The Joint Futures: A holistic design conference

Yuko Mitani, UX Consultant
@uxconnections

UX Connections had the opportunity to attend the Joint Futures: A holistic design conference organised by Elisa in Helsinki Finland on September 3rd-4th.

The goal of this conference was to view design holistically through different perspective. Introducing the design strategies, visions of the future by design leaders help those in the industry to understand the importance of a variety of outlooks of design in business. By understanding the holistic approach, designers can create real value and profitability growth within organisations.

▶︎  Here is the main takeaway of this conference ——–

Let’s get personal

Based on the Golden Circle “Start With Why” philosophy by Simon Sinek, Priya Prakash the Designer & Founder, Design for Social Change has modified the golden circle so that it applies to designers. Aiming to inspire a reversal in how we use technology. When asking why she relates it to asking what the designer believes in.

“Why” = Philosophy what you believe in

“Who” = Who are we serving

“How” = Design principles to action “Why”

“What” = The process & patterns

“When & Where” = Touchpoint experience

No & Why

Mike Monteiro Co-founder and Design Director emphasised the designers need to learn to say NO and ask WHY to protect our design value. “The world is working exactly as we designed it.” – Designers responsibility is creating a better world for all.

“We are not just designing user experience anymore. We’re designing human experience”

Kim Goodwin Author, Designing for the Digital Age discussed how to bring back the “Human-centered” approch to design. We are focusing more on a metric-centered design rather than a human-centered design.

Metrics is an important key feature in business. However, as Kim Goodwin explains, it can destroy the “Human-centered” depending on how to use them. As a UX designer needs to prevent this when meeting business goals.

Building a design system is like building with lego blocks

Design systems can fail and how can we stop that? Una Kravets Developer Advocate, Material Design at Google discussed the challenges with making systems work across brands/platforms, and how Google Material Design addresses some of challenges. Design is ever-changing but Lego set will never change – lego’s design system is intuitive which small simple/easy assembly components are developed and built upon to create more complex components.

The business value of design

Jose Coronado VP Design Operations, JPMorgan Chase & Co mentioned that making a trusting relationship with your business partners will get you and the design team a stronger foundation for success. Nowadays, the design team in firms and demand for design are growing. Many firms are aware of the importance of design in business. However, there are challenges for design teams and business partners who work together. There are key differences between the designer and the business people, which is, the designer wants to bring value to users and make their life better. Business people want to buy low and sell high for a short-term goal. 

After the great talks by keynote speakers, it reminded me of the importance of a multi-angled view of design/holistic design approach. We are living in a complex world where context and culture have a huge influence on our behaviour. As a UX designer, we also need to understand the big picture to solve the problem. Respectful design was the most interesting topic to me. The cultural differences have a big impact on the UX job. We need to be aware that different cultures attach their own value such as emoticon, symbols, colors. London, where I live, is one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Since moving here from Japan, I have had a lot of experiences of cultural differences (Both positive and negative). In order to recognise and understand bigger context, we have to observe how others communicate, value, and receive information and design for all cultures.