This session will describe The University of Chicago's use of games and human-centered design for health and diversity. We will describe the work of the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab that is creating and scaling games for adolescents in Chicago and internationally. It will also describe the Design and Diversity Studio at UChicago which is implementing and scaling tools to create a more diverse and inclusive institution.
Attendees will gain insights for using game design as a pedagogical tool, using design for interdisciplinary research, and using design in higher education.
Chicago-based hand letterer and designer, Jenna Blazevich, works under the moniker "Vichcraft". Vichcraft is a Chicago-based, one-woman business that was built out of the desire to create a design practice that partners with ethical companies and projects, and also acts as an outlet for activist artwork. We will have a look at the projects and partners that acted as key turning points on the path to weaving activism and advocacy into a professional practice. Gain a new perspective on how to weave activism and advocacy into the work we create professionally and personally.
Design is increasingly gaining influence in the companies we work in and the world at large, which means our actions as designers have an increasing influence on shaping the world around us. All of our individual choices, collectively form our manufactured world. Do you know where the choices you are making are leading, not just on the scale of your project, but on a larger scale? Are you making choices that matter or choices that lead to desirable outcomes? Are you designing mindfully for our larger collective futures or are you just “checking a box” or blindly chasing the latest design craze or “silver bullet” process? The success of good design isn’t new and relies on a core set of first principles that if followed lead to better outcomes, but it is up to all of us to make it happen. Join Erik as he discusses these first principles of good design as we collectively shape our future, and create the future world that you want to live in.
Kate will unpack the example of how Daniel Burnham and his team led the creation of the Plan of Chicago, a groundbreaking and influential collaboration between business people and designers who used location, data, PR, civic and stakeholder engagement to get the job done. You'll come away with a new appreciation for the world around you, and ideas you can take back to your team.
A bag at a train station, a promise made, a website designed with only one audience in mind. We’re all busy designers working hard with good intentions.
But sooner or later we’re going to forget things: Things that impact our own lives and things that impact others. Things that are big and things that are small. How much can we (and should we) be responsible for the things we forget? And what can we do to be better in the future?
The most essential skill for any UX professional is to learn. Let’s talk strategies for keeping current and applying life-learner superpowers to your process. A panel of UX pros new and old will give us diverse perspectives on topics like:
Incorporating experimentation and learning into project work
The power of teaching and speaking in your learning
Costs and benefits of changing your toolset constantly
Most days are a struggle, caught between the now and then. A text message here, an email conversation there, and suddenly we've stopped looking. We've closed our minds to the power of curiosity, wonder, and play. This talk is a call to action for designers to take back our childlike sense of wonder. By reconnecting with our inner-child, we can live in a world where innovation drives us forward. If we can harness our childlike sense of wonder along with the knowledge we’ve achieved through our years of experience, there is no telling what will come out of our world. This talk is aimed to be primarily inspirational; to energize the crowd and spark the creative fire within them.
IBM Design’s mission was to shift how it approached product strategy, but it led to friction between multidisciplinary teams grasping for a unified vision. Learn lessons from a research team that broke bad data analysis habits and started inclusive generative and evaluative techniques.
Research is more than just testing designs with users. We bring insights to all members of the tribe and help them make better decisions, and increase the value and meaning of the work for the teams we support.
“A UX designer’s role is directly involved in the process of making a product useful, usable and enjoyable for its users.”
When you aren’t designing with inclusivity in mind, you’re failing. Designing experiences with a specific target market in mind is crucial for many products, but when you are working on products intended to have mass market appeal, that means all people. Let’s talk about learning how to see problems for users who aren’t exactly like us and about designing an inclusive experience for everyone and the ultimate impact that has on culture.
Participants will walk away with key insights and tools for how to see the world beyond their own experiences. Focusing on communicating and addressing the needs of their end product user in relation to identity and the way those social identities shape individual experiences.
This talk is really a “how to”: embracing our messy humanity to foster courage and curiosity. Visual designers understand that the negative space between objects is often as important in creating meaning as the objects themselves. This is even more true in our internal lives. It is in those spaces between, the unknown, scary, challenging places outside our comfort zone, where we discover our purpose and fulfillment. This talk will challenge attendees to explore those uncomfortable spaces in order to design better relationships and make more authentic choices, in our careers, and in our lives.
