I like to think that I keep an eye out for things. As a child, I was always the first to spot a camouflaged wall gecko (icky, hypnotic things they are) gripping walls with Teflon-esque pads. I was the first to smell the sharp odor that accompanied roaches, seconds before they danced in. All this in spite of my love-hate relationship with my glasses.
Mix this in with my rather vocal habit of providing feedback, and you’d understand why user experience, henceforth called, “UX”, is endlessly exciting for me.
Usable was no exception to this. In an earlier post, I explained just how unplanned my attendance was, in the same breath that I advocated for a taste of life.
I attended Usable Lagos with my colleague, T. We set off from Surulere a little past 5.30pm, hoping that Lagos traffic would comport itself in the short distance from thence to the meet up at Sabo. I’m excited to say we had no such luck, as everything took twice as long as it should have-flagging down kekes, switching Danfos, and the brisk walk to the CC Hub building .
Thursday was a day of many firsts; My first interaction with CC Hub, and with the Usable Lagos community.
A senior colleague, an insightful, intriguing personality, says that everyone is a designer. It’s an unpopular opinion in some circles, but I think this is about perspective, and one’s reception of new experiences.
I was determined to see this event with designful eyes.
Up the lift we went. It seemed a little closed in, and, yes, I understand that elevators nearly always are, but I think I feel different in elevators that can hold eight, ten, twelve or fourteen. This could only hold four, and I was left with flashbacks of being trapped in an elevator in a teaching hospital.
We pushed through a heavy (that door is heavy biko) door into a room full of people. I wasn’t sure what to see, at first. The anterior two thirds of the room was occupied by people in chairs, and a speaker delivering a presentation. The last third of the room, and extending to the far left had rows of desks occupied by people hard at work, a large TV and a restful rug. I don’t think I will forget the rug in a hurry. It was green, the right shade of green too, not too deep, and just lush enough to invite aching feet or a tired butt. That rug is worthy of a name.
If the rug were a person, it would be a Ladykiller.
My eyes took in all of this as I made my way to the back. There was no visible seating at the time, and there seemed to be no one to ask about that. It felt like a buffet-great pickings put up for display, with guests expected to intuitively understand what plate went where, and which sauce to ladle as a side dish.
As I do in moments of brief confusion, I act on pure instinct. I scanned the room for empty seating, as I struggled with my tote to free my handkerchief. I was sweating quite profusely, and couldn’t seem to locate an AC draft to sidle closer to. The busy bees at the posterior third of the room seemed oblivious to the pervading heat, working furiously to complete their monkeys.
I spotted an abandoned seat with a PC on it, and was urged by T to take it. He’s very chivalrous when he’s not looking for my trouble, lol. I kidnapped the device and settled in quickly, dropping “pardon mes” as I sidled down the aisle. Two quick breaths later, and I was finally settled enough to listen to Namnso Ukpanah talk about designing experiences. Then, BAM! It was Q and A time.
I cast an eye around and T was nowhere to be found, he must have found seating. I shifted my attention from the speaker to reach for a sheet to convert to a makeshift fan. The heat was not letting up.
Shortly after this came announcements and a photo session. It felt like a wedding Mass I had missed and arrived just in time to hear the photography director call out: Friends of the Bride! Friends of the Bride, come and take pictures please!
I wasn’t ready to be that friend. :)
I did spend the time saying hi to people in neighbouring seats. I met AYY, who had replied this pre-event tweet:
Then came the stacking of chairs, and the general steering of attendees to the top deck. It’s a shaded roof with, you guessed it, lush, green carpeting and a freakishly amazing view of Sabo. The hovering harmattan haze took nothing away from this beauty. All the weather forecasts finally made sense-I had to be six levels up to see the haze battling visibility, blending restfully with the lights and horn honks from the busy road below.
I watched two female hawkers fleet between stationary cars to hand over bottles through the driver’s window. There must have been competition to arrive there first, but it was devoid of rancor-I saw the runner up hawker stiffen and yell at an Okada rider for swerving too close to them as he pressed between cars. Sweet solidarity.
I reflected on many things, some of which I will share, in another post perhaps. Did I mention that snacks and drinks had been made available? No? Well, they had. I missed the snacks-they ran out before my turn arrived-and had a PET drink instead.
The most consistent thing i noticed about this phase of the event was the plentiful clustering. Nearly everyone was in a hub of some sort, speaking just above a whisper, looking and sounding intense. Yo, Devs, are y’all this intense, all the time? How do you build stuff?
Second most consistent thing was the paucity of women. I have witnessed, experienced and read about this enough to understand reality. I remember attending a Google UX masterclass. I had arrived early, and was the only female attendee at the time. I made a point of going around the entire room to introduce myself to members of other teams. I encountered surprise, fleeting discomfort and some anxiety.
The only other woman I saw at the meet was one of the organisers. She had made an announcement for a meet up of women in UX. Speaking of announcements, Namnso, the speaker, announced the Figma Design meetup scheduled for the 27th, themed “Understanding Design Systems”.
Networking in clusters is a bit of a bummer, and we planned an exit. Something interesting did happen in the elevator, on the way down (as an aside, anyone else notice that elevators are easily called lifts during elevation, but it’s tougher to do this on the way down?)
In the awkward, sweaty elevator silence, I said hi to fellow riders. One of them was a nice young man, K. We would later board the same bus to our respective destinations, and part as acquaintances just before the last vehicle. I did not know this, but we would meet again at the Figma meet up in a few days.
Up until the following Saturday, I was divided on attendance.
I had missed this UX cum design Mass, would it have made sense to miss another?
Author’s Very Vocal Footnote
I write what I like. These words depict a sharing of my interactions with the world. They do not constitute criticism, or a defined attempt to provide user feedback, unless otherwise stated.
Sometimes, if I think the feedback may be misdirected, I will share it via personal conversation. Please share these experiences with me, and provide feedback too (comment box looks mighty empty).
User-friendly regards,
Ebuwa
