Maggie Appleton
Design lead at Elicit | Visual essayist making complex ideas accessible, digital gardens pioneer
About
Maggie Appleton is a designer, illustrator, and anthropologist who leads design at Elicit and previously served as head of design at Egghead. io.
She is known for her visual essays exploring programming concepts, digital gardens, and the intersection of technology and culture. Her illustrated explanations of complex technical topics have become essential resources in the developer community, and her research on digital gardens and personal knowledge management has influenced how people think about online learning and note-taking.
With 4 talks at SmashingConf and Beyond Tellerrand, she speaks on visual thinking, designing for developers, and the anthropology of online communities.
What Maggie Talks About
Visual thinking: making complex technical ideas accessible
Digital gardens and the future of personal knowledge management
Designing learning experiences for developers
The anthropology of online communities and internet culture
Bridging design and engineering through illustration
Featured1 with video
Maggie Appleton – The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI – beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf 2024
The web is becoming an eerily lifeless place. Its public spaces are filled with a mix of bad faith actors and automated predators ...
AI Engineer Europe
UX Brighton
Maggie Appleton at SmashingConf 2024
AI and Design
Designing With AI
Product Design
Local-first Conference
The Expanding Dark Forest and Generative AI
ffconf
Web Directions
Designing with AI
Causal Islands
SmashingConf Antwerp
SmashingConf AI
Structured Content Conference
React Live
React Advanced London
React Rally
Women of React
Building a Second Brain Meetup
| Event | Year | Location |
|---|---|---|
| AI Engineer Europe | 2026 | London, England |
| UX Brighton | 2024 | Brighton, England |
| SmashingConf | 2024 | |
| SmashingConf Antwerp 2024 | 2024 | 🇧🇪Antwerp, Belgium |
| UX London 2024 | 2024 | 🇬🇧London, United Kingdom |
| beyondtellerrand 2024 | 2024 | 🇩🇪Düsseldorf, Germany |
| Local-first Conference | 2024 | Berlin, Germany |
| Beyond Tellerrand Düsseldorf | 2024 | 🇩🇪Düsseldorf, Germany |
| ffconf | 2023 | Brighton, England |
| Web Directions | 2023 | Sydney, Australia |
| SmashingConf Freiburg 2023 | 2023 | 🇩🇪Freiburg, Germany |
| Causal Islands | 2023 | Toronto, Canada |
| SmashingConf Antwerp | 2023 | 🇧🇪Antwerp, Belgium |
| SmashingConf AI | 2023 | Online |
| Structured Content Conference | 2022 | San Francisco, USA |
| React Live | 2022 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| React Advanced London | 2021 | London, England |
| React Rally | 2020 | Online |
| Women of React | 2020 | Online |
| Building a Second Brain Meetup | 2020 | London, England |
At a Glance
Industries
Get in Touch
Save for Later
Is this you?
Claim this profile to edit your bio, add talks, and get verified.
Know a talk we're missing?
Who has Maggie shared a stage with?
Speakers who appeared at the same event editions as Maggie
| Speaker | Shared events | Where they appeared together |
|---|---|---|
| Christine VallaureDesign systems educator | Founder of moonlearning.io, bridging design and development | 5 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2023, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024View shared history → |
| Brad FrostCreator of Atomic Design | Design systems pioneer transforming how teams build interfaces | 3 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2023, UX London 2024View shared history → |
| Harrison WheelerDesign Manager | Design Management and Inclusive Feedback | 3 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024, SmashingConf Freiburg 2023View shared history → |
| Pablo StanleyCo-founder of Blush (acquired by Figma) | Creator of Humaaans, Open Peeps, design educator | 3 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024, SmashingConf Freiburg 2023View shared history → |
| Gemma O'BrienDesigner and illustrator | Elevating lettering to art | 2 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024View shared history → |
| John V WillshireStrategic Designer | UX Strategy and Design | 2 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024View shared history → |
| Miriam SuzanneCSS expert and web design specialist | Exploring the art and science of styling the web | 2 | SmashingConf Freiburg 2023, beyondtellerrand 2024View shared history → |
| Nathan CurtisDesign Systems Expert | Building scalable design systems and component architecture | 2 | SmashingConf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2024View shared history → |
Similar Speakers
Related by topic and shared stages
Stéphanie Walter
Enterprise UX Expert | Research and Inclusive Design
Both at SmashingConf Antwerp 2023, UX London 2024
Oliver Schöndorfer
Typography Expert | Typographic accessibility and design
Both at Beyond Tellerrand Düsseldorf 2024, SmashingConf Antwerp 2023
Explore related directories
Conferences, directories, and industries connected to Maggie Appleton