UXLondon 2021

My team and I were able to virtually attend UXLondon 2021 last week. The team at ClearLeft did a fantastic job on the event. I thought it was well designed as a 100% virtual and intentionally danced between the poles of awkward and advantage. I thought the interview segments after the talks were inspired and kept a sense of engagement and momentum, and the Miro board was a great way to make people feel like they were sharing notes and insights from the discussion.

There was a through-line of ethics through the whole conference that I enjoyed. The "design is the underdog" narrative is tired and no longer true. I think that asking ourselves "now that we are here, how do we avoid causing harm?" is a much more mature conversation.

I did make some sketchnotes… but I was utterly humbled by the gorgeous work of Zsofi Lang… which I ended up aping. 🤷 I think the monochrome strategy will be a permanent addition to my toolbox.

I need to go back and rewatch some of the sessions, but here is a sampling of sketch notes with my main takeaway:

Continuous Discovery by Theresa Torres

continuous discovery
Interview to discover, not to confirm.

Killing Products by Amy Zima

killing products
Think of products as portfolios of features. Prune your portfolio.

Already a Researcher by Gregg Bernstein

already a researcher
Everyone can research… so make it easy for everyone.

Designing for Cognitive Bias by David Dylan Thomas

cognitive bias
Framing bias is a tool for good and evil.

How to Get Wicked Good by Karen VanHouten

how to get wicked good
Endurance is to be trained. Tools are gear.

Better Onboarding by Krystal Higgins

better onboarding
It's the whole journey until the user achieves the main goal of the product.

Practical Growth Design by Molly Norris Walker

practical growth design
Optimize low-barriers to action before high-barriers to action to move the user along the value path.

It was a great event, and I look forward to the Festival throughout the rest of the month!


Changelog
  • 2022-06-08 11:31:29 -0500
    Rename articles

  • 2021-06-08 09:03:41 -0500
    fix typo

  • 2021-06-07 11:49:55 -0500
    UXLondon