We asked couple of questions to our speakers and get more precious feedback then we thought. Read more to find out what they feel about UX Alive and what they are up to in their business life.
Laurissa Wolfram-Hvass
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
I’m pretty excited! I’m looking forward to the conference and getting to meet the coordinators and other speakers.
What are you currently working on?
Things are pretty busy at MailChimp. I’m working to build our team, train researchers, and keep projects moving along. We have a lot of projects going on simultaneously for different teams and departments at the company, which keeps all of us on our toes!
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
Tough to say. I feel like there’s so much more I want to accomplish! But right now, I’m pretty excited about what I’ve been doing to make usability testing a more routine process at MailChimp. I’ve built a special group of frequent test participants called MailChimp Beta Labs, and I’m creating a program to make it much faster for us to get feedback to our Product team.
Have you had a chance to look other sessions of UX Alive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
The entire schedule looks great, but I think I’m most looking forward to meeting and attending sessions by Jenny Grove, Vitaly Friedman, and Zoltan Kollin.
Vitaly Friedman
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
This year’s UX Alive isn’t my first one, and knowing how well it was organized last year, I’m very much looking forward to returning to Istanbul this year! I know UX Alive as a professional event which is respected and valued in the community.
What are you currently working on?
Right now I have a few ongoing projects; one of them is Smashing’s redesign, but I’ve been also working with a few German companies, some eCommerce retailers, a Canadian university and a large European institution.
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
Frankly, I think it’s microinteractions and little details that we added as a quick experiment in interfaces to test how people respond to them. We love little delightful moments when we add some sense of delight to make the experience stand out. I really love these little things and very proud of seeing conversion increasing once we add them or remove complexity in interfaces. I’m definitely proud of what Smashing Magazine has become over all these years, and I’m very happy to still see it growing and evolving today.
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UXAlive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
I’m very interested in UX and technical sessions, so I’m looking forward to attend them — well, as long as they are in English :-)
Steve Baty
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
I’m really excited about UX Alive! Istanbul is a city of wanted to visit for a very long time, and I finally have the chance. More so, the mix of speakers will introduce me to people I wouldn’t normally see at Australian or US conferences. And then, of course, the attendees will be from places I never get to see.
What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a project looking at service delivery for the state government of Queensland here in Australia. The project will include contextual research, prototyping and testing physical and digital interactions; and result in a full-sized pilot service centre incorporating the new prototypes. We’ve just begun, and the project will run over the next few months.
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
I don’t like to talk about specific projects, but the work I get to do at Meld Studios — and the people with whom I get to work everyday — is a constant source of pride for me. Our work makes a difference to the way people engage with the world around them in small ways every day — that adds up over time to a significant difference!
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UXAlive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
I’m really interested in hearing Asma Karoobi’s talk about different user contexts in Iran. That’s going to be a whole new area for me to learn about.
Ramy Nassar
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
I’d have to say I’m quite excited. It’s an amazing city and the program looks to be diverse, but really centered around creating end-user value & impact — two things that drive me to create my best work every day.
What are you currently working on?
It’s a secret. But I’ll tell you anyway… We recently built a 5m wide interactive, gesture-based video wall for a major national sporting goods retailer, which has been installed in multiple locations. Now we’re looking back at end-users to understand where the next wave of innovation and evolution will come from, working on a unique digital platform.
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
I’d definitely include that video wall in the list. Outside of my core work with Architech, building & growing TEDxWaterloo, an independent event that has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people has made me very proud.
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UX Alive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
I’m most excited to participate in the workshop about using improv techniques in UX. I’ve done a few short sessions on this, and would love to expand my toolbox!
Ronel Mor
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
Feels like a big and interesting event
What are your areas of expertise?
The intersection between Design, UX, branding and product.
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
Mantis — The studio I founded is my biggest pride and the companies and people I had the privilege to work with on a diverse veriety of projects — From Intel to MTV, Microsoft, Audi and and many more..
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UX Alive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
Looked at the sessions on numerous occasions, Laurissa Wolfram-Hvass’s and Vitaly Friedman’s sessions seem like the most interesting to me.
David Peter Simon
How do you feel about UX Alive so far, what are your first impressions?
An impressive line-up! I’m really excited. If anything to add, I do think it would be fun for attendees to see a more information architecture-oriented talk, such as one from Dan Klyn, Peter Morville, Andrea Resmini, Andrew Hinton, or Jorge Arango. Also: Christina Wodtke might be of interest.
What are you currently working on?
I’m preparing for a one month UX research study with community health workers in Nairobi (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda). I’ll be in the field from April 1st to May 1st, conducting usability tests and facilitating service design workshops.
What are the works you’re most proud of in your career life?
I was the UX designer on the project that helped Amnesty build out their first mobile app, assisting with strategy in Bangalore (India) and running design thinking innovation workshops in Nairobi. The team ended up winning a Google Impact Award worth £100K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtrL6HZwSdI
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UX Alive, do you have any specific workshop or session you want to participate?
Workshop@Night looks great, I’d love to attend. I’d also be curious to attend Aras Bilgen’s workshop. I’m always interested to see how different experts structure an intro course.
Matthew Magain
How do you feel about UX Alive so far? What are your first impressions?
I’m super excited to be coming to Turkey, and honoured to have been invited. I spent 5 weeks backpacking through Turkey in my early 20s, visiting Cappadocia, Kuşadası, Nemrut Dağı, and Olympus (here’s a photo from 20 years ago!). I have so many fond memories of my travels, so this will be quite a nostalgic trip for me. I’m excited to see how much in Turkey has changed, and what has stayed the same.
From what I can tell of the conference, it is going to be an intense three days! The calibre of the other speakers is really impressive, and I’m looking forward to immersing myself in three days of learning from the many international and local speakers, as well as connecting with other practitioners. UX is such a diverse field, and I really enjoy learning about what kinds of work other people are doing, and the challenges they face.
What are you currently working on?
I’ve recently begun the transition from practitioner to business owner. The time was right for me to expand beyond being just a one-person outfit to growing a team of people more talented than myself, so what I’m working on is growing the business. This means learning about all of the stuff that 10 years ago I used to put my fingers in my ears and sing “la la la!” You know: sales, marketing, account management, people management, finance … I still dabble in practitioner work, but I’m learning a lot and I’m enjoying it.
I’ll touch on this in my presentation, but it’s surprising just how many of the skills I learned as a designer are serving me well in this new role.
What work are you most proud of in your career?
I’ve started doing more and more work with not-profits and government departments, and my eyes have been opened about how working with these clients really enables me to do meaningful work that impacts people who are at a much bigger disadvantage than myself. In particular, I created a sketch video for a not-for-profit in Australia called PIC (Professional Individualised Care: http://mypic.org.au). It’s an innovative foster care program for troubled youths, and it’s having a profound effect on these young people’s lives. It was a privilege to help tell their story, and I hope to get more involved in helping similar organisations.
Have you had chance to look other sessions of UX Alive, and do you have any specific workshops or sessions that you want to participate in?
Yes, but there is so much on, so it will be hard to decide! I really want to attend Steve Baty’s workshop on creating Customer Journey Maps. I’ve heard good things!
