Nobodies

Last week, I saw Hang Xu's LinkedIn thread on Product Design Week London. This was an interesting collection and reflection thread that highlighted valid criticisms about big for-profit design events. I didn't attend, so I can't comment on the accuracy of the comments, but one thing really stood out: We are putting too much emphasis on how big tech companies do design, product etc...

The designers in those big, successful companies have access to much wider resources yet they do not have the luxury to spend the majority of their time designing actual experiences. Yes, their political navigation skills are very valuable to listen to, but is that what we need more of as designers? Wouldn't that make us salespeople or politicians, not designers?

I echo many of the comments in the thread with respect to the "nobodies" - design/product people working in small organizations, with usually a low or non-existent social media presence.

In the recent years, I have found talks from these "nobodies" extremely insightful and more importantly, humble. When you are working for a large organization, it is easy to mistake the company's success with your own. In worst cases, you start confusing yourself with the company. You think you are Facebook, Miro, Microsoft... In many cases, you convey nothing of use to the people who don't have the budget/project luxuries one has in large companies. In some cases, you deliver the embarrassment of how design/research teams are neglected throughout the company, yet you do this with the most elegantly designed talk, as to promote it as a success. Because if you don't, the conference will not be happy and your company will be even less happy :/

This is a hard problem. The thread has very good pro and counter perspectives, and I highly recommend that you go through them to inform how you will select the next conference you'll attend and what you will be looking for in the speaker roster.

Link to the thread on LinkedIn ➡️

Events

World Usability Day - 20th Edition

I was honored to present a perspective on modern usability to the Pluxee team this week. We celebrated the World Usability Day in the company all-hands, thanks to the sensibility of Nilay Ocak.

Alive Pro: Design systems

I am looking forward to the design systems event organized by Brick/Userspots this week. The line-up looks like a good mix of overseas speakers and local contributors.