From string theory inspired fashion design to fast growing startup management

18 October 2012

Share:

Our first speaker Helen Kokk shared great insights on what to bare in mind when designing an user interface of an application. Simple rules on how to keep it minimalistic, which font to select and how to match colours may seem trivial, but so many people still get them wrong. And alignment! She was especially persistent on getting pieces of your interface in beautiful straight lines from top to bottom and left to right. Use a ruler or even a piece of paper on your computer screen to trace out those buttons and inputs that have somehow misplaced themselves. All the pixels matter! She also shared her experience on A/B testing and making sure which design decisions work and which don’t.
Her slides for the presentation: Kasutajaliides. By Helen Kokk

After a break for coffee and snacks we had Kristina Narusk talking about the fast life at GrabCad - an Estonian startup which has become an international sensation among mechanical engineers. As one of the team members who was next to the founding of the company, she has had the chance to play part in almost everything and has a great overview of all the joys and pains of growing from 0 to 300 000 users in just few years. Opening an office in the States, getting investors, working out the business model, expanding the team, insights into product development and how to manage a development team - she knows it all and had a lot to share. Living in so far almost uninhabited niche they have a great potential to grow immensely and great plans for the future, which will revolutionize the life of mechanical engineers using their product.

At late hours we still had one more speaker. Marit Ilison - an artist and fashion designer. Her site specific installations at Stalker festival this year impressed and compelled us so, that we wanted to know more about what is happening inside her head. Her video and light installations verge between reality and virtuality. So does her collection Lúmine, where she mixed fabric with illuminating wires and LEDs creating futuristic clothing. As it turned out, she is driven by the mixture of ideas from virtuality to quantum mechanics. For those who want to know more about her work, you can visit Hop gallery, where she just opened her installation called “Mets” and you can check out her webpage. She is also looking for help with her new webpage and models for her performance 70 Cotton Smocks, so don’t hesitate to contact her.

Thanks again to everybody for attending and speakers for giving us glimpse of their worlds! You can see the pictures of the event here.
See you next time, which will probably be on november 21st! So stay tuned!
All news