My top 10 talks from Interaction 19
Some cream from the crop at this year’s conference in Seattle
Top talks from Interaction 19
Some cream from the crop at this year’s conference in Seattle
After a long journey home, a post conference skim through my notes and many, many photos of slides, I thought I’d share some rough overviews of my top talks from Interaction 19. There was so much content. All of it pretty high quality. Some of it mundane or repetitive (eg, AI and Ethics — I think we overdosed on 101s here), but some of it making the right provocations or sharing the right insight to edge us forwards as an industry. Or me at least.
My top 10
- Jon Kolko — Stories: The Way to Our Heart, and the Key to Design Strategy
Using rich stories from research to drive action - Chris Seifert — emotions in motion
A beautiful overview of the value of sound design and how to use it - Simone Tertoolen — Designing for People on the Move
A brilliantly simple design case study based on simple observations of women and their handbags. Gorgeous product too. - Azmina Karimi: Let’s talk about tatoos, baby
A great case study of reframing tattoos for post mastectomy women - Jack Morgan — Being Responsible for 1.2 Billion People
How learning language empowers refugees across the world - Bill Buxton — Wild Design for Living in the Wild
Designing with and beyond interface, considering the wider system context - Marty Neumeier — Agile Strategy
Gloriously simple language for explaining design value to business - Tea Ugalow — Normality is stupid
Powerful talk on different types of diversity and how designing for normality makes no sense - Scott Kubie — How to get the writing done
Energetic and practical talk on writing - Maria Giudice — The Life of a changemaker
Bold and tough talk on leading design in an organisation by a true badass i design
1. Jon Kolko — Stories: The Way to Our Heart, and the Key to Design Strategy
‘Not another talk on storytelling’ I hear you say. Not quite. Devoid of the typical tropes and over simplification, Jon goes deeper into the power of human stories and how to engage the audience with them using the power of cognitive dissonance. Using real audio and photos from research, Jon managed to crank up the emotional responses and make us care about his research participants. In typical Kolko style, there were also great frameworks and theory that accompanied his highly effective presentation style. Probably my number one talk this year.
2. Chris Seifert — emotions in motion
This guy had me at the first non slide. But beyond the resonance of his topic with my own interests, I loved how Chris framed the use of sound design so beautifully. Both visually and aurally.
3. Simone Tertoolen — Designing for People on the Move
I had the joy of meeting Simone the evening before and seeing the incredibly clever handbag she designed. In her talk she explained her curious research approaches, and some observations around lost time looking for things in handbags.
4. Azmina Karimi — Let’s Talk About Tattoos, Baby
Azmina told her story of working on P.Ink, a global organisation that educates mastectomy patients about tattoos as a healing option. Getting away with showing plenty of pictures of breasts, she showed how a simple insight led to women being empowered through body art after mastectomy surgery.
5. Jack Morgan — Being Responsible for 1.2 Billion People
Channeling Downton Thespianism, I felt the inadequacy of my own British accent when Jack took the stage. Immaculately dressed and bellowing authoritative enunciations, Jack told the story of learning how Duolingo was affecting the world. In particular refugees and immigrants from around the world. Using rich imagery and stories from success stories around the world where language transformed people’s lives, Jack managed to squeeze some tears out of my tired soul. Must watch
6. Bill Buxton — Wild Design for Living in the Wild
Bill took us on a historical journey to make us more aware of the wider content in which we design products and services. How to think beyond but also around interfaces in given places and other contexts.
7. Marty Neumeier — Agile Strategy
I’m a Marty fan boy. In this talk — controversial in many ways — I enjoyed his new take on agile strategy. Reframing design’s efforts in the new world we find ourselves in so that it better resonates with business. He held back a lot of useful content in his Q+A because he wants people to read the book. I can’t wait.
8. Tea Ugalow — Normality is stupid
Tea was one of the most animated and colourful of speakers. Referencing her own changes, she illustrated various ranges of diversity that make none of us normal.
9. Scott Kubie — How to get the writing done
Scott brought the energy and some practical advice to the challenge of writing. So many tips, so clear, so good. I bought his book instantly off the back of it.
10. Maria Giudice — The Life of a changemaker
Maria is one of the boldest design leaders in the field, and a hero of mine ever since her wisdom on a panel at Interaction 15 in San Francisco. She’s also a fellow member of Group of Humans, and so it was lovely to have the excuse to talk to her this week.
In her talk, Maria recounted lessons from leading design at Autodesk. A healthy dose of humility and realism with strong messages for us all.
