Design Matters Tokyo ’23: My experience, Highlights, and Takeaways
My first Design Conference was unexpectedly fun!
Design Matters is a Design conference made for designers, by designers. It is a place to gather together, share ideas, and discuss experiences.
Each year Design Matters takes an in-depth look at topics in the design industry, guided by talks, workshops by seasoned speakers from the industry. This year’s three themes are “AI+Design”, “Planet-centric Design,” and “Designing for well-being.”
Here are some things I learned and loved.
<psst!! Photos are curated from Design Matters Twitter community>
LEARNED: We are entering a new era of AI
Well portrayed in his talk, Tobias Ahlin (GitHub) believed
We are entering the era where we are seeing AI not as an Informational tool, but a Creative Tool”.
- We are used to seeing “Creativity as your journey of self expression. As innately human”.
- But if computer does it … Do we call that Creativity? (Technically, it is still producing value, just not through the same process”?
It is foreseeable that there will be a shift in the role of AI, from curation, to recommendation, to generation: not only producing words or videos or texts based on the input prompts, but even self-production and culture-production — the new era of Creativity, powered by AI. And as culture will be easier to produce, it will be the time when every creator becomes a creative director.
Stig Møller Hansen & Karsten Vestergaard (DJMX) in their talk “AI + YOU: Boss fight or Tag team”, shared how you can apply Japanese martial art “守破離 \ SHU-HA-RI” concept to stay on top of the emergence of AI.
LEARNED: The role of Designers in this new world
AI seems magical 🪄 … but what does it mean for Designers?
- Will we lose our job? What is the need for designers? How can designer still stay relevant and be competitive
To be honest, no one knows. But we can try to understand AI potential impact, and think about our creative journey. At the end, AI is a tool. AI may be good at lubricating someone’s style, but if you want to make something original, you need to (art) direct AI.
I love these tips on “Finding your own style”, shared by Motion Designer Marina Nakagawa:
- Make personal works. Regularly. Share your artwork even if you’re not happy with it.
- Don’t limit yourself to what you dream. Be inspired by different role models, but it’s important do what you enjoy.
- Have a style but don’t let style have you. Keep pushing your comfort zone so your work are always fresh.
LEARNED: New values of well-being
There are many interesting talks on how to foster well-being among yourselves, and how to translate wellbeing into Design work.
Play
Jorge Furuya (Head of Car UX at Volvo Cars) beautifully captured this:
“Playfulness is intelligence” — it is the ability to reframe and solve problems.
So the role of design is not just coming up with ideas, but also think about, and be responsible for the thoughtfulness of the solution.
At Sony, play is being expanded into 1) A gamified design tool, and 2) An inclusive design tool. Design producer Ippei Tambata shared about their project on a VR catch game with sound interaction that started from helping a blind father play catch with his son… and grew into how it could be a game for all types of people.
Cal Thompson (VP, End to End Design) also shared that at “mindfulness” is Headspace DNA — they think through the user journey end-to-end, and the different touch points user interact with. It is important reward, or encourage people when they could do something new or hard!
Time
It is important to charge your creative battery properly!
Make sure you have an agenda and goals before inviting people to work meeting. Be mindful of your time. Meetings are also important. Working hours are also important. But work isn’t everything. Don’t let work hijack your life even if you love work — Balance is important. Definitely check out José Torre’ talk on “How to Design your time”
Mental Model
Your design process is not a checklist. Andrew Lee (Product Designer at Notion) introduced 5 mental models we can leverage in Product Design — I was purely in awe with this talk. Check out my Sketchnotes 👇
To sum up, as the world embraces and enjoy the power of AI and emerging tech, it is important for us as designers and creators, to embrace input\intuition and enjoy the creative journey with mindfulness.
LOVED: The branding
The Conference branding is unparalleled. I’ve never seen anything like this. The colors. The shapes. The patterns. My friend Amanda and I had a discussion on this, and we really want to know what went into the branding design process for this year.
- A microscopic study of digital design? A zoom into the details of digital design and emerging tech? An implication that AI, wellbeing, and planet-centric design will be elemental like our DNA? All questions worth pondering over.
LOVED: The storytelling
We saw many speakers who brought on stage their projects, personalities, and passions in different ways: through case studies, showreels, hand-drawn illustrations, and even personal stories, (whether real or with the help of Chat GPT). Each presenter had something unique to offer, so you never knew what to expect next.
LOVED: The workshops
All workshops brought unique offerings, some required more internalizing your thoughts, whilst others required more collaboration group work.
The topics were also diverse: IDEO with Design Fiction: Future of Sushi workshop, Erika & Sherry’s Improving Team Wellbeing through Inclusive Communication”, Charlie Tango Speculative Design as a method and a mindset to tackle systemic challenges, to StudioEmmi & Rakuten’s workshop on Creative Ecosystem.
I did struggle to find my voice in the group, as some we had a mixture of loud personalities and softer ones. However, I appreciated the hosts efforts in facilitating an inclusive and safe space for all.
The workshops were first come first served, and I attended all 4 of them. I can proudly say I am thriving at my click war game 🎉.
LOVED: The goods and the foods
There were many original goods that you can take home, bento food (vegan options available of course). My only complain is that there were too little snacks to munch on :(
P/S: I really love José’s booklet on How to Design your time, and I might have smuggled some a lot of stickers home 😝.
Concluding thoughts:
Thank you Design Matters organizing team for bringing joy to my first Conference! I can’t wait for next year!
