Best Design Conferences You Can’t Miss in 2022
One of the best things about being a part of the design community is that most designers love to exchange ideas, spread knowledge, and share their experiences regardless of their seniority level. You can be a starting designer or an established thought leader and it’s almost a given that you find a conference that may teach you something new.
What’s also great about UX conferences is that not all of them target the UX/UI community, but the people who work with them on a daily basis, which helps designers get a seat at the table and increases awareness about the importance of design. Product managers, developers and other professionals who work closely with design can find an event for themselves.
Let’s see upcoming design conferences that you should definitely add to your calendar.
January 2022 Conferences
The first month of the year has two interesting conferences. The first one is QRCA which runs annually. Then, there’s a UXDX community event that’s open for all.
QRCA 2022 Annual Conference [Hybrid]
QRCA stands for Qualitative Research Consultants Association. The conference focuses on qualitative research. It covers research methods, tools, and lessons from experts in the field. QRCA 2022 itheme is “REimage REsearch.”
Date: Jan 12-13; Jan 18-21, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & San DiegoAudience: UX researchers, marketing researchersCommon topics: qualitative research, research methods, research tools
Defending Your Design System [Webinar]
We invited Carola Cassaro to tell you more about defending design systems. Carola helped IKEA implement their design system and establish a design operations practice. She will tell you how to get stakeholder buy-in for design systems.
Date: Jan 18, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designersCommon topics: design system, leadership, DesignOps
UXDX Community USA WEST
UXDX is a popular conference for UX designers, developers and product people around the world. Usually the talks are centered around building better products, from ideation to execution.
Date: Jan 27, 2022Free: YesWhere: VirtualAudience: UX designers, UX researchers, developers and product managersCommon topics: product direction, scaling design, validation, product growthHighlighted sessions: Changying ‘Z’ Zhang “Building DesignOps As A Team Of 1.”
Related content: DesignOps 101 ebook
February 2022 Conferences
What about the second month of the year? We’ve found a couple of conferences that may catch your eye. Let’s see them.
Product World
It advertises itself as the world’s largest product manager and product developer conference, and it’s lineup is truly impressive.
Date: Feb 2-4, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: product management, product growth, product workflow
UX360 Research Summit
Are you a UX researcher? This conference might be for you. You’ll learn more about gaining a stakeholder buy-in for research, influencing product management and new approaches to UX research.
Date: Feb 8-9, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: UX researchers, UX designersCommon topics: research for accessibility, career, leadership
ProductCon
Organized by Product School, ProductCon is a 1-day conference for product people who want to learn more about managing products and the future of product management.
Date: Feb 15, 2022Free: Yes (for Early Birds)Where: VirtualAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: leadership, future of product management, product workflow
Dave Malouf’s webinar about DesignOps [Webinar]
Dave Malouf is “the” person you think about when you hear the word “DesignOps.” In our 1-hour long webinar, he will tell you everything you need to know about DesignOps.
Date: Feb 17, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designersCommon topics: design system, leadership, DesignOps
Experience Design Conference
The conference is devoted to human-centered design and sharing best practices coming from the Experience Design industry leaders.
Date: Feb 29 – Mar 3, 2022Free: NoWhere: DenverAudience: UX designers, UI designers, product designersCommon topics: UX, product management, human-centered design, design thinking
March 2022 Conferences
March is going to be an exciting month for those of you who love tuning in for virtual conferences.
Interaction Week 22
This interaction design conference has been running quite some time. It is still waiting for submissions, so we can say for sure what its lineup will be like. This year’s theme is “One year on, what have we learned?”
Date: Mar 2-4, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: UX designers, UI designers, researchersCommon topics: UX, human-centered design, interaction design
Advancing Research
Another interesting conference for researchers. This one is organized by none other than Rosenfeld Media, a famous publisher. It is still calling for speakers.
Date: Mar 9-11, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: UX researchersCommon topics: research operations, DesignOps
Design Research by UX Australia [Hybrid]
A great conference for anyone who’s engaged in doing research before design work. The conference is still accepting submissions.
Date: Mar 16-18, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & On-site TBDAudience: UX researchers, product managers, product designersCommon topics: research operations, leadership, research methods, research tools
Design Matters Pop-up
A pop-up event hosted by a world-renowned conference, Design Matters. It’s theme is “Design a Sustainable Future,” and it will pose a question, “how to design for a sustainable consumption behavior?”
Date: Mar 23, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: UX researchers, product managers, product designersCommon topics: design sustainability, design process, leadership
UX Copenhagen
A global event that brings together people from around the globe. The theme for this year’s conference is “Creating a Culture Change” which pertains to empowerment and leadership in the UX design field.
Date: Mar 28-29, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: UX designers, UX researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, leadership, career
UXDX USA 2022 [Hybrid]
A hybrid event that takes place in New York and online at the same time. It’s mission is to bridge the gap between Product, UX, Design and Development.
Date: Mar 29-31, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & New YorkAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: product strategy, scaling design, validation, product growth
April 2022 Conferences
You’ll get a couple of conferences that will be interesting for designers, researchers and product teams. What are they?
Front Utah
That’s an interesting event you need to mark in your calendar. Front Utah aims at teaching product people how to work together to create something great and valuable for the end-users.
Date: Apr 6-8, 2022Free: NoWhere: Salt Lake City, UtahAudience: product designers, researchers, product managersCommon topics: product strategy, product growth, leadership
UXistanbul
Organized by UXServices, this conference is a place for sharing the latest UX and usability know-how. The line-up comprises designers from industry leaders, such as Google, Netflix, and more.
Date: Apr 11-22, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual Audience: product designers, researchers, product managersCommon topics: product strategy, analytics, team growth
CHI 2022 [Hybrid]
This year’s annual ACM Computer Human Interaction conference will be a hybrid event, which means that it will take place on-site in New Orleans and online.
Date: Apr 15-16, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & New OrleansAudience: researchersCommon topics: research tools, research methods
Information Architecture Conference 2021
It’s one of the leading conferences for information architects, designers, and others who create and manage UI and information environments.
Date: Apr 19-23, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual Audience: product designers, researchers, product managersCommon topics: information architecture, UX research, content strategy
ProductCon San Francisco [Hybrid]
April is a month for another Product School’s ProductCon event is a 1-day conference for product people who want to learn more about managing products and the future of product management.
Date: Apr, 2022 (TBD)Free: Yes (for online)Where: Virtual & San FranciscoAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: leadership, future of product management, product growth
May 2022 Conferences
May will be the month for on-site UX and product conferences. Let’s see where we can travel to. Are you ready?
Confab
Hey, content managers! There’s an event dedicated to increasing your skills. Confab is a conference dedicated to content strategy where you can get insights from industry leaders.
Date: May 9-12, 2022Free: NoWhere: MinneapolisAudience: content managers, product designers, UX writersCommon topics: career, content management, tools
Women in Product
Need inspiration and encouragement? Here’s a women-led conference to help women get leadership roles and find success working in product.
Date: May 10-11, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, product managersCommon topics: career, product management, leadership
From Business to Buttons
It’s an annual UX and service design conference. To know more about this year’s event, read their manifesto.
Date: May 13, 2022Free: NoWhere: StockholmAudience: product designers, product managementCommon topics: product strategy, DesignOps, scaling design, leadershipHighlighted sessions: Andy Budd from Clearleft about Design Leadership
ACE! [Hybrid]
This Polish conference has two tracks: Agile Software Development and Product Design & Management. Yet, there will be a lot of content for product designers, too.
Date: May 19-20, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & KrakówAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: leadership, product strategy, product growth
Design2022
A Croatian conference that focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to design and goes beyond the design process to include innovative methods and approaches to design and more.
Date: May 23-26, 2022Free: NoWhere: CavtatAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, leadership, accessibility
The Global FinTech Design Summit
Are you working on a FinTech product? Join the conference and meet other professionals who design and develop financial technology solutions.
Date: May, 2022 (TBD)Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designersCommon topics: scaling design, inclusive design, research
June 2022 Conferences
That month looks very exciting for those of you who got used to participating in events from the comfort of their homes. In other words, there will be a few interesting virtual meetups.
DesignOps Global Conference
The conference theme is “Design for Circular Economy” and it will focus on designing for a sustainable future. That’s a very relevant topic nowadays, isn’t it?
Date: Jun 7-10, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, researchers, product managersCommon topics: DesignOps, research operations, leadership
Fluxible [Hybrid]
This week-long UX design conference is based in Canada. You may expect meetups, workshops, and presentations by the world’s top UX speakers.
Date: Jun 7-11, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & Waterloo, OntarioAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, leadership, research
Pixel Pioneers
It may be just a day-long, but the Pixel Pioneers is fully-packed with inspirational presentations from leading UX/UI designers and front-end developers.
Date: Jun 10, 2022Free: NoWhere: BristolAudience: product designers, developers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, inclusive design, future of design
UX STRAT Europe
Sign up for a European edition of a popular UX STRAT conference. Learn from the design and innovation experts.
Date: Jun 13-15, 2022Free: NoWhere: AmsterdamAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: design strategy, future of design,
UXPA 2022
Looking for inspirational talks? San Diego’s UXPA conference may be your cup of tea. Last year’s line-up was packed with speakers from Google, Instagram, Microsoft, etc. What about this year?
Date: Jun 21-23, 2022Free: NoWhere: San DiegoAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, leadership, research
UXDX APAC 2022
It’s yet another UXDX event, but this one is an Audio-Pacific version. It’s dedicated to Product, UX, Design and Development teams that want to find a way of working together.
Date: Jun 21-23, 2022Free: NoWhere: San DiegoAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: product direction, scaling design, validation, product growth
HCI INTERNATIONAL 2022
That international conference on human-computer interaction that is usually held in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Date: Jun 26-Jul 1, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, research, leadership
August 2022 Conferences
Want to hear from product and design professionals? August has at least two interesting events.
UX Australia
That’s an event that is due to disclose more details. Last year, UX Australia included presentations from renowned UX practitioners. Can’t wait to see the 2022 program!
Date: Aug, 2022 (TBD)Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: human-centered design, scaling design, leadership
An Event Apart
This is a summer edition of a conference for UX designers and front-end developers who want to expand their knowledge about web design.
Date: Aug 18-20, 2022Free: NoWhere: SeattleAudience: product designers, developersCommon topics: design process, front-end design, leadership
Product Design Week
Come to London and immerse yourself in a week packed with product design insights. It’s a multidisciplinary conference for product lovers who want to learn how to design better.
Date: Aug 30-Sep 2, 2022Free: NoWhere: LondonAudience: product designers, researchers, product managersCommon topics: DesignOps, scaling design, design strategy, design process
September 2022 Conferences
After a rather less intensive month of August, September is back on track and will be full of great events for UX designers and other professionals involved in building products.
User Research London
The conference focuses on UX and design research. It aims to spread knowledge about conducting research, sourcing candidates and interpreting results.
Date: Sep 8-9, 2022Free: NoWhere: LondonAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: research methods, design process, leadership
UX STRAT USA
This edition of the UX STRAT conference has a pretty impressive line up. We will hear from designers and product people from Spotify, Zoom, Best Buy, DoorDash, etc.
Date: Sep 12-14, 2022Free: NoWhere: Boulder, ColoradoAudience: product designers, product managersCommon topics: design process, leadership, product growth
Design Matters [Hybrid]
It’s one of the most popular conferences in the design field hosted for UX/UI designers and anyone connected to tech and innovation.
Date: Sep 28-29, 2022Free: NoWhere: Virtual & CopenhagenAudience: product designers, product managersCommon topics: design strategy, design process, career
ProductCon
Time for a fall edition of ProductCon. If the conference agenda will be similar to the 2021 one, we’re up for an amazing product conference.
Date: September, 2022 (TBD)Free: Yes (for Early Birds)Where: VirtualAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: leadership, future of product management, product workflow
IxDD 2022
The World Interaction Design Day is an Adobe event that happens simultaneously in different parts of the world.
Date: September, 2022 (TBD)Free: Yes Where: VirtualAudience: product designers, researchersCommon topics: leadership, design process, career
October 2022 Conferences
October seems to be so far ahead, doesn’t it? Yet, there are some confirmed dates of conferences for designers and product teams.
Impact
A fully virtual product management conference that is perfect for product managers, business analysts, but product designers can learn something too.
Date: Oct 4, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, developers, product managersCommon topics: design process, inclusive design, leadership
Amuse
A great event for the UI/UX practitioners to share ideas, experiences, and approaches to their everyday work.
Date: Oct 5-8, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product designers, developers, product managersCommon topics: design process, inclusive design, leadership
UXDX EMEA
Finally, there’s an EMEA edition of UXDX scheduled for October, but you don’t need to be from the region to sign up for it.
Date: Oct 6-8, 2022Free: NoWhere: VirtualAudience: product managers, developers, product designersCommon topics: product direction, scaling design, validation, product growth
An Event Apart
UX designers and front-end developers can enroll in another conference from An Event Apart, that is it’s fall edition.
Date: Oct 10-12, 2022Free: NoWhere: DenverAudience: product designers, developersCommon topics: design process, front-end design, leadership
Which design conference are you joining in 2022?
It seems as if 2022 was full of inspiring and educational content coming from the best speakers in design and product management. Have you found a conference for you? We will definitely keep you posted if any new event comes our way.
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