Combining two great things almost never goes wrong and making friends while becoming a better designer is a great example of this technique! Get to know your colleagues while participating in discussions about the cutting edge techniques of your industry, filling your contact list with potential new customers and business partners while you’re at it.

No matter what part of the United States you call home, there is a social group for designers calling your name – here are five meetups for designers around the United States:

1. New York Web Design Meetups

Congregate with web professionals from around the Big Apple and indulge in industry chatter, extensive networking opportunities and a source of design-oriented inspiration potentially unmatched anywhere else in the city! New York Web Design Meetups are aimed at web and UI designers who are interested in launching the next big startup and the topics of conversation reflect this broad view at every meeting.

Whether you’re a programmer or a pure visual designer, these group events have the potential to send your mind in the direction of the next million dollar idea!

When and Where: While meetups of this group are only held every few months, typically in different venues around New York City, they tend to be events worth attending and often draw several hundred participants. You can book your room using NYC Hotels

2. Girl Develop It

Sponsored by well-known lady programmer Sara Chipps, the Girl Develop It meetup group in New York City offers an exclusive spot for female programmers and designers to get together and chat about their latest work for web, software UI and other technical endeavors.

The exclusive setting for women aims to make it less intimidating for burgeoning female web professionals to ask questions and discuss their approaches and it has proven to foster some of the most innovative and inspirational conversations possible, allowing all attendees to leave with fresh insight into their digital efforts.

When & Where: Girl Develop It meetings are hosted in the AOL Patch Labs offices in New York City several times each week with each event focusing on a different aspect of web development and design.

3. DC Tech Meetup

Washington, D.C. notoriously plays host to the country’s federal politics, but it is also home to many thousands of professional designers in both the web and print industries and the DC Tech Meetup group brings them all together in one place. These monthly meetings draw nearly 1,000 visitors, each offering a unique look at products, procedures and processes, allowing you to walk away with the inspiration that comes from a new point of view.

Topics include programming and visual design but the focus here is real world results like demos, startups and launch products, giving each attendee insight on every step of the road to design success.

When and Where: DC Tech Meetups are held at the Historic Synagogue at 600 I Street in Washington, DC once per month, beautifully combining the city’s history with its future.

4. HTML5 San Francisco

Enjoy free sponsor-provided food and drink while learning about the cutting edge of web design with your colleagues with the HTML5 San Francisco meetups. Trade thoughts with your peers, show off your latest work and take in talks and lectures from some of the industry’s finest minds, all for free.

When and Where: The HTML5 San Francisco meetups are held on the last Thursday of each month at locations around the city of San Francisco, California.

5. Boston PHP

Behind every good design is beautifully written code! Dubbed the second largest and most active PHP community in the world, the meetups hosted by Boston PHP are the place to be for those who work behind the scenes of an internet presence. Completely free to attend for anyone interested, the keen focus of this group is obviously the PHP programming language, with general web development discussion and PHP design elements coming naturally into existence.

When and Where: The New England city of Boston, Massachusetts plays host to Boston PHP meetings on a typically monthly but often irregular schedule, offering the backdrop of Bostonian history in a variety of venues throughout the year.

Here are more design-related events for 2012. Now which one you’ll choose? Share your travel inspiration with us in the comments below!