Creating a better web – this is Pixel Pioneers’ goal, a series of tech-related events that started last year and returns to Bristol on 8th June. Providing top-notch advice at an affordable price, Pixel Pioneers intends to travel around the UK – for now, from Bristol to Belfast – to bring practical talks and workshops to its attendees’ doorstep.

The event on 8th June will focus on a broad variety of topics, from content design to user testing, as well as accessibility and digital inclusion, a big topic at Pixel Pioneers – “we’re not only passionate about building an accessible and inclusive web, we’re also dedicated to building diverse speaker lineups and a diverse audience.”

Before the event takes place in the South West, we had a quick chat with organiser Oliver Lindberg, an independent editor and content consultant with more than a decade of experience in the web industry, to find out more about Pixel Pioneers.

🎙 You started organising Pixel Pioneers in 2017. What made you decide to do this?

A lot of the big UK conferences are expensive and/or tend to be in London. Freelancers, small agencies, small businesses and students often miss out on going to events because of the cost and the time sacrifice involved. I wanted to change that and create an affordable event with international speakers for local communities, right on their doorstep, so people don’t have to travel.

It made sense to start in Bristol and Belfast because both cities have such vibrant tech and digital scenes. Also, I live in Bath and always wanted to organise an event for the local community.

🎙 What does Pixel Pioneers do differently when compared to other tech-related and design events?

I try and make the tickets as affordable as possible. Students, for example, only pay half-price and groups of five people or more get a discount as well. The programme is not just focused on one theme but covers a variety of the most important issues in UX and front-end development today. Also, all the talks are very practical and inspiring to ensure attendees get something out of each one of them that they can apply straight away when they go back to work. And as it’s a real community event, all the speakers are very approachable if attendees would like to have a chat with them to find out more.

🎙 Tell us a bit about the Bristol event. What can the attendees expect?

It’s a one-day/one-track event, so you won’t miss anything, and the talks will cover inclusive interface design, user testing, design systems, variable fonts, product design, UX and web performance, content design, and more.

On the day before the conference, 7th June, there will also be a couple of workshops. Joe Leech’s talk at the inaugural conference last year was so popular that I’ve asked him to come back and run a full-day workshop on psychology for UX and product design. And Ida Aalen will host a workshop on easy and affordable user testing, which we’ve made especially affordable to go with the theme.

It’s also a pretty diverse lineup with speakers from the UK (e.g. Sarah Richards, Heydon Pickering and Simon Collison), Norway (Ida Aalen), Denmark (Michael Flarup) and Luxembourg (Stéphanie Walter).

Details for ‘An Evening With Shopify’, a free conference warm-up at the Grain Barge, will be announced soon, and there will also be plenty of networking opportunities at the conference itself, including an after-party with free drinks.

🎙 Where do you see Pixel Pioneers in five years, what are your goals for the future?

I’m going to grow and scale the Bristol and Belfast events, and if they continue to go well, other cities will follow. There are definitely more areas in the UK that could benefit from an affordable grassroots event in UX, design and front-end development featuring first class speakers.

Maria Santos, Head of Digital Ops & Data Protection

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