On meetups and inclusivity

For the first round of the Into Design Systems Meetup in Düsseldorf, we welcomed a diverse crowd of designers, developers and product people to sipgate. The evening featured two talks: Accessibility in Design: Strategies and Practical Approaches for Design Systems by Coralie Deutscher and Andrea Prade from denkwerk and From Woyton Coffee to Design Systems: A Career Journey You Didn’t See Coming by Laura Fehre from Figma.

After the talks, Ana Luiza Cavalcanti and Dorsa Javaherian ran a lively Q&A. Then came my favorite part: a Community Pitch session, where anyone could flag a job search, share an opening, or just ask for advice — the kind of thing that actually turns a room full of strangers into a community. And I finally got to meet Sil, who runs the Into Design Systems Conference, in person, after years of only seeing each other through a screen.

True to the conference’s spirit, Sil kept the whole evening introvert-friendly and inclusive. On that front, sipgate pitched in too: we have gender-neutral bathrooms — something I pushed for — with custom icons my dear colleague Tim Koppers and I designed together. And I really believe it: the best things, like this meetup, only happen in spaces where everyone can take part without shame or discomfort.