My Thoughts on FITC 2018:
‘Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity’.
Future, innovation, technology, creativity… and so much more.
The FITC conference made its stop in Toronto this past April 8th to 10th. Knowing that the three-day event has previously had over 50 thousand attendees, across 24 cities, I had pretty high expectations. The conference focused on the best and most cutting-edge innovations in creative technologies, including design, digital development, and media. With the huge spectrum of topics and themes in the conference, I’m happy to say that I got out of it way more than a few neat tricks or tips here and there.
With the risk of sounding too cheesy and cliché, the conference really inspired me as a designer and as a person. But in all seriousness, although I only had the time to pop into a few presentations and take in a bit of what the full conference had to offer, the energy and insight of the speakers and attendees I met was infectious and could not be ignored. And I believe that’s what these conferences are about. They’re not meant to “change your life” or “define your career”, but if it got you to be a little bit more excited about your job again, or antsy to look what lies ahead in your profession, then it’s more than worth the ticket of admission.
The term “Design” is too Generic: the power of UX and UI combined
Simple can be more informative than having a bunch of useless graphics
Simplicity. Corey Ouellete’s talk itself, was the perfect embodiment of his own topic. Within his brief presentation, he was able to effectively instill the idea and power of simple design: less can really be more. Corey’s specialization was in designing data experiences for users, specifically visualizing complex data. In keeping with his theme, I decided to do the same, so here are 3 things that I took away from his talk:
- Tired of pie charts and bar graphs? So is everyone else. Try alternative means of representing data; eg: Spatial data format
- Two >Three: 3D graphs are ineffective and overly complex. Keep your graphs in 2-D!
- Good data visualization leads the user to dig deeper, understand complex relationships effectively, which ultimately leads to creating actionable experiences. Effective data visualization matters!
Designers should be better at sales
As a designer, you’re selling your ideas, work, approaches, and solutions all the time — whether you realize it or not.
I really want to stress that this maybe my own personal opinion, but I think most people have had bad run-ins with a sales person. They’re typically pushy, aggressive, and you can’t shed the feeling that they’re taking you for a ride. But one thing that you can’t deny is that salespeople worth their salt know how to effectively communicate their ideas to a client. Which brings me to the point Naomi Bower’s, (Design Strategist from Rangle.io) had in her talk: that as a designer, you’re constantly selling your ideas, works, approaches, and solution. She said there’s one clear important quality that all designers should have: you need the ability to convince users why your solution is good design, and how it continues to modernize UI without overwhelming users learning to use new software.
As designers, all of us can benefit from being a little bit more conscious about the importance of this trait, find time to practice how to effectively communicate our ideas, and embrace the inner salesperson in all of us!
Be your own muse not only in design but also your own life
Do not worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on what makes you happy and in turn you will be ahead of the game
Everyone goes through a point in their life when they question their career choice, or if they’re on the “right path”. Which is why I strongly recommend listening to Ben Johnston’s talk. His story, Fail Harder, really resonated with me, as a designer and a person that decided to make a huge career change myself.
Learning that as a person and a designer, I should always “tune into” what I believe and “tune out” what other people think and expect of me. How he successfully managed to find his passion in life after dropping out of school truly deserves a listen. In addition, I would also recommend listening to talks from Reza Ali, a UX engineer at Google and Michelle Corteste, a product designer from Facebook. Check out the full list of featured speakers: http://fitc.ca/event/to18/speakers
WWCode Toronto Director, Stephanie Nguyen: Represent!
As a proud member of the WWCode Toronto Chapter, I definitely had to share my thoughts on our very own organization’s Team Director’s presentation at the conference.
Stephanie’s presentation was so informative, and I really believe every designer could benefit from listening to it. Stephanie focused on the importance and value of having a clear and concise design system, which consisted of three main components: “The Style Guide, Pattern Library, and the Rule Book”. A design system is a collection of reusable components, guided by clear standards, that can be assembled together to build any number of applications. What people tend to focus on is the “what” of the design system, which is understandable. The “what” are the actual rules and standards. But it is just as important for people when using a design system to understand the “why”. The “why” provides meaning and focus for people that use the design system. Having a deeper understanding behind the reason for establishing a design system resolves issues during the design process before they even materialize.
Having implemented the practices at my own work place, and I have seen some instant improvements. It has already helped better manage the user flow, and improve the UI of each feature for a solid MVP free of bugs.
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What else needs to be considered when it comes to design? What other skills would a designer need other than knowing how to photoshop? What do you think about the conference if you had the chance to go? And what other aspects do you think is critical to learn about in tech?
You actually made it to the end of the article! I just want to say thanks and I hope you liked it.
Let us know in the comments or hit the 👏 button if you wish to see more content on these topics and reviews on other events!
About Women Who Code TO
Women Who Code (WWCode) is an international non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. Our goal is to empower women with the skills needed for professional advancement, and provide environments for networking and mentorship. Learn more about the Toronto chapter at womenwhocode.com/toronto or attend an upcoming event at meetup.com/women-who-code-toronto.
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