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: