design – Say Yeah!

FITC Toronto, April 17-18, 2023

Maryam Atoyebi — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 14:44:53 +0000

Here’s your official invite to the 2023 edition of FITC Toronto.

Whether you work in design, or digital development, finding inspiration and learning from industry leaders benefits your professional development journey.

FITC Toronto is your opportunity to gain professional insights and practical solutions to sharpen your skills. FITC is a two-day in-person and online event showcasing the best the world has to offer in design, digital development, media and innovation in creative technologies.

Talks we’re excited about

Creating Experiences In The Age Of Futurisity with Stephen Martell
Standing Out in a Saturated Medium with Erin Sarofsky
Help for Humans with Jared Ficklin

Full event agenda

FITC Diversity Initiative

FITC is offering complimentary tickets for people from underrepresented groups in tech to attend the event, either in-person or online. The program is aimed at those who are unable to secure a ticket through their company or cannot afford a ticket themselves.

Apply for a free seat

Save $100 on FITC Toronto tickets!

Don’t have a ticket yet? No worries, we’ve got you covered. Save $100 off in-person tickets with code “fitcnews” and 25% off your online ticket with code “twittervip”.

Attend online or in person.

The post FITC Toronto, April 17-18, 2023 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

The Journey of Inclusive Design, June 9, 2022

Brenda Tse — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 11:23:14 +0000

Want to know what goes into inclusive design and learn the specifics of how to apply it for product success?

Tune in to The Journey of Inclusive Design, a one-hour online event that will be held by Sketch on June 9, 2022.

Don’t miss this talk by Sarrah Solomon, UX Designer at Oracle, and Dr. Shadeequa (Dee) Miller, Head of Inclusive Design & Product Equity at Visa.

This talk will explore how to make your designs more inclusive and accessible, uncovering the myths around inclusive design, and explaining the difference between universal design, accessibility, and inclusive design.

View the full event details

Don’t miss out

Join this virtual event for free.

Need help getting started with an inclusive design process?

At Say Yeah, inclusivity and accessibility are top of mind when it comes to design. Not only does inclusive design yield products and services that are easier to use for everyone, but it’s also the key to reaching and engaging with your entire market. Check out our approach to inclusive design and reach out to see how we can help.

Get in touch

The post The Journey of Inclusive Design, June 9, 2022 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

The DesignConf by Learners: June 9-10, 2022

Brenda Tse — Thu, 26 May 2022 14:15:58 +0000

The DesignConf by Learners is back for its second year.

This hybrid event will take place from June 9-10, 2022 in Brooklyn, NY and will also be streamed virtually. Featuring a full schedule of insightful design talks, the DesignConf will include discussions about how the Gov.UK design system was built, self-care for creatives, inclusive design practices, empowering up-and-coming designers, and the current state of design.

A few of the talks we’re excited about:

Care for Creatives, with Nova Nicole
Designers Hold Power in Creating Equitable Futures, with Jahan Mantin and Boyuan Gao
Great Design Requires Great Humans, with Dean Broadley

Check out the full lineup and event schedule

Grab your tickets

Join the virtual event for free or enjoy the in-person experience. Save 90% with discount code JOINSHOPIFYUX and attend the in-person event for just $180. Limited spots are available!

Need help designing exceptional user experiences?

Learn about our approach to inclusive design and our user experience (UX) design services.

Ready to take the next step with your digital products?

The post The DesignConf by Learners: June 9-10, 2022 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

Images and representation: creating more inclusive content

Lee Dale — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 14:25:21 +0000

When you choose images for your website or digital product, it is essential to think about how your audience will perceive the images you select (or omit). Without intention around images and representation, you may unintentionally alienate part of your market.

When using images of people in your product or marketing content, those images should reflect the full range of diversity across your audience.

To consider your audience and their representation across your product and marketing content, you’ll need to reflect on the following:

examples you describe
photos or illustrations you use
people who may be showcased as part of a video, podcast, event, or even the content writing team

A great way to get started with creating more inclusive content is to review your current content photography and illustration to confirm that the people shown in these images reflect the full diversity of your audience.

If you find that some of your audience is underrepresented, here are some excellent stock photography and illustration resources to help you update your existing content and plan your next update with inclusivity in mind.

Stock photography and illustration resources

Explore these 8 photography and illustration resources to bring more diversity and representation to your content.

Disability:IN

Disability:IN offers disability-inclusive stock photography to encourage corporations to use this in recruitment material, marketing material, internal and external communications, and more.

Browse Disability:IN photos

Affect the Verb: Disabled and Here

Disabled and Here is a disability-led effort to provide free & inclusive stock images from a disabled perspective, with photos and illustrations celebrating disabled Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

Browse Diabled and Here photos

WOC in Tech Chat

The WOC in Tech community has shared a series of photos representing women of colour in tech. Their ask is that we use these images in pieces about entrepreneurs, software engineers, infosec professionals, IT analysts, marketers, and other people who make up the tech ecosystem in order to show a different representation of all women in tech.

Browse WOC in Tech photos

Black Illustrations

Black Illustrations includes both free and paid illustrations of Black people across a variety of categories such as business, design, disability, LGBTQ+, and more.

Browse Black Illustrations

Tonl

Tonl offers a paid collection of culturally diverse stock photos that represent the true world we live in.

Browse Tonl photos

Nappy

Nappy offers a free collection of beautiful photos of Black and Brown people.

Browse Nappy photos

The Gender Spectrum Collection

The Gender Spectrum Collection is a non-commercial, free stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models that go beyond the clichés. This collection aims to help media better represent members of these communities as people not necessarily defined by their gender identities—people with careers, relationships, talents, passions, and home lives.

Browse Gender Spectrum photos

The Noun Project

The Noun Project has a series of photo collections offered for free with attribution or with a paid commercial license. Their collections include Diversity in Tech and more.

Browse Diversity in Tech photos

Pexels

While not exclusively providing underrepresented photos and topics, Pexels has been growing its diversity, accessibility, Black, pride, and other collections by working with many creators from diverse backgrounds.

Browse Pexels photos

Create more inclusive products and services

We offer a wealth of insight and expertise on inclusive design and delivering more inclusive products, services, and educational experiences. Reach out for the latest insights and to explore how we can work together to realize the bottom-line benefits of designing for market diversity.

Get in touch

The post Images and representation: creating more inclusive content appeared first on Say Yeah!.

Design Conf by Learners: September 17th, 2021

Kate Matesic — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 15:37:36 +0000

Don’t miss the Design Conf by Learners, taking place on September 17th, 2021

Learners, the new platform for all things product, design, and research, from the team behind the UX Research Conference, is hosting a free, one-day design conference on September 17th from 11-4 pm EST.

The conference will feature talks on everything from landing your first UX gig to inclusive design to design leadership.

Some of the talks we’re looking forward to

Reframing Design Leadership in the Context of Community, with Nikole Arguedas, UX Researcher at Banco General
Inclusive Design: Going Outside of Ourselves and Creating Collectively, with Lauren Celenza, Design Lead at Google
Leading UX Teams Like A Champ with Celeste Ridlen, Head of Research (Hosting) at Airbnb

Check out the full lineup

Get your ticket before they sell out!

The Design Conf is free to attend; however, spots are limited, so sign up today to secure your spot.

Grab a ticket

We’re excited to check out this jam-packed event!

~ The Say Yeah Team

Experience design as a foundational skill

If you’re looking to bring fundamental product strategy and experience design practices to your team, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

The post Design Conf by Learners: September 17th, 2021 appeared first on Say Yeah!.

FITC Spotlight Recap: strategies to boost your UX practice

Kate Matesic — Mon, 20 Apr 2020 14:00:25 +0000

June 2019 represented the most recent FITC Spotlight: UX/UI, held at Toronto’s Telus Tower.

With FITC Toronto scheduled for this week, April 19-21, 2020, but cancelled as a result of social distancing measures, it seems like a great time to share this wonderful content from last year and wish the FITC team well during this difficult time.

The most recent FITC Spotlight: UX/UI focused on strategies to boost your UX practice, as well as a number of design methodologies.

The Say Yeah team immersed themselves in the conference programming and had the chance to connect with several of the speakers. Here are some of our highlights.

In conversation with design leaders

We had the distinct pleasure of being able to dive deeper with some of the great speakers from Spotlight UX/UI. Here’s our audio recap and transcript in conversation with Ha Phan and Haley Hughes.

Catch Ha’s take on using AI in digital products and Hayley’s approach to bringing emerging tech to her design practice, with further discussion from both Ha and Hayley on experimentation and prototyping, and on being a woman in the design industry.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Please read the transcript below

Transcript

Lee Dale:

Welcome. You’re listening to Say Yeah’s digital disruptors podcast. We’re here at FITC spotlight UX UI, I’m Lee.

Kate Matesic:

And I’m Kate.

Lee Dale:

Now, if you don’t know FITC Spotlight is an annual best practices and upskilling content series, covering topics like coating, VR design ethics, and UX UI. Every year, Spotlight UX brings global leaders and interaction and experience design to Toronto. This conference is known for really challenging attendees to step up their game, both creatively and professionally.

Kate Matesic:

It’s like our annual checkup that urges us to rethink what’s happening in our field, and how we can show up better. Through conversations with peers and design leaders, attendees were encouraged to think about the impact they can have as a UX UI designer. We were so inspired by this year’s speakers. They covered everything from design systems thinking to iteration to micro animations in interesting new ways.

Lee Dale:

Today we’ve got some killer insights to share from two of our favorite FITC spotlight speakers. You’ll hear from Hayley Hughes, UX Manager at Shopify, and Ha Phan, Senior Product Manager at Pluralsight. They’ve got solid things to say about design practices and wicked smart advice for women in our industry.

Kate Matesic:

Here’s Ha’s take on using AI and digital products. For her. It’s more about the data you’re working with and about working within limitations, which combined to make a strong AI product. When people think that they’re building products with AI. They think that there’s something magical about it.

Ha Phan:

The key thing to building a good AI product is really understanding how to collect data. It’s kind of like a it’s kind of like a toddler who you teach to do one task, and it doesn’t know how so then you basically have to collect all the right data so that over time the toddler gets better and better and better to do that one task.

So for me, building a product isn’t about anything complex, but really understanding how you roadmap data collection. And then what is it that you’re trying to do with the data? And I think it’s a really hard thing to teach people. And I don’t think you can teach it unless you have lived through one of those experiences, know what questions to ask and how you might frame the experiment to kind of figure out how you want to use AI and how to improve it. It’s basically about having the right data and data collection.

Kate Matesic:

Now let’s hear from Hayley who’s really discerning when it comes to bringing emerging tech to her design practice.

Hayley Hughes:

With a lot of emerging technologies at my disposal. I think that the way that it’s influenced how I design has to do more with the kinds of questions that I have to ask as a designer, there’s a lot of complexity when new platforms and new tech hardware,new environments come into play. And so, as a systems designer, a lot of the questions I have are what do these new technologies have in common? How do they serve people? Not the other way around. And how can we better integrate them into our lives.

And so, you know, trying to best understand when they’re appropriate, and when, you know, a certain kind of technology might not be desirable, becomes, you know, kind of a scenario based way of designing as opposed to in the past, I think it was more artifact based. So you have to design this poster or create this book. And, you know, in that way, it’s a kind of one to one experience with a reader or a visitor at a museum and now it’s oftentimes a multi dimensional space with many, many people involved.

Lee Dale:

One of the cool overlapping opinions we discovered is a shared love of experimentation. For both Han Haley experimentation helps them create better products and more fully understand the problem space. They’re working in products that reflect a stronger understanding of users and a clear vision of the problem they’re solving. Let’s hear from her on an essential skill, building experiments to test and continually improve your digital products.

Ha Phan:

Like I feel like building a product is not like making a cake doesn’t mean that you’re gonna go through all these process and in the end there’s a cake. The method depends on the question you’re asking. So I work in search, and search, use, not a thing where if you just build the UI works, you have to work a long time on the relevance engine.

So basically, so basically,for our team, the first goal for us was to figure out like, what is the baseline for relevance? That makes sense, right? So the goals are really important because then they create a benchmark that you can stand on an issue, okay? Next, you can improve it and you can iterate on it. But understanding the goals and why you’re doing it is important.

So we both have qualitative methods where we understand the user motivation. And then we carry that hypothesis out to all the way through to quantitative. So we know that when users are using search online, there are real metrics that measure success. It’s not just qualitative, but being able to carry that hypothesis all the way through the quantitative. I think, understanding how to build experiments and to design experiments make you stronger, as a designer and as Product Manager.

If you don’t know how to build the experiment, you don’t, you haven’t really understood the problem you’re solving and you can’t isolate the assumption that you’re trying to test. So for me, if someone works in technology, and can’t design the experiment, then I would question if they understood the problem at all.

Kate Matesic:

Hayley reminded us that early prototyping is just as important as late stage product experiments. Here’s how she uses play in her design practice.

Hayley Hughes:

I’m always experimenting. As a designer.I think one of the kind of first principles is to, you know, continually hypothesize and to come up with new theories for how, you know, things can work in the future. And so, for me, experimentation, and prototyping and iteration come into play in really low fidelity. I work a lot in paper prototypes and things that are maybe less focused on shifting to test, A B test, and more so experimenting at a much earlier stage in the process where I can bring people in and they can give me feedback on the ideas that I have before I even bring them to the screen.

Lee Dale:

We wanted to ask Hayley and Ha their honest opinion on working in a male-dominated industry. They offered us tips on how to stay confident, and how to embrace one’s identity as a member of an underrepresented group.

Ha Phan:

At our company, we actually have goals and outcomes that are directly tied to diversity. You hear a lot of tech companies saying, Oh, yeah, they’re inclusive or diverse. But at the end of the day, the numbers still are the same. At the end of the day, they still have a really low percentage of minorities or women working in the workforce, right? at our company, we actually have a true measurable outcome to kind of like go beyond what the regular finals are, and try to like recruit women and minorities into you know, into all the different roles and also in the leadership roles also. So it’s not just the individual contributor but also senior management.

From my perspective, my team is composed of people who are really young And I’m really old. And when we have one lead engineer who’s you know, who’s not the 20 or 30-year-old engineer. And I think that that creates like a healthy balance. Everybody’s equal, and everybody’s super honest.

I grew up with three brothers, so I know how to take the punches. But, but I think that having a broad perspective like that, it’s like you, you have this check and balance that’s natural, and you automatically over time build trust, and you automatically you know, empathize with other people who are not like you. So in my team, we already work that way.

Kate Matesic:

Ha and Hayley had more great advice. Here’s how they stay inspired and keep growing as designers

Hayley encourages Junior designers to find role models

Hayley Hughes:

For aspiring designers and early career professionals in the field, one thing that I would always encourage is because you’re coming at it with fresh eyes, and

you have the beginner’s mindset, never to lose that. And always to ask for forgiveness, not permission to try things out. Because when you’re just getting started, there’s a lot of things you may not know. And you can use that to your advantage to feel able to ask people questions because they expect that of you. So keep growing, never stop asking questions and always speak up

Kate Matesic:

And Ha Phan speaks about her own mentorship experience with extra advice about battling self doubt.

Ha Phan:

So I come from a family that, that we’re first-generation immigrants, and so you come up

You built, you grew up with the idea that you are the are displaced. So you kind of so you already come to the table thinking that you have to compensate, overcompensate. So, the so I think that that’s a default I have is that it doesn’t matter. I already know that I don’t fit apart, I already know that I’m displaced. So I just have to work harder than everyone else.

I told people at my company that I feel like I have to work harder than other people. Because I don’t fit the I don’t fit apart because in most of my jobs, I’m always working on the latest technology. I’m always on the team. There are no women, like no women at all, like within like, like on the r&d team at GoPro with our men at the startup was all men.

I didn’t feel uncomfortable about that. I just felt like I was invited to the table but I didn’t belong.So I didn’t feel bad about it. I just thought that the way the world works, right? So I think that because we don’t see a lot of women or minorities in certain roles.The default is that we automatically build a bias, even women themselves, we already have, we automatically have a bias that

that person doesn’t fit the role of that person needs to prove himself. Like if you had another person who we can have a mental model that fits the role. We gave them the benefit of the doubt, but the other person who didn’t fit the role, we have to prove themselves. So I always feel like I have to prove myself. And it’s consistent. Even the people who say, yes, you know, we, we support diversity, but there’s a built in bias that there’s still something I have to overcome.

So that’s consistent in my career.I haven’t I have not been resentful of where I kind of it feels to me likelike icing on the cake, kind of like an invite to the table, I get to do really cool things. And by overcoming it, I became a better person.I learned a lot more, I’m more self aware than most people. So I just use it to my advantage. So my advice to young woman is to,you know, learn as much as you can.

You know, you can’t really become someone overnight. You can’t grow up overnight. So you just have to take your time and learn as much as you can reflect a lot.And then so that when the time comes, and when you’re ready, you can, you know, basically take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.The one thing that my mentor used to tell me when I am in doubt, he says, if not you then who? Then, if you if you answer the question by saying there’s 1000 other people who will do that

Then you realize where you are, and you got to work harder. If you realize that everybody else, no one can do the job, even you, then maybe you still want to do it because no one else can do it, either. And if you what you answered by saying, Yeah, I think that I’m the best day that they got, then you own it. And when by answering that question, you own it. So that’s the question I always ask myself when I’m in doubt, and that’s the advice I would give. Not every not just young woman, but anyway,

Lee Dale:

We hope you enjoyed our digital disruptors episode from FITC spotlight UX/UI. Be sure to check out the Digital Insights section at sayyeah.com for more event recaps, videos and podcasts.

And here are some additional highlights from the talks.

Unlocking systems thinking: moving beyond components

The first speaker of the day, AirBnB’s Experience Design Lead for the Design Language System, Haley Hughes, spoke about the importance of integrated, value-driven design systems.

Rather than using a single design system, which would be defined by components (e.g. buttons, icons), Hughes suggests developing a more ambitious, all-encompassing, broad system. Her more holistic approach governs all the values-based decisions of the designers.

Hughes described how she nudged the AirBnB team to create a hierarchy for design systems, which was crucial to their success. For example, here is Hughes’s hierarchical approach for AirBnB:

Lowest Level -> Efforts + Components
Middle Level -> Experiences
Highest Level -> Services + Journeys + Rights (values as models)

Hughes’s talk also addressed common concerns from designers relating to these systems. Primarily a fear that designers could be replaced entirely by a well-developed design system. Reassuring the designer-filled audience, Hughes suggests we focus on how we drive change beyond individual components, and instead use design to influence processes and institutions in a more meaningful way.

Her memorable final words:

“Don’t just be good, do good”

Wizard of Oz prototyping

Pluralsight’s Senior Product Manager (and GoPro’s former Principal UX Designer) Ha Phan’s talk had a whimsical tone. She described prototyping and conceptual models for interaction with a familiar classic pop culture reference: the Wizard of Oz.

The Wizard of Oz, 1939 MGM film classic. © Warner Bros.

Phan spoke about how prototyping draws out two of our key innate skills: it leverages our intuitive ability to problem-solve, and it helps designers ask better questions. Naming this ‘Wizard of Oz’-style prototyping, Phan suggests a method of research that “fakes” technological interactions. By performing user research with non-technological creations, teams can rapidly prototype new and wilder ways of interacting with projects. Who needs a yellow brick road? The detours are all part of the adventure.

“Designers like to envision the future without constraints, but the future still has constraints. However, we get to set the focus of our future.”

Her experiences at GoPro were a major portion of her talk, with some especially memorable examples of how Phan paired her expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) with her strong understanding of our hard-wired storytelling skills. Phan encouraged designers to create tools that enable people to connect through emotional storytelling, which ultimately results in the most intuitive, memorable, and powerful experiences.

Designer at scale: introspecting on personal narratives

One of the most thoughtful, raw talks was senior Google designer Joel Beukelman’s Designer at Scale. Beukelman’s presentation centred on building a personal narrative, looking inward to explore your identity, and finding inner clarity on both your UX practice goals and your broader life goals.

Beukelman gave the audience many interesting self-evaluation tools, which include applying a journalist’s 5 Ws (Who, What, When, Where & Why) to define your career, and rating yourself on an axis of craft, commerce, and self.

At each stage, Joel returned to this core question: Why? A question that should be applied to your UX practice’s purpose, your existence, and cultivating a clear self-awareness of your role as a designer.

Beukelman recognized that all your other aspects of life—family, friends, hobbies, etc—will impact your craft, too. These factors are critical for him, especially at the time he chose to leave Google, and then returned a year later. Ultimately, he concluded that ego is the enemy of creativity, and encouraged attendees to continue moving in their careers, which means that a clear sense of self-awareness is essential.

Don’t miss out on the next Spotlight UX event

Spotlight UX/UI is always a great opportunity to connect with a wide range of UX designers and to hear best practices from accomplished design leaders.

The Say Yeah team encourages anyone working or studying in the UX space to keep an eye out for upcoming FITC events and the next Spotlight UX event, whether it’s held in person, or online.

Can’t wait for the next event?

Check out our Spotlight UX/UI 2018 Recap: exploring user experience and interaction design.

Spotlight UX/UI 2018 Recap

Experience design as a foundational skill

If you’re looking to bring fundamental product strategy and experience design methodologies and execution to your team, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

The post FITC Spotlight Recap: strategies to boost your UX practice appeared first on Say Yeah!.

Join us at FITC Toronto April 19-21, 2020—CANCELLED

Kate Matesic — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 18:32:34 +0000

FITC Toronto returns this April! Boasting another packed lineup of global experts, we’re bracing for a deluge of inspiring and innovative talks and workshops about design, innovation, and technology. Join us at the Toronto Hilton from April 19th to the 21st to immerse yourself in three days of cutting-edge interactive, digital media, and design insights.

The Say Yeah team thoroughly enjoyed last year’s conference, where we spoke with digital professionals from many varied creative industries.
Check out last year’s recap video:

Our top 5 must-see talks include:

Building Foundations: Accessible Design Systems and Education, Tiffany Tse, Shopify
XR for Social Good … Maybe: Anastasia Victor, PLACE
Finding Yourself, Over and Over Again, Jessica Hische
Merging with the Machine: Designing Wearable Tech, Sophy Wong
Robot Overlords: Human-Centered Design for a Robotic Future, Krys Blackwood, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Plus, our own roundtable on inclusive design

Our team is attending all three days, documenting the brilliant insights from speakers and attendees – AND – our CEO Lee Dale will be hosting a roundtable on moving beyond accessible practices towards inclusive design. We hope you can join us for the workshop and you connect with us as we capture soundbites with our film crew!

Feel free to connect with us before the conference to discuss all things inclusive design and digital transformation via Twitter @sayyeahto or email us hello@sayyeah.com.

What else can you look forward to at FITC?

Beyond the talks, FITC Toronto features vendor booths, interactive experiences, and valuable networking parties. Attendees can expect to experience everything from mini-golf to art soirees.

The post Join us at FITC Toronto April 19-21, 2020—CANCELLED appeared first on Say Yeah!.

FITC Toronto 2019 recap: pure imagination

Caroline Dinnall — Sat, 18 May 2019 20:28:38 +0000

Transcript

David Hogue:

What does it really mean to build something that is going to be used by billions of people? What does it really mean to have so much data that only computers have the capacity to make sense of it because it just overwhelms the human brain? What does it mean to make product decisions that can have massive impact around the world?

Michael Fullman:

Any piece of technology, any piece of interaction giving it an individual personality that exists in the narrative story that you’re trying to tell or even you’re internal narrative, it makes it not a piece of technology anymore. It makes it something totally different. And so, the more personality that you can give to it, I think, the better. And, you know, I say personality and that sometimes comes across as it being a character and it sometimes can be, but it can also just be in its outward aesthetic. If you were to take just a television and add a different, completely different aesthetic to it, it becomes something else. It becomes something just a little more magical than just a TV on the wall.

Ginger Leigh:

Sound embodies certain personalities, and so what I do is if I’m working with somebody else’s audio, then I’ll listen to it, and I will translate that into what I’m pulling out of the sound, so different characteristics. What I like to do is pull out those story elements, even if it’s not a literally story, there’s always some underlying idea of even a hint of something happening. The essence of this idea of a story behind every song.

Emelie Baltz:

– Well, our senses affect our perception of the world. So we learn about the world by touching it, by tasting it, by seeing it, by smelling it, by hearing it, and when you start to play with that … So when you start to play with new relationships … So let’s say that I see something red. And then I taste it and it actually tastes like lime, whoa. It really starts to mess with what you think of as real, as right. And so, that ability, and that’s actually called cross-modal experience, so how one sense can affect a different sense. When we start to play with that, I think, there’s obviously all sorts of new creativity that can open up, but it also pushes us to rethink our expectations of the world. And I think that that’s a really cool way of being. And it allows us then maybe to have different kinds of relationships with other people for example. There’s practical application of that, too, not just in making work, but maybe also in our daily lives with how we interact with each other.

Vincent Ramsey-Lemelin:

– If you’re not able to influence how people behave, then you’re not doing anything relevant. It doesn’t matter to people if you’re creating this great AR thing that nobody is actually using. So you need to understand people.

Eugene Meng:

– Meaningful for me means that the experience itself is super useful and it’s also delightful. Useful meaning that users feels like they are using an air tool for a very specific purpose and it is actually helping them and it is better than 2D. And delightful for me means that everything inside of the experience felt smooth and realistic. They didn’t feel like they’re interacting with something that’s fake and they are really immersed inside of the experience.

Lyndsey Munro:

Everyone’s a creative and the tools that are now available to us only just further that.

How far can our minds take us? What’s possible when innovation, technology and creativity is added to the mix?

A global leader in presenting tech conferences, the Future of Innovation, Technology and Creativity (FITC) team took Toronto on a journey to A World of Pure Imagination—this year’s theme of FITC Toronto 2019.

For 18 years, the FITC conference has inspired and educated thousands of digital creatives and industry experts from around the world. This year, over 1000 people sat in on keynotes, panel discussions, workshops and fireside chats at the Hilton Toronto to feed their creative minds. Speakers from Adobe, NASA, Google, Shopify, and many other leading names in the design industry shared their lessons and discoveries in technology and design.

From advances in augmented and virtual reality, to food, sexual monkey gifs, and life-sized robots, there was a lot to see at experience this year. Here’s what we wanted to share with you from this year’s conference.

Food, Senses, and Emotional Engagement

Everyone loves food, but is there more to it than satisfying our stomachs? Food technologist, designer and multimedia artist Emilie Baltz challenged attendees to question the ultimate purpose of food in her talk Food: Not For Eating.

Baltz specializes in storytelling for the senses, (the ability to feel stories physically in our bodies) and food’s ability to inspire innovations in interaction design. She uses food as a material for design, expressing how it can introduce new creativity in the world. This year, she explored how food inspires creativity and engages humans emotionally, suggesting that designers can use these factors as a jumping off point for inspiration.

“It’s not about food, it’s about relationships.” ~Emilie

Baltz

It seems virtual or voice-monitored cookbooks are on the near horizon. With the rise of AI bots and voice assistant tools, cooking by-the-recipe could be transformed into a more interactive and enjoyable experience rather than a chore. Bon Appetit!

Simplicity is a Complex Design Concept

Simple is simple…right?

Not according to Google UX Design Lead David Hogue. He told us why that’s not the case during his talk entitled Simplicity is Not Simple. His top three questions:

How can design be less chaotic?
Is too simple too boring?
Is there such a thing as “just the right amount of complexity”?

Every designer has struggled with at least one of these questions. Thankfully, David had some great answers.

Designers are problem solvers. They can clarify complex systems that come from poor design methods, poor project management, or technological shortfalls. The overall goal is to ensure that what they create is as simple as possible for users.

“Sometimes systems are naturally complex, we design to help people deal with the complex.” ~David Hogue

At the same time, too much simplicity can result in underperforming UX design. With simplicity, you have to meet in the middle. Hogue gave designers three considerations to keep in mind when working to deliver simplicity in UX design:

Ensure that your product or service is efficient.
Ensure that your product is enhancing value to the user
Ensure that your product is helping people learn.

He also Identified key steps designers should take as they embark on the journey of simplicity, which we will be sure to keep in mind for our future projects:

Subtraction
Consolidation
Redistribution
Prioritization
Clarification

Design is Terrifying, Yet Rewarding

Designing interactive robots may be fun, but it is by no means easy. Executive Creative Director Michael Fullman took us through his design journey at VT Pro, proving that his job is messy, rewarding, and includes challenges that you can’t prepare for or anticipate.

As one who designs robotic interactions and 3D products for massive endeavours like Telestron and Coachella, Fullman understands the importance of testing and learning from big design mistakes.

“Getting feedback is the best part.” ~Michael Fullman

Experimentation and adaptation go hand-in-hand in the innovative work that takes place at VT Pro. Fullman broke down three benefits to embracing adaptation—which are also great principles to live by:

Learning as you go.
Taking risks with new technology
Living outside your comfort zone.

Creating a unique type of technology requires a great deal of risk—like the risk of not being understood, or the risk of alienation. But it’s often these risky projects that, if carried through patiently and successfully, set you apart from other designers—in a good way.

For experienced designers and aspiring designers alike, going through the archives of David Carson’s iconic design work was a dream. His session Intuition, Collage and Design took attendees through a fascinating journey of innovative magazine design, and use of experimental typography.

He showcased his previous work for brands such as Nike, Pepsi, and Microsoft.

Carson also shared the quirky, painful, and peculiar details of his designer journey, as his work took him all around the world. The moral of the story: do what you love, and have fun in the process.

“If money was not an issue would you still be excited to do that work daily? I think we are in a field that allows you to do that—allows you to not watch the clock and wait on vacations. To seriously enjoy what you do and not do it only to pay bills.” ~David Carson

Carson finished off with a word of encouragement for the next generation of designers who may have felt discouraged at any point throughout their creative journeys.

“Your wave is coming. Hang in there.” ~David Carson

Some other fantastic talks we attended include: Design for Mobile AR: Patterns and Principles by AR and VR Interaction Designer Eugene Meng from Google, Death and UX by Senior Creative Director of Digital and Innovation Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin from Sid Lee, Psychedelics and a Munky’s Cerebral Manifestations by Design Director GMUNK from gmunk.com.

Attending FITC Toronto is always rejuvenating. It’s an open space for designers, creatives, and technologists to share innovative insights, digital development tactics, and creative technologies, while further uniting the digital and design industry. We can’t wait for next year!

Don’t let FITC 2020 pass you by! Until then, live life with a pure imagination.

From the Say Yeah team

Experience design as a foundational skill

If you’re looking to bring fundamental experience design methodologies and execution to your team, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

The post FITC Toronto 2019 recap: pure imagination appeared first on Say Yeah!.

7 most-anticipated talks at FITC 2019

Caroline Dinnall — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 15:29:24 +0000

Learn from top leaders in the digital, design and media industry from April 29- May 1, 2019

Opening the doors to digital, design and media professionals on April 29 – May 1, FITC Toronto 2019 will host workshops, presentations, installations and informative discussions lead by some of the most successful leaders in the business.

In previous years, the Say Yeah team has had the opportunity to both network and share ideas with industry professionals. Take a look at last year’s conference.

This year, Say Yeah is back, looking forward to interviewing like-minded creatives and strategists from around the world at FITC Toronto 2019. Representatives from Adobe, Facebook, Google and NASA will be attending and we can’t wait to see what we can learn from them.

Here are 7 of our most-anticipated talks:

Making Sound Visible by Ginger Leigh: How do you make sound visible? Let’s find out!
Simplicity is not Simple by David Hogue: Find out how to take a very complicated product and make it simpler for a better user experience.
Everything is Terrifying by Michael Fullman: Exploration and experimentation may lead to your next breakthrough.
Food: Not for Eating by Emilie Baltz: Speaking about her most successful projects, we’ll get an inside look at Emilie’s creative process.
Death and UX Design by Vincent Ramsay-Lemelin: How can UX Design change the way attendees experience something as intimate as a funeral?
The Incredible Shrinking Budget by Jeff Boddy: Looking at the struggles of budgeting and tips on prioritizing quality over quantity.
Round Table: The State of Design in 2029 by Liam Oscar Thurston: Designed to keep the audience thinking about the future, Liam Oscar Thurston will be leading the audience through a debate about the autonomy, mastery, and purpose within design.

Other exciting event features include:

Over 70 industry-leading presenters
Opportunity to interact with the latest tech in the exhibitor area
Must-attend after hours parties and performances
Networking with thousands of other like-minded industry professionals

UX/UI Networking Lunch:

Calling all UX designers, directors, strategists and students! FITC Toronto is hosting a UX/UI networking lunch, open to the public, to discuss industry trends with user experience professionals.

Date: Tuesday April 30, 2019
Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Location: 3 Brewers Adelaide (120 Adelaide Street West, Unit 100, 2nd Floor)

Party Hardy!

Workshops all day, parties every night. After each event day, FITC invites attendants to join them after hours at varying locations to enjoy performances, drinks, games and good music. So grab a friend or colleague and kick-back and enjoy all that FITC has to offer!

Check the schedule each day for party updates!

Leave the FITC conference inspired, informed and enlightened with key insights and information bound to positively impact your career.

Whether you’re highly experienced or new to the industry, FITC is a must-attend event. Get 20% off your tickets now, with our code: SayYeah. Ticket prices vary depending on whether you are a student, group, attending for one day only, attending workshops only, or attending for the entire 3 days.

Save 20% off your ticket purchase with the code: SayYeah

The post 7 most-anticipated talks at FITC 2019 appeared first on Say Yeah!.