain insights into how data can serve as a rich material for storytelling and how generative art can evoke emotional connections.

Gustavo Ferrari is a sign painter, visual artist and a historian based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has been working since 2001 and specialising in Fileteado, a traditional popular art style from Buenos Aires. His artworks can be found all over the city, painted signboards, shop windows of the traditional restaurants, Remarkable Bars, barber and tattoo shops. In the last decade he has started showcasing the Fileteado style around the world. He has since done this at Letterheads meets, tango festivals and various design events in the USA, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Fileteado Art – Traditional Letters and Colours of Argentina
In this talk you will be introduced to the Fileteado Porteño, a traditional sign painting style from Argentina. It has started as a decoration of the street carts more than 100 years ago and nowadays it got its recognition and was declared as a World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO. It is a colourful scrollwork and its 3D-style letters became a trademark for Argentina and its capital city, Buenos Aires.

Martina Flor is an award-winning Lettering Artist, Author, and Educator. In 2010, she moved from South America to Berlin and successfully launched her studio for lettering and custom typography. Since then she has worked with several high-profile clients, been on stage at dozens of design conferences, written books, won awards, and taught thousands of aspiring freelance lettering designers to hone their craft, become hand-lettering masters, and expand their business. With her unique approach to both teaching and lettering design, Martina has impacted the work and businesses of thousands of brands and creatives all over the world. Over 100,000 people have used her books, courses, tools, and coaching to master hand lettering and make a living with their creative skills. She is a passionate speaker and author who loves what she does and enjoys sharing what she knows with the community.

The Art & Business of Lettering Design
In this educational and engaging session, award-winning lettering artist, author, and TEDx speaker Martina Flor takes you on an inspiring journey through both the creative and commercial sides of lettering design. Martina unpacks what it truly takes to create outstanding letterforms – from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to developing a distinctive visual voice. But creating beautiful work is only part of the equation. She also shares her personal journey from freelance designer to internationally recognised leader in her field, revealing how focusing on a niche craft—drawing letterforms—led to global collaborations, bestselling books, and a sustainable, purpose-driven business. Whether you’re a graphic designer, illustrator, or creative entrepreneur, this talk will invite you to rethink your work –and what’s possible when you combine craft with vision.

Matthias is an independent user experience designer and web design engineer. He teaches interface prototyping at Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design and runs workshops on modern web design, design engineering, and prototyping. He writes Own Your Web, a newsletter about personal websites, and blogs about design, development, CSS, the open web, and more on matthiasott.com.

Painting With the Web
Today’s Web is more complex, unpredictable, dynamic, and powerful than ever. Yet, 25 years after “A Dao of Web Design” we still approach building for the Web with a mindset of control, using linear workflows and static design tools that often don’t reflect the Web’s true nature and potential. The canvas we work on has transformed, the materials we use have changed. Together, we’ll explore how we can use web design engineering to start painting with the Web and create designs that are resilient, accessible, and true to the Web’s greatest strength: its inherent flexibility.