So, on the tiny off-chance that I can’t write in-depth, lucid details about everything that inspired me, I wanted to at least capture the broad themes I heard last week.

Without further ado, here they are:

Your designs should embrace the diversity of browsing experiences offered by different devices

• It is no longer necessary—or even possible—to make the browsing experience the same across all browsers. Like HDTV, the device determines the experience you get; the experience is not (and should not be!) the same for every device. Design and testing processes should change to reflect this reality.
• CSS3 media queries are an easy, stylesheet-based way to adapt our designs to devices with variable widths.
• Read more: “The CSS3 Experience” by Dan Cederholm, “Hardboiled Web Design” by Andy Clarke and “Everything Old is New Again” by Eric Meyer.

Mobile is moving to the center of the web design practice

• Change is coming: designing for mobile browsers will represent a significantly larger chunk of your design focus and energy in the next 5 years, due to the incredible proliferation of smartphones.
• Consider designing the mobile experience before the desktop experience, it allows you to focus on users’ primary needs.
• Designing mobile experiences means embracing—and designing for—flexibility.
• Read more: “Mobile First” by Luke Wroblewski, “Everything Old is New Again” by Eric Meyer, and “A Dao of Flexibility” by Ethan Marcotte.

Usable is no longer good enough

• Make stronger connections with your users with compelling, relevant content served quickly and consistently across channels.
• Create emotional connections: use surprising and delightful interactions, when they support the message. Use these interactions to evoke humanizing responses (like humor and empathy) from your users.
• Read more: “Object Oriented CSS” by Nicole Sullivan, “Message and Medium: Better Content by Design” by Kristina Halvorson, “Emotional Interface Design” by Aarron Walter, “Paranormal Interactivity” by Jeremy Keith, and “The CSS3 Experience” by Dan Cederholm.

There’s still no substitute for good planning, informed design, and responsiveness, both in project management and product design

• Plan for change at all points of the project, from scoping the project down to the individual design decisions.
• Avoid adhering to hard and fast rules if you have the opportunity to investigate, research, and make an informed decision. But don’t ignore your gut.
• The more techniques you learn, the more flexible your processes can become.
• The qualities that contributed to the success of the web as a platform are the qualities that make us successful as web developers: rough consensus, working code developed quickly, velocity, and responsiveness.
• Read more: “Put Your Worst Foot Forward” by Jeffrey Zeldman, “Anatomy of a Design Decision” by Jared Spool, and “How the Web Works” by Jeff Veen.

For more details from the individual talks, Luke Wroblewski’s conference notes are that rare combination of concise and thorough. I’ve linked to them liberally above; here’s the full list: Luke’s An Event Apart notes.

So, what has caused this change?  In my opinion, there are a couple of reasons that have led to this change:

1) Accessibility. Everyone is now online all the time.  By tweeting, texting, or e-mailing you can talk to multiple people at a time, thus saving you – and the people you’re communicating with – time.

2) Intrusiveness. Calling someone seems much more intrusive then sending an e-mail or a tweet.  It allows people to respond when it is convenient for them, and does not impose of anyone’s schedule.

2) Devices. It can take 2 to 3 steps to make a phone call on a cell phone these days.  Smart phones with qwerty pads and touch-screens make it much easier (and more preferable) to send an email or text.

So next time you reach in your pocket to grab your phone stop and take a minute to think: what are you using your phone for?

Share – yes; Facebook does a fantastic job facilitating its users in sharing various pieces of themselves with friends, such as photos, personal statuses, notes, etc. But does it help them connect? I’m not so sure about that one. I suppose it really depends on how the Facebook user defines “connecting”. Here’s the breakdown:

connect #1: linking together The most basic usage of the word, and probably the most accurate in describing the connecting experience on Facebook. People “connect” when they accept a friend request. And that’s it. Literally like a little line segment, with (in)frequent stalking bobbing between the two points.

connect #2: establishing communication Connecting and reconnecting with folks on Facebook is what it’s all about. People want to know what their buds are up to. But let’s face it – once the initial friend request/approval has been made (and maybe a “hello, it’s been a while” message), most Facebook relationships are maintained through sharing.

connect #3: emotional association Every Red Associates surveyors’ wish: that people can deepen their personal relationships with other users through the various tools and applications provided on Facebook. The problem? People don’t “connect” as much as they do comment. Facebook is a space for transparency; it should come at no surprise shared material isn’t very personal. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s a complaint, it’s drama. And it generates a whole lot of relatively depthless conversation.

Looks more like we’re keeping tabs than connecting. At some point, social media will need to come up with a solution for its users to connect with friends on a more meaningful level, and more than just a select few of several hundred at that. But for now it’s okay. Surely there’s got to be two people out there falling in love over Farmville.

Back in 2005, Blenderbox created a compelling Flash-based website to showcase Backbone’s high-quality retouching and pre-press capabilities.  In the intervening years, Backbone’s already robust portfolio grew by leaps and bounds, eventually outgrowing their portfolio section.

With the 2008 redesign, Blenderbox used updated Flash technology to bring Backbone’s portfolio front-and-center, revamping the organization and navigation scheme to allow easier access to their work.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched my mom do this. From ReadWriteWeb:

More than 10% of the searches for the top 10 dating search terms were URLs (match.com, plentyoffish.com) and almost all of the queries were something that .com could have been added to for direct navigation. If mainstream users learned to navigate using the address bar instead of the search bar – what would happen to the search economy and innovation online?

The Panel was moderated by Peter Shankman, and also featured Robert Hordt, Managing Editor of Crain’s New York Business and Charlotte Eichna, Executive Editor of Our Town and West Side Spirit, part of Manhattan Media.