I realized this morning that MIX is just a few weeks away and by a few I mean less than four. I can’t wait. MIX might be my favorite week of year (sorry Holiday Season) and this looks like it’s going to be a great year. Even Joshua Topolsky (Mr. Engadget) thinks so, or did at 4:05PM the other day anyway.

I’m Speaking! Woohoo!

In addition to attending, I get to speak again this year. Twice, in fact. First off is a workshop. This will be an encore (and updated) performance of the workshop I did last year about the fundamentals of design. Microsoft specifically asked me to present the same workshop this year because we had a really great response to it last last year and this seems to still be a very hot topic. That’s awesome: technical folks want to know more about design.

I’ve refined some things for this go around, but the basics of the content will be the same: the fundamental principles of design presented for non-designers. New stuff is: new content about typography, some updated thoughts about realism in UI, icons and imagery as well as some better organization and refinement overall. I’ve also tried to update a bunch of the examples we look at.

It’s Not Too Late to Register for the Workshops (Even if You Already Registered for MIX)

Some things about workshops: first, it was a fluke that it was recorded last year and I don’t think we’ll be so lucky this year. Second, even if you’ve already registered for the conference (and I’ve heard that space is running out), you can go back and add the workshops to you’re registration if you’ve had a change of heart. And you should. The workshops look really cool this year.

My Session: Hands on With Design

In addition to the workshop, Microsoft is also letting me present a session. This session is mostly made up of content that didn’t quite fit into the workshop. Where the workshop is a lot about “what is” design, the session is more hands on and “how to” design. It may be a little random (it’s the scraps after the workshop after all) but hopefully really fun and useful. I’ll cover everything from process kinds of stuff to some tactical XAML kinds of things.

This Year’s Kaxaml Swag

Finally, a little about Kaxaml swag this year. So, it just didn’t feel right to order new swag this year since 1) I have about 450 stickers left and 2) Kaxaml hasn’t really changed at all since last year. So this year we’re going sticker crazy! The goal is to “place” all 450 stickers in good homes so that next year when we have a fresh version of the app we can also have fresh swag to celebrate. Therefore, if you are at the conference and have a need for a sticker, do not hesitate get one (or two or up to 450). They are quickly become collectors items, by the way. Time is running out.

Well, that’s it for now. See you at MIX!