Design Matters 22 | Sept 28,29 2022

I just attend the Design matters conference in Copenhagen Denmark. It was an inspiring two days of talks and workshops. While I listened to the talks I used a note-taking method called sketchnoting. It has always allowed me to listen better, analyze more in the moment, and record the most import learnings that stand out to me that I want to remember.

Key take-aways

  1. One of the main topics was around decolonization. How can we build products that are inclusive from the start.

    1. Some my favorite quotes I want to remember from speakers:

      1. "Moving from awareness to action" – Regine Gilbert

      2. "When you know better you do better" – Regine Gilbert

      3. "Steps to unlearn — 1. Foster a sense of willingness, 2. Pursue the unfamiliar, 3. Change the location, 4. Learn the opposite, 5. Foster curiosity" – Regine Gilbert

      4. "Self awareness is the true superpower. Question everything — watch, observe, question, explore, BE AWAKE" – Regine Gilbert

      5. "Emoji's are important. Change the type, change the emoji" (Emoji platform fragmentation) — Pedro Arilla, Instagram

      6. "Universal design, useful for all people. Why care? Happier customers, happier employees, more innovation, reach more customers" — Bret Schafbuch

      7. "Diversity is getting an invitation to the party" — Dori TunsTall (Guidione Machava's talk). "Diversity –> Inclusion –> Decolonization. Collaboration saves us time" — Guidione Machava

      8. "Hit the target, but miss the point. Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." — Tobias Ahlin

      9. "Accessibility is not the same as inclusive design. Solve for one, extend to many" — Layshi Curbelo

      10. Decolonization vs. Indigetise. Reclaim spaces. How do we indigetise a space? ––> through stories and language. — Lee Timutimu

      11. "Celebrate a learning mindset. Meet people where they are. Social media can be…Inclusive, accountable, equitable for everyone." — Jordan Craig (Twitter CD)

  2. Design systems can come in many forms, even doodles. Two designers Geo Law and José Torre show how doodles/illustrations can be great storytelling mechanisms to connect on deeper level with your audiences.

    1. Quotes:

      1. "Don't just do what you are told. Work smarter not harder" — José Torre, Medium, Instagram

      2. "Keep a library of characters. Takes a bit of practice" — Geo Law

  3. Impact comes from how you present the information/data. Data visualizations can have a great impact in telling your story, presenting your message, and starting conversations.

    1. "I was searching for a vehicle that would have the graphic impact of a paining but that could convey a story." — From Tizana Alocci's talk.

Resources to dive into more

  1. [Book] Inclusive Design for a Digital World - Designing with Accessibility in Mind by Regine Gilbert

  2. How you can find time to design — José Torre

  3. Redesigning racist brands — Maria Fuentenebro and Maria Mimoso

  4. Building delight in your design systems — Luke Murphy (*Lots of additional links/resources in this talk webpage).

  5. Māori storytelling space — Lee Timutimu

  6. Doodles from Geo Law's website.

#IXD16 THEMES

#IXD16 THEMES

  1. Data + design = builds better products
  2. Focus on connecting to what the user wants
  3. Help the community change the world. Reach out to the community around you and help using your skills
  4. Tell stories through, Thick data (human factor), and emotional data. This brings together quantitative and qualitative data
  5. Balancing data, design, and stories (BBC)
  6. sweet spot = research, design, data (airbnb)
  7. Design for behavior - ie. wander / focuser
  8. Customer first
  9. Inclusive design
  10. In btw moments of motion

THE DESIGN SCIENTIST

THE DESIGN SCIENTIST
Amber Cartwright (Airbnb)

Research + Design + Data = the sweet spot

When dealing with airbnb's price, the following has to be considered — demand + location + listing uniqueness

Insight #1: Bridging the worlds of data and design builds better product.

Insight #2: Understanding data and communicating what it means empowers teams.

ROBOT ETHICS AND THE FUTURE OF HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION


ROBOT ETHICS AND THE FUTURE OF HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION
Kate Darling (MIT media lab)

The anthropomorphism effect - Project human emotions on objects, animals, and now ROBOTS

When robots have eyes or other human features or movements that mimic human behavior, we treat or respond to these robots as real even though we know they are not.

Is this a good thing?

ALL-INCLUSIVE DESIGN — EXCLUDING NO GENDER

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ALL-INCLUSIVE DESIGN — EXCLUDING NO GENDER
Sarah Lerén (InUse)

How do we design for people who do not associate with either gender, male or female?

To begin:
1. Start with why
2. Make it all-inclusive
3. Beware of bias

Personas: focus on behaviors instead of gender — for example, the wander (explorer), focuser (on a mission)

sketch.jpg

BUILDING BETTER PRODUCTS WITH EMOTIONAL DATA

BUILDING BETTER PRODUCTS WITH EMOTIONAL DATA
Sarah Henry (Accela)

Combining qualitative and quantitative gives us valuable emotional data. A great way to combined the two is capture qualitative data in a database to allow for quantitative analysis.

Sarah uses a database tool called airtable, which allows her to tag each user test, and upload files, clips, findings, etc.

DESIGN IN A WIGGLY WORLD

whogetsrepresented.jpg

DESIGN IN A WIGGLY WORLD — OF MIRRORS, VIRTUAL REALITY, AND BIG DATA  Tricia Wang (constellate data)

"Data is not raw, data is designed"

"Thick Data analysis primarily relies on human brain power to process a small “N” while big data analysis requires computational power (of course with humans writing the algorithms) to process a large “N”. Big Data reveals insights with a particular range of data points, while Thick Data reveals the social context of and connections between data points. Big Data delivers numbers; thick data delivers stories. Big data relies on machine learning; thick data relies on human learning." 

 "More numbers do not necessarily produce more insights"

"The risk in a Big Data world is that organizations and individuals start making decisions and optimizing performance for metrics—metrics that are derived from algorithms.."

"Roger Magoulas, who coined the term Big Data, emphasizes the need for stories: “stories tend to spread quickly, helping spread the lessons from the analysis throughout an organization.”