Design × technology · 3 days · 1 stageThirty-eight talks in one room, with no parallel tracks. The people who make the tools and the people who bend them, in the same haze for three days.
Northlight is one room. You never choose between two talks, never sprint across a venue, never watch the good one later on a laptop. The house lights come up at nine, the coffee is already there, and everyone hears the same thing at the same time.
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02 · First four on the bill
On stage
01Tove ArkwrightType designer, Arkwright Foundry“Letters that survive being rendered at four pixels.”
02Jonah SalcedoCreative technologist, Field Unit“Shaders are the new stage lighting.”
03Ilse MarchettiHead of design systems, Oribel“One component library, eleven brands, no drama.”
04Kofi Anand-BergHardware lead, Moth & Kiln“Designing a device you are allowed to open.”
Thirty-four more speakers are announced in waves until March. See the programme
03 · Programme
Three days, one stage
THU 22FRI 23SAT 24
Day 01 · Material THU 22 APR
Doors, coffee, badgesHall foyer
Opening: the room is the mediumNorthlight crew
Letters that survive being rendered at four pixelsTove Arkwright
Long lunch on the quayIncluded in every pass
Panel: who owns a design system?Four teams, one microphone
Shaders are the new stage lightingJonah Salcedo, live-coded
Day 02 · Motion FRI 23 APR
Warm-up: ten minutes of drawingPaper on every seat
One component library, eleven brands, no dramaIlse Marchetti
Easing is an opinionShort talks, six speakers
Studio visits around the harbourSign up at the desk
Open stage: show us what brokeFive minutes each
After darkThe stage becomes a dancefloor
Day 03 · Machine SAT 24 APR
Late start, strong coffeeWe know about Friday
Designing a device you are allowed to openKofi Anand-Berg
Interfaces for tools that talk backPanel, questions from the floor
The long tableLunch with the speakers
Closing: what we keepEveryone, house lights up
04 · Venue & travel
The Drum Hall
A former ropeworks on Quay 4 in Port Averen: one long room, a curved LED wall twenty-two metres wide, and a balcony with the best view in the building. Every seat faces the same stage.
By train
Twelve minutes on foot from Averen Central. Night trains run until 01:40 on all three days.
By air
Averen Harbour airport is 25 minutes away on the harbour line, every ten minutes.
Stay
Three hotels on the quay hold rooms at a fixed Northlight rate until 1 March.
Access
Step-free throughout, hearing loop, a quiet room, live captions on the LED wall.
05 · Tickets
Pick a seat
Prices include VAT, lunch and coffee. No early-bird countdowns: the price is the price until the hall is full.
Students and self-funded freelancers: €140 for the full summit. Write to us, no proof theatre.
Questions
Good to know
Can I get a refund?
Until 1 March, yes, in full. After that you can pass your ticket to someone else by changing the name in your confirmation email.
Will the talks be recorded?
Every talk is filmed and captioned. Full summit and team passes get the recordings for a year; day passes get their day.
Is the venue accessible?
Yes. The Drum Hall is step-free from the quay to the stage, has a hearing loop in the stalls, a quiet room off the foyer and live captions on the LED wall during every talk.
Is there a code of conduct?
There is, and it applies on stage, in the hall, at After dark and online. Stewards in magenta lanyards are there all three days.
Can my company sponsor?
We keep sponsors off the stage. Partners fund the student tickets and the free coffee, and get a table in the foyer. Write to partners@northlight.example.
Afterdark
Friday 23 April, 22:00 until late. The same stage, the same haze, the lights handed over to a DJ. Included in every full summit pass.