UX in SF
New inspiration can hit anytime. Often it will be whimsical and organic happening in a happenstance. In this case it was planned. I booked a 2-day Conference in San Francisco in hopes to brighten my week, learn and be inspired. All three were achieved.
With a breathtaking view and spectacular scenery, this conference was set in the backdrop of a towering outdoor fine arts center. With pillars and architecture that seemed right out of the roman empire. Looming columns topped with robe draped sculptures of Mediterranean men all facing melodically towards the ocean. This was a perfect place to have a walk, sip on coffee, nibble on scones, and to talk to fellow conference goers, in-between speeches.
What to take home.
Be kind……
This message bled through the conference as life blood of successful design and collaboration. Every speaker had something interesting to say, from Melanie Araujo, from Facebook, to Lisa Ding, from Twitter. And nearly all came back to one theme. Kindness. This doesn’t just mean be nice to those people making your Venti Frappuccino in hopes to get an extra pump of seasonal spice. This was a concept beyond inter-human relations. Instead I received a message of design kindness. What I mean is, we should be making products and experiences that are not frustrating, instead are engaging, and just the way you would want to be introduced to a new friend. We as designers have an important opportunity: To use our medium of this digital space to aid in the connection between women/ men and machine. Some spoke of how to better manage assets at a small business, to handling tools to empower your employees and business. To me this was all a way to give us a better platform and roadmap to handling users with compassion in mind. ‘Compassionate design’ has always been my personal slogan, and it was extremely motivating to be surrounded by so many like minds.
We are all users.
A paradigm we often forget. Designers can fall into a pattern of designing for themselves or for developers. This is disastrous. Designing for an individual, especially the individual living in our own head, full of biases and directed emotions, causes nothing but trouble. Unless you are making a tool for designers and developers, we must all begin with an open mind and heart. Not only imagining ourselves as others, we must actually ask them. Get in deep. Connect with the person, not the idea. Know what they are feeling, and how that impacts their decisions. We are all emotional creatures. And learning about others helps us with not only the perfection of a product but also personal growth. Every day is a learning experience with Testing interaction. When you have a minute take some time and ask a stranger how they feel about something that impacts you both, and most importantly give them genuine concern for their response.
Peak mentality
The idea that at some point you will be as good as you can ever be is a joke. Elaine Chao made a beautiful analogy. For most when asked about a blackbelt in martial arts pictures this as the pinnacle of training. When in fact there are 10 degrees of black belt. This means you spend more time as a blackbelt than all the others combined. This is because of our perception of success and skill. As we learn more our confidence grows and matures. But learning never stops. We continue to perfect ourselves, but never actually achieve perfection. Even, Alex Honnold, who was the first to free solo climb El Capiton, with no safety equipment, speaks of after finishing the greatest accomplishment of his life sees this as just another stepping stone in his life, and only expressed a short time of elation after this triumphant journey. We all have room for improvement. Even the grandmaster
Making a living vs making a life
Most of us have bills. We all have needs. None of this should stop anyone from living their best life. It is easy to focus on what gets you by. I would implore you to do more. And not running a marathon more, just create. As designers we very easily focus on deadlines and milestones. What we all need to do is to make more: art, apps, experiences. It doesn’t matter. Just get out and make. Some of the best ideas come from play. I know personally that writing sci-fi has given me more drive to expand and express more of the details of a project. I always relate back to being creative. And think to myself, “what else?” I always want to know if there is something else. This means that I might want to perfect a specific function or feature. Or sit longingly staring out of the window day dreaming on how to eat ramen in space. Either way I receive inner peace and fire at the same time. Calm and inspired. Make this life yours
Tension is
Many people think of tension between things as negative. I loved how the speaker showed how we all live with tension. And it is needed. Mainly to help balance. We all only have a certain amount of time each day. And with this our projects and responsibilities pull on us and even compete for our attention. This is the tension she referred to. It is absolutely important to have tension. It can help drive us and partition our time better.
Early curation is critical
I have always been a huge proponent of early curation. But it is always nice to have those ideas reinforced. One of my favorite parts of UX is information architecture. The collection of data and research. The interviews with potential user, and the connection to the information is exciting. To me it is like sitting in on a lecture you don’t have to pay for. Every individual helps me grow and learn about them and the product I intend to design. It is a great practice to ensure that there is a benchmark of knowledge that can be referred to and updated throughout the project.
Pave the cow paths
I love this idea. If anyone isn’t familiar with cow paths, they are just what it sounds like. Fortunately, most of us don’t have to work with heifers, so this usually refers to automating services to ensure maximum efficiency. In this case what I got from his speech was that it was more about making it easier on yourself. In this case you are the cow. Or maybe the coworkers. Either way a sure-fire way to achieve better results it by ensuring that your environment has as little business friction as possible.
Learn who to ignore
This is a lifelong goal of mine. I am a huge people watcher and love to observe everyone. This can be one of my biggest struggles. I want to absorb everything from everyone. As we all know, not everyone is worth listening to. And the ability to know when to tune some folks out can be very helpful.
Enjoy your side hustle
Most of us have more going on in our lives than the 9-5. The rest of that time is often spent with family and hobbies. More than one of the speakers mentioned the importance of nurturing tangential work. Draw a picture, write a poem, make a user flow, research, learn and never stop growing. Even a few minutes a day can help foster creativity and passion. Never let go of these. They are the life blood of designers.
After a couple days surrounded by like minds and by so many creative fun people which has inspired me to cornerstone on my core beliefs: Compassionate design focused on user success. I have been motivated by more than just the speakers. The amazing and energetic crowd which filled the auditorium were infectious with their demeanor and ideas. With a revolving door of thoughts and concerns, my note pad filled up fast. I want to thank CloudCar for sending me, but also every speaker, especially Dan, and the most important, all the people who I connected with. Awwwards did an amazing job at putting together brilliant collaborative minds. I am looking forward to the next event.
Digital Thinkers Conference
By awwwards.com
Written by Jacob Gruver
5.13.19