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Config 2026 - Recap

  • Three days at Moscone Center, San Francisco.
  • Dozens of sessions, side conversations, and Figma product reveals.
  • Here's what stuck — the sessions worth rewatching, the people worth following up with, and the ideas that are already changing how we work.
Conference badge and lanyard with Config 2026 logo
Badge & tote energy
Config is always strong on branding

Venue Vibes

Pics of the conference center themed inside and outside of Moscone
Friends from the office :)
JPMC Payments teammates at Moscone Center
Group on the lawn outside the conference center
Fresh Config branding inside and out!
Moscone Center San Francisco
The iterative conference
Since the start, Congif has grown like crazy each year at Moscone Center in San Francicisco. Each time I return the Figma team has put so much work into building a un[...]
Team learning
This year I joined with teammates and leaders from JPMorganChase's Payments Design team.

Off the Grid

Hiking the redwoods trail
Hiking through the giant coastal redwoods ❤️
Muir Woods, Marin County
Escape to nature
My new favorite way to start a tech conference - escape tech and explore nature instead! Ben Callahan organized[...]

Fav Topics

Strategy + Culture
Design System Anarchy
Watch the video
DS Anarchy slides
I loved this talk by Lauren LoPrete. It told a great story using punk music venues to teach principles for fost[...]
  • Lauren says, “I didn’t go to art school to become a cop,” and she’s always cared more about building the conditions for great work than policing who gets to make it.
  • Design systems work has drifted into compliance work — teams meant to lower barriers and raise quality have started acting like gatekeepers, adding stricter standards, more approval[...]
  • AI tools are democratizing production the way the Xerox machine did for punk zines and flyers — when the means of production become this accessible, the scene grows, and you can’t[...]
  • Her framework — “design systems anarchy”: modeled on how punk scenes built infrastructure for creative chaos instead of containing it; the venues that lasted had the clearest va[...]
  • Conviction as a container, not a cage — hold firmly to core principles, and let everything else flex.
  • Build “scenes instead of systems, venues instead of vaults.”
  • A design system was never supposed to be permanent. It was supposed to be alive.
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    Lauren owning the stage
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    Workflow in collab
    Reimagining NASA.gov for Earth’s most important stories
    Watch the video
    NASA project highlight slides
    Ben Shown and Megan Greco got to design with the fu[...]
    • NASA’s redesign succeeded because it grounded decisions in audience motivations, not just demographics, using an alternative to personas, they called “Thinking Styles”, t[...]
    • The team used a research-led, low-fi-first process: large-scale survey work, in-depth interviews, rough concept exploration, and repeated stakeholder critique to get better strategic ...
    • Outcome was not just a visual refresh but a scalable system: Horizon gave NASA a consistent design foundation across thousands of sites and supported products like NASA.gov, NASA+, an[...] </ul> BTW, it was fun to see these “Thinking Styles” illustrated using Muppets characters: Miss Piggy is the Pragmatist, Beaker is the Learner, Gonzo is the Explorer, and Kermit is the Connector. </div>
      Muppets in the design process
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      Service design with robots
      Legibility by design
      Watch the video
      Ryan showing off the pedestrian signals on a Waymo vehicle
      Ryan Powell shared how Waymo is designing for legibility in autonomous vehicles.
      • The goal is to make the vehicle's intentions clear to pedestrians, cyclists, and other drivers.
      • They are using a combination of visual signals, sounds, and vehicle behavior to communicate with the environment.
      • One interesting point was how they are testing these signals in real-world scenarios to ensure they are intuitive and effective.
      • It's a fascinating intersection of design, technology, and human behavior.
      Of course, I had to include another Waymo ride while in SF. It was a fun experience to see the design decisions in action.
      And I had to include a Waymo ride while in SF
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      Social networking

      Social networking with design system friends
      Social events
      Connecting with new and old friends
      Meetups and friends
      • Breakfast walk at the Embarcadero with Ecru dot group (thanks Peter!)
      • Afternoon Hike in the Redwoods (see above)
      • After conference Dinner with the Design systems community (thanks Ben!)
      • Thanks to Manus Chau for the daily analysis durring our commute.

      Wrap up

      • It was amazing to reconnect with friends and meet new folks while chatting about my favorite DS topics.
      • Figma's announcements were interesting, but I think the best value is the inspiration from the community.

      See you all next time!

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