Design Groups Sydney

Young Desi New Connections

Meet interesting Desi people in Sydney without the awkwardness of a formal dating event. Chai, food, Bollywood, games, travel, culture and good conversation. We’re building a relaxed social community for Indian/South Asian students, professionals and young adults around Parramatta and Western Sydney. Come solo or bring a friend. No networking pitch. No forced speed dating. Just good people and interesting things to do.

Design Like a Pro: A One-Day Canva Workshop in Sydney

**Overview** Master Canva to create professional, on-brand social media designs with hands-on practice in templates, branding, media, and content planning. **Ready to secure your spot? 🎯 Register now and complete your payment securely via Stripe Checkout!** [Click Here](https://buy.stripe.com/eVq00jgyK46OgOcgCE2oE44) **Program Details** **Duration**: 1 Full Day (8 Hours) **Delivery Mode**: Classroom (In-Person) **Language**: English **Credits**: 8 PDUs / Training Hours **Certification**: Course Completion Certificate **Refreshments**: Lunch, Snacks, and beverages will be provided during the session **Every Confident Designer Has a Day One. This Could Be Yours.** For general enquiries or booking your slot, contact us at: [info@mangates.com](info@mangates.com) +61 (0) 2 80155605 **Course Overview:** **The Design Gap No One Talks About** Their feed looked fine. Not bad, just forgettable. Every post used the same template, the same stock photo style, the same font picked at random months ago. Nothing looked broken, it just never quite looked like theirs. That's the gap most people hit long before they ever open a design tool properly. Not a lack of creativity, just a lack of the right skills to translate an idea into something that actually looks professional. **The Moment Design Stops Feeling Like Guesswork** Picture this: someone opens Canva, pulls up a template, and instead of leaving it as-is, adjusts the colors to match their brand, swaps the font, repositions the text, and exports a post that finally looks intentional. That's not talent. That's a skill, and it's exactly what this one-day workshop is built to teach. **How the Day Unfolds** * **Module 1: Getting Started with Canva** — They explore Canva's interface and workspace, and start recognizing the right formats for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. * **Module 2: Essential Design Principles** — They practice layout, spacing, and alignment, and start noticing why some designs feel balanced and others feel off. * **Module 3: Templates, Branding & Customization** — Through a role-play, they learn how to select and personalize templates, layering in brand colors, fonts, and logos.\ * **Module 4: Creative Social Media Graphics** — A case study pushes them to design posts for real engagement, using effects, transparency, and story formats. * **Module 5: Using Images, Icons & Media Tools** — A simulation has them working with stock photos, icons, and overlays until the visuals feel sharp and intentional. * **Module 6: Editing, Resizing & Content Variations** — A group brainstorm surfaces quick techniques for resizing and repurposing one design across multiple platforms. * **Module 7: Exporting & Publishing Designs** — By the end of the day, they aren't just experimenting, they're exporting polished designs and building an actual content calendar. **What Changes By the End** Attendees leave able to: * Understand Canva's interface and essential tools * Use design principles for professional visuals * Customize templates for brand identity * Create platform-specific social media graphics * Work confidently with media, icons, and effects * Resize and repurpose content for different platforms * Export and publish polished, high-quality designs **Who Finds Themselves Here** * Social media beginners * Entrepreneurs and small business owners * Marketing and communication teams * Students and freelancers * Content creators and influencers * Anyone wanting to design without advanced software **Real Practice, Not Passive Listening** Every attendee works hands-on with real design projects, live, in the room. The scenario above isn't hypothetical, it reflects exactly what happens to most people who walk in without a design background and walk out designing with confidence. **Bring This to Your Organization** Picture an entire marketing team producing consistent, on-brand visuals without waiting on a designer for every post. This workshop is available as a customized in-house session, on-site or virtual, with group pricing for teams ready to build that capability together. 📧 Contact us today to schedule a customized in-house session: [corporate@mangates.com](mailto:corporate@mangates.com) **©2026 Mangates Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd. This content is protected by copyright law. Copy or Reproduction without permission is prohibited.** **FAQs** **1\. Do I need any prior design experience to attend?** No, this workshop is built specifically for beginners with no design background at all. **2\. Do I need to install any software before the session?** No, Canva works directly in your browser, and the workshop will guide you through account setup if needed. **3\. Will I actually create real designs\, or is this mostly a demo?** You'll create real designs throughout the day, working hands-on with templates, branding elements, and export formats. **4\. Can I use this for my own business or brand\, not just generic templates?** Yes, Module 3 focuses specifically on customizing templates with your own brand colors, fonts, and logos. **5\. What if I need designs for multiple platforms\, not just Instagram?** Module 1 covers formats for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and Module 6 teaches you to resize one design across all of them. **6\. Does the course cover video content\, or just static images?** Yes, Module 5 covers working with videos alongside stock photos, icons, and illustrations. **7\. Will I learn how to use Canva's AI tools?** Yes, Module 6 introduces Canva's AI tools for quick adjustments and content variations. **8\. I run social media for my company\, will this help with content planning\, not just design?** Yes, Module 7 covers preparing content calendars using Canva folders, alongside exporting and publishing your designs. **9\. Can this course be customized for our marketing team specifically?** Yes, group sessions can be tailored to your organization and delivered on-site or virtually, with group pricing available. **10\. What do I actually walk away with at the end of the day?** Practical skills across Canva's full toolkit, templates, branding, media, resizing, and exporting, plus a Course Completion Certificate.

Lara Meacock/Edgar Anzaldua

Our CCX Sydney September event features two awesome designers and speakers: Lara Meacock from CBA on a AI themed Systems designing back and Edgar Anzaldua Moreno from Compare Club on the complimentary talk You loved your Craft, Now you prompt. Will be applying a $10.00 cover charge to cover Food and drinks and on this occasion will be kindly hosted again by our new friends at Lorikeet. Details below on the venue location (Surry Hills) **IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS SESSION!** **An Important detail is that due to gaining entry to Lorikeet we will need any CCX Member planning to attend this session to supply us with their First and Last name in advance of attending.** On this occasion we will not be able to accept Members who do not supply these details. Many thanks CCX Sydney. **About Lara's talk** **Systems designing back - when systems start thinking with us.** AI is rapidly changing how digital products are designed and built - but the most interesting shift isn’t simply that we can work faster. It’s what happens when the systems, rules and decisions designers create can increasingly be interpreted and executed by AI. In this talk, Lara explores the evolving relationship between design systems, AI and the role of the designer. Drawing on real-world experiments in AI-enabled design and delivery, she’ll look at what happens when design systems become more than libraries of components and start acting as the infrastructure AI uses to create. As execution becomes increasingly automated, the designer’s role begins to shift too - away from being the person producing every outcome, and towards defining the systems, constraints, judgement and quality standards that shape what gets produced. **About Lara** Lara Meacock is a Principal Product Designer at Commonwealth Bank, working across product design, systems and emerging AI-enabled ways of working. Across her career, she has worked at the intersection of product, design and technology, helping teams turn complex problems into digital experiences that are useful, intuitive and built to scale. Her practice combines a strong product lens with systems thinking, exploring how the decisions, patterns and foundations behind an experience can enable better outcomes for both customers and the teams building them. More recently, Lara has been exploring what generative AI means for the future of product design: how we design with it, how it changes the way products are created, and how the role of the designer evolves as the systems around us become increasingly capable. **About Edgar's talk** **You Loved Your Craft. Now You Prompt.** You picked design because you loved designing. Now you prompt. More comes back, faster, and it looks fine, so you ship it. Something about that mechanism feels off, and you can't name it. So you sit with that feeling. It isn't nostalgia. Let's talk about what it is. The uncomfortable part is that the better the output gets, the less often you scrutinise it. And something gets lost. Designers weren't the first ones to experience that loss, and we can learn from others. This talk is about how you keep using AI without losing what makes you good at design. It's about getting your mojo back. Ending with something you have that the machine doesn't, besides a heart. **About Edgar** Edgar Anzaldúa-Moreno is a design leader, researcher, and engineer with more than two decades of experience working across technology, product design, strategy, and organisational change. His career has spanned startups, consultancies, and large organisations, including leadership roles at KPMG, Canon, CarsGuide, Compare Club and Sweat. He describes his practice as that of a designgineer — combining research, strategy, design, and engineering to solve complex product and organisational problems. His work includes published research, a US patent, award-winning digital products, and the development of research-led design teams and practices. Edgar is currently exploring how artificial intelligence is changing the nature of design work and leadership. He is writing Leading Design after AI: From Operator to Orchestrator, a book about what happens when AI makes production increasingly cheap, while judgment, critical thinking, and the ability to frame the right problems become more valuable. Therefore don't miss out on this awesome pairing of two creativity and AI themed talks that will certainly asks as many questions of our audience as well as our presenters!

Afternoon Networking Drinks #32

👋 UX Designers of Sydney! Welcome to our second **Saturday Afternoon** event! Since it went so well last time, i thought it would be fun to try another event on a Saturday afternoon. If anyone is left at around 7pm - we could go for dinner nearby too! **Event highlights:** ✅ **Japanese themed bar:** Come try some amazing Japanese beer and whisky! ✅ **Networking opportunities:** Expand your network of designers and make connections that last. ✅ **Relaxed, friendly vibe:** No formal talks or speeches - just great conversations in a relaxed environment. **Venue information:** * This month you will find us at an awesome Japanese sports bar in the leafy suburb of Crows Nest, right near the metro station! Check them out on socials: https://www.instagram.com/ichirosbar/ **How to find us:** Find the building entrance and head straight up to the second floor - we will have a Meetup Sign on our table! **Join our What'sApp group:**
 Since Meetup has removed the event chat feature, [please join this WhatsApp group](https://tinyurl.com/uxad2026) for the latest event updates! Cheers, Josh (Organiser) Liam (Co-host)

Ladies Luncheon: Learn to Build a Wellness Business From Home

Design Her Lifestyle is bringing women together for an afternoon of connection, good food, and real conversation about what it looks like to build a wellness business from home — without the overwhelm. This isn't a sales pitch; it's a hands-on, fun, come-as-you-are workshop designed to show women a tangible first step toward designing a life (and income) they actually want. For Women who are: * Curious about entrepreneurship but don't know where to start * Looking for flexible income that fits around family, a 9-5, or life in general * Interested in health & wellness and want to turn that passion into something more * Craving genuine community with other women building something for themselves ## Join Rachel, and the Design Her Lifestyle Team for an afternoon made just for you — good food, great company, and a fun, live workshop on what it actually looks like to build a wellness business from home. No pressure, no pitch — just real conversation, a hands-on workshop, and a room full of women figuring out how to design a life they love. Whether you're wellness-curious or ready to build something of your own, come as you are. 🍽️ Lunch included 💬 Live interactive workshop 🤝 A community of women doing this together Seats are limited — RSVP to save your spot!

EUXSyd - August (September) Meetup

**Unfortunately our August speaker has had a last minute scheduling conflict and we will need to reschdeule our meetup to September.** **We are excited to have found a new home for our meetup however at 180 george st, in collaboration with the City Of Sydney Community Spaces**, Networking, drinks and pizzas will start from 5:30 and talk will start at 6:00pm. Look forward to seeing you there!! This event is proudly sponsored by Experience Design "UX" Agency blueegg ([www.blueegg.com.au](www.blueegg.com.au))

SSP TUE - CITY LIGHT & SHADOWS IN MONOCHROME : Kings Cross

Explore the light, shadows, architecture and street life of Kings Cross, Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay on a monochrome photography walk following the City of Sydney’s “Passion: Sydney’s Wild Side” cultural route.(see Photos for details) Coffee before the walk and an optional group pub lunch afterwards. **First meeting point:** For those who like coffee, from 10:00 am **Uliveto Café** Location: Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, close to Kings Cross Station **Second meeting point** (Walk starting point): The Coca-Cola Sign, at 10:30 am **Group lunch** Lunch time: Approximately 12:00–12:15 pm Location: **Kings Cross Hotel,** Darlinghurst Road, Kings Cross **Photography theme: City Light and Shadows** During this walk, look for: **Pools of light:** Wait for a person to walk through a brightly lit section of pavement while the surrounding area remains in shadow. ↳ **Silhouettes:** Photograph people against bright walls, windows, the sky or reflective surfaces. Exposure compensation may help preserve the highlights and turn the person into a strong graphic shape. **Layers and framing:** Use doorways, railings, stairways, tree branches and architectural openings to divide the frame or surround your subject. **Human gestures:** Street photography can include people as important subjects. Look for an expressive stride, a conversation, an unusual interaction, a moment of solitude or a figure whose position completes the composition. ↳ **Tonal contrast:** Search for scenes containing very bright and very dark areas. In monochrome photography, separation between tones can be more important than the original colours. **Textures and traces of history:** Weathered walls, stone steps, iron fences, old façades, signs and pavement details can communicate the character of the neighbourhood. **Suggested shooting areas** **The Cross and Darlinghurst Road** The walk begins amid the visual intensity of Kings Cross. Look for shopfront reflections, signs, traffic, pedestrians emerging from the station and contrasts between older façades and contemporary street life. This is a good place to practise **layered compositions**. Rather than photographing one person against an empty background, try combining foreground reflections, a middle-distance subject and architectural detail farther away.↳ A slower shutter speed can introduce movement into passing pedestrians or vehicles, while a faster shutter speed can isolate gestures and brief interactions. **Victoria Street and 202 Victoria Street** As we move away from the commercial centre, the visual rhythm changes. Terraces, apartment entrances, balconies, fences and trees create repeated lines and alternating patches of light and shade. Look for people entering and leaving buildings, figures partially hidden by trees, and subjects framed by gates or doorways. In monochrome, small differences in texture—paint, brick, stone, foliage and clothing—can become important. **Butler Stairs and McElhone Stairs** The stairways are among the strongest locations for our theme. Steps, handrails and retaining walls naturally produce leading lines, repeating geometry and deep shadows. Try photographing: \*a single person ascending or descending the stairs * shadows cast across the steps \*a figure positioned between railings↳ * a high-angle or low-angle composition \*the contrast between a sunlit landing and a darker staircase Be considerate here, as the stairs are public access routes. Keep camera bags close and leave space for residents and pedestrians. **Embarkation Park** The park provides a visual transition from the dense streetscape to a more open environment. Trees can create broken or dappled shadows across paths, walls and people. Look for small figures within larger compositions and relationships between people, foliage, surrounding buildings and open sky. This can be an opportunity to make quieter photographs rather than concentrating only on dramatic contrast. **St Vincent’s College, Challis Avenue and surrounding streets** The institutional architecture, mature trees and residential streets offer strong vertical lines, formal façades and framed views. Challis Avenue may provide opportunities to photograph café activity, local residents, deliveries and everyday interactions. Watch for people passing between sun and shade or appearing briefly between parked cars, trees and building entrances. **Yellow House** Around Yellow House, consider the relationship between the neighbourhood’s artistic history and its present-day appearance. Instead of making only a straightforward record of the building, look for fragments, details, reflections and human activity nearby.↳ A person walking past an unusual façade can give the image scale and turn an architectural photograph into a street photograph. **Elizabeth Bay House and nearby streets** This section introduces more formal heritage architecture and landscaped surroundings. Columns, gates, windows, paths and symmetrical elements can be used as compositional frameworks. Try waiting for a person to enter a carefully arranged architectural composition. The human subject does not need to dominate the frame; a small figure can provide scale, contrast and narrative. **Kingsclere, Tusculum and Wayside Chapel** These locations bring together different layers of the area’s architectural and social character. Look for contrasts between grand buildings and ordinary street activity. At Wayside Chapel and the surrounding streets, approach photography with particular sensitivity and respect. Do not photograph people who may be vulnerable or experiencing distress merely for visual effect.↳ Strong street photography is not only visually interesting—it should also recognise the dignity of the people being photographed. **Orwell Street and Llankelly Place** This area offers narrow streets, pedestrian movement, café activity and changing light between buildings. It may be one of the best locations for using shop windows and reflections. Experiment with: * photographing through glass \*combining reflections with people inside or outside * waiting for several figures to occupy different parts of the frame \*underexposing slightly to preserve bright highlights * using narrow passages to create depth **Fitzroy Gardens and Darlinghurst Road** Near the end of the walk, Fitzroy Gardens provides opportunities for candid moments involving people sitting, walking, talking or moving between the trees and surrounding streets.↳ As we return to Darlinghurst Road, the busier environment gives us another chance to work with pedestrians, signs, traffic and strong graphic contrasts. Consider how your photographs from the end of the route differ from those taken at the beginning.

Women in Architecture (WIA) Australia - Sydney Coffee Catch-up

Sydney community ☕️ Let’s take a break from the meetings, roadmaps, and architecture reviews and catch up over coffee. Join us for a casual **[Women in Architecture (WIA) Australia](https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-in-architecture-wia-australia/)** catch-up to connect with fellow enterprise, business, and solution architects, share ideas, grow your network, and meet others who are passionate about architecture and diversity in tech. Whether you're a long-time member, new to the community, or simply curious about architecture as a career, we'd love to see you there. Hosted by **[Mimi Chattopadhyay](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimichattopadhyay/)** and **[Maria B](https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-b-286971234/)** 📅 Thursday, 24 September ⏰ 8:00 – 9:30 am 📍 Maximus Cafe, GPO Building, 1 Martin Place, Sydney

Coffee & Collage | The Grounds

#### Coffee & Collage @ The Grounds is a energetic 1-hour self-guided analogue collage experience designed to help you stay off screens, reconnect with your creativity and enjoy some time away from the digital world. **$30 - All materials included** **[Book your spot](https://www.theinspiredwithin.com/shop/p/coffee-collage-thegrounds)** You’ll create in the most instagrammable café in Sydney and spend the session cutting, layering and creating while sipping your favourite brew. The session will be hosted at The Grounds Cafe (indoor area). Please look for the Coffee & Collage sign. **A note about the venue:** The Grounds is a busy café, so expect background chatter and the general buzz of a lively venue. Only 8 spots.

On the Degradation of Art and the Public Conscience

**On the Degradation of Art and the Public Conscience** **A philosophical talk by YouTuber, artist and budding science fiction writer Nikola Pavkovic** **What does a civilisation reveal about itself through the art it creates?** Art is not merely decoration. It is an expression of values: of what we consider beautiful or ugly, heroic or contemptible, worthy of admiration or deserving of ridicule. Every culture produces art in its own image and, in doing so, reveals something about its conception of man. This talk will examine the proposition that the degradation of modern art is not an isolated aesthetic phenomenon but the reflection of a deeper degradation in the public conscience. What happens when beauty becomes embarrassing, greatness becomes suspect and sincerity gives way to irony? When the artist ceases to present a vision of what man might become and instead celebrates fragmentation, ugliness, nihilism or despair? We will explore the relationship between **philosophy, art, morality and politics**, tracing the historical forces that have transformed our artistic culture and asking whether the decline of artistic standards has accompanied a corresponding decline in our moral ones. We’ll consider the capture of artistry not merely within universities and cultural institutions but across the wider machinery through which art is produced, funded, judged and celebrated. Yet decline is never total. There are artists who refuse it. By examining these exceptions, we can ask what their survival tells us about the possibility of another artistic culture: one concerned again with beauty, achievement, seriousness and the elevation rather than diminution of the human spirit. Finally, we will confront the most important question: **If you reject the culture being offered to you, what are you prepared to create in its place?** Presentation followed by open discussion, disagreement and debate. **On the second Monday of the month, Philo Agora has a speaker on a philosophical topic and a Q&A and discussion after. On the fourth Monday we meet again for open philosophical discussion.** Philo Agora's format is a talk for 20 minutes starting at 7:15 for 7:30. The presenter then answers any questions of clarification from the floor. We then take a break of 5 minutes for more coffee and to mull over the talk and discuss it within small groups. The microphone is then passed around the audience for comment, opinion, and often counter argument to a maximum of 3 minutes. The presenter is then given a 5 minute right of reply. We usually finish up at 9pm. The cover charge is $5 for the talk. There are tea and coffee facilities available in-house. Sam Alexander - Convener (0457 749 310)

Coffee & Collage

#### **Coffee & Collage is a relaxed 1.5-hour self-guided analogue collage experience designed to help you slow down, reconnect with your creativity and enjoy some time away from the digital world.** **[Book your spot](https://www.theinspiredwithin.com/shop/p/coffee-collage)** Surrounded by vintage chairs, shelves of second-hand books and the warm atmosphere Ampersand Cafe & Bookstore is known for, the session is designed to get your creative flow happening, without rules. Intentionally small so you can feel comfortable coming on your own, meet new people and simply enjoy being present. Only 6 spots per session. $25 - All materials included

JEFFREY STREET WHARF KIRRIBILLI