Quality talks from Interaction 19
I published a top 10 of my talks from Interaction 19, but there was so much good (and plenty of not so good) that I felt I needed to share and recognise more of the great efforts from people I saw.
Next 19
- Liz Jackson — Empathy reifies disability stigmas
- Nelly Ben Hayoun — Designing the impossible
- Molly Wright Steenson — What we really mean when we say “ethics”
- Vijay Chakravarthy — Design for meaningful growth
- Don Norman — Empathy sucks
- Shubham Banerjee — Innovating for Good: My experiments as a 12-year old innovator
- Rewire your team — Neurodiversity
- Roberta Tassi — The Design System for the Italian Government
- Alok Nandi: Diversity: de-ambulation, monocultures, pluriverses
- Andreas Markdalen — Democratization, Industrialization and Augmentation: Where Creativity and Design Craft is Going Next
- Lauren Gibbons — Designing data for emotional experiences
- Will Anderson & Karwa iNg — Below the iceberg
- John Maeda — Makers vs Talkers
- Kit Olinyk — Evil by Design
- Anthony Paul — Envisioning Our Demise to Prevent Our Extinction
- Sheryl Cababa — Trust, Transparency + Tarot Cards
- Tatiana Toutikian — Near-Future Technology Plagues
- Chris Avore — Scaling Emergent Design Leadership for Complex Teams, Organizations, and Markets
- Ayse Birsel — Design the Life You Love
Liz Jackson — Empathy reifies disability stigmas
Liz hit the audience hard with the idea of bringing in expertise from those with disabilities more closely to the design process rather than the odd co-design session or research interview. She pulled no punches. Challenging our viewpoints on empathy, altruism and inclusion.
Molly Wright Steenson — What we really mean when we say “ethics”
Molly reviewed the growing interest around ethics in design, but raised concern of the efficacy of the many frameworks and tools that are emerging. A great primer before entering into the emotionally jarring world of design and tech ethics.
Vijay Chakravarthy — Design for meaningful growth
This talk came across a bit slow at first, but the pacing was clear and there is some nice framework thinking here that could be useful to reference for yor projects.
Don Norman — Empathy sucks
Don did his casual reflective styled talk with more interesting Q&A (make sure you get access to that on the video) challenging some sacred cows like empathy and helping developing countries.
He also got a smile out of me promoting the notion of curiosity over empathy, describing himself being very un-empathetic. Just ask his wife.
Shubham Banerjee — Innovating for Good: My experiments as a 12-year old innovator
It was great having such a smart and young individual on stage. He told a great story of his drive to develop a cheaper and better braille machine.
A great story indeed, and definitely a remarkable human. Something he played down with his takeaways at the end. And I felt this could have been a much shorter talk with a little less self-indulgence (I only say that given the reference to no ego). But still worth a watch if you ever feel that Milennials are lazy and entitled. We need more people like this — who drive change for the better.
Alok Nandi: Diversity: de-ambulation, monocultures, pluriverses
I’m conflicted on this one. In many typical frames of reference this wasn’t a good talk, but maybe we need more diversity in talk style. This was meandering (explicitly so), and abstract (once again deliberate) with loose frameworks upon frameworks. I think it would take longer to decode, but I include it to inspire some fresher thinking
Andreas Markdalen — Democratization, Industrialization and Augmentation: Where Creativity and Design Craft is Going Next
After so many frameworks and theory around AI, it was great to have the abstract illustrated with examples. We’re not philosophers folks. Use some design stuff in your presentations too maybe?
Anyway, this talk is full of references of AI-esque topics that affect what we design and how we might design
Lauren Gibbons — Designing data for emotional experiences
This was a fairly light talk with beautiful process and solution imagery around some projects Lauren worked on at ESI Design. Maybe we need more case studies like this. Aside from the nice imagery, Laura framed her thinking nicely around different aspects of the experience from space, to testing.
Rewire your team
A great talk explaining the challenges of being autistic and how to nurture a neuro-diverse workplace
Roberta Tassi — The Design System for the Italian Government
A beautifully illustrated story about work to help improve the design practices and quality in the Italian government
Will Anderson & Karwa iNg — Below the iceberg
A nicely positioned talk about looking at the depth challenges and unintended consequences beneath the surface of the design work we do
John Maeda
A ramble through the world of a maker turned talker-maker. Nice but rambly.
Nelly Ben Hayoun — Designing the impossible
Nelly took us on a wild divergent rollercoaster tour of her work and some messages. It felt unstructured, random at times, and she had to practically had to be pulled off stage when she ran over. That aside, she was evidently a smart and prolific designer and protagonist with some envious achievements and initiatives that she is driving forwards.
Kit Olinyk — Evil by Design
A reflection on the unintended and intended negative consequences of design work
Anthony Paul — Envisioning Our Demise to Prevent Our Extinction
Possibly the most audacious title of a talk but with some practical advice of planning for futures.
Sheryl Cababa — Trust, Transparency + Tarot Cards
Using a lot of pics of Jeff Goldblum and Jurassic Park references, Sheryl talked us through Artefact’s brilliant Tarot card frameworks for building better products. I managed to nab a set at the studio tour.
Tatiana Toutikian — Near-Future Technology Plagues
Tatiana followed up her theatrical futures’ performance from Lyon with a little tour of more provocations for the near future and a new take on Dunne and Raby’s infamous list. She’s definitely one to watch.
Chris Avore — Scaling Emergent Design Leadership for Complex Teams, Organizations, and Markets
Chris reflected on his and InVision’s research around design value, and also the changing nature of the world we are now living. He linked back to the closing keynote from Lyon to illustrate what new leadership should consider and build for. One to keep going back for.
Ayse Birsel — Design the Life You Love
Ayse, an award winning designer told the story of how through her own anxiety when her agency was hit by the recession, she reinvented herself and found a way to design her own life. Now she does the same for others. I’d already bought her book in Portland a few days previously. One for the inspiration — press the buzzer!
