Digital with a small d

Last week I attended Camp Digital in Manchester, a conference that offers illuminating talks and bright ideas on design and digital.

It's the third time I've been there. I was one of the presenters in 2025, so it was nice to return as a delegate: sit in a chair, absorb what's going on, make scratchy notes, think.

I find being at any event where you have a formal role tends to muffle everything else around you.

The prospect of being on a stage, or in front of a crowd, keeps the mind frantically ticking over beforehand; the effect of adrenaline immediately afterwards can leave you tingling and a bit aloof.

So yeah, I was undoubtedly present last year, but many of the other talks wafted around me instead of grabbing me by the collar.

This year was different. Maybe I'm at an age where I'm more sentimental and engaged, maybe I'm consciously looking for connection, but I genuinely came away with a sense of positivity that doesn't often show its face these days.

The previous Hugh, even just a short while ago, might have raised a sceptical eyebrow or perhaps drilled into some unhealthy professional envy. Current Hugh is more open to having his opinion changed and his mind expanded.

I started the day with hope (I wore a badge to prove it) and ended it doubling down on that hope.

I think the beauty of what Camp Digital does is de-emphasise the digital, to the extent that it's occasionally so subtle you have to prod around for it.

Technology plays second fiddle to human experience, and teams who make headway against the odds are celebrated more than code committed.

I was struck by how many presenters took care to name individuals, acknowledging and thanking others involved in their programmes and projects. An underlying vibe of people uplifted rather than pixels shifted.

Generative AI was present, of course: it's the party guest who barged in uninvited, drank all the booze, and is now rearranging your furniture and shitmaxxing your playlist.

But in this arena AI is contextualised, carefully put to use, and watched over with rigour.

If I were to weave a thread between all the talks I saw – Rachel wooing the crowd to imagine what we can do together, Himal's all-too-familiar tale of the vulnerability of humans and the systems they're part of, Dan P's practical revelations and persona shifts, Laura's embrace of playfulness to spur creativity, Candi's hilarious content-centred observations, Tessa's brave story of pragmatism over perfection, and Dan H's beautiful and overwhelming closing keynote (a reminder if ever there was of art's ability to provide light in the darkest of times) – it would be the constant background hum of awareness: of the people around you, and those whose lives you seek to impact.

There's no shortage of conferences packed with frameworks, toolkits and bulleted lists of takeaways. Those have their place, but sometimes what you need is a reminder of why the work matters, and 500 folk in a room who feel the same way.

Some further excellent write-ups from Adam, Dug, Heledd, Matt, and Nicola.

🔥 Thank you for reading.