Clarity is the first conference fully dedicated to design systems (which includes style guides, pattern libraries, CSS frameworks, and design operations). While the focus is on design systems, past sessions have also included related topics like accessibility, motion design, and performance.
Clarity was founded in 2014 by Jina Anne, a design systems advocate and practitioner. The first and second event was held in 2016 & 2017 in San Francisco. The third year, 2018, will be held in New York City.
The event is a two-day, single-track event, plus a day dedicated to full day workshops. (The first year did not have a workshop day).
People who attend have been design systems practitioners (designers, developers, product managers, leadership, etc) from organizations including 18F, Amazon, Apple, Buzzfeed, Capitol One, CBS Interactive, Cisco, DocuSign, Dropbox, Eventbrite, Facebook, Gap, Google, HBO, Hyatt, IBM, Intuit, JPMorgan Chase, Macy’s, MLB, Nasdaq, Netflix, Oracle, Patreon, PayPal, REI, Salesforce, Shopify, Slack, Sony, Stripe, Twitter, Vox Media, Wells Fargo, Yelp, ZenDesk, and many more.
Last year, the conference sold out at 380 attendees and generated a long waitlist. It almost sold out the first year, nearing 300 attendees. This year, with our larger venue, we are anticipating over 500 people in attendance.
Event partners (sponsors) across all event years include A Book Apart, Abstract, Adobe, Authentic Jobs, Beam Suntory, Brand.AI, CodePen, Dribbble, Dropbox, Effen Vodka, Eventbrite, Fair Play, Figma, General Assembly, GitHub, Interplay, Invision, Jim Beam, The Macallan, Magnus Highland Park, Mozilla, The Noun Project, Pattern Lab, Pitney Bowes, PlanGrid, Rosenfeld Media, Salesforce, Shopify, SitePoint, Smashing Magazine, Tequila Partida, Tito, UXPin, Webflow, and Yelp.