MEX Design Talk

Accessible design is good design, whether motivated initially by the needs of users with specific disabilities or broader goals of social and economic inclusion. Neil Milliken talks to MEX founder and podcast host Marek Pawlowski about his work leading accessibility at Atos, one of the world's largest digital services companies, and the AXSChat community he co-founded. The conversation ranges from Neil's early career to the academy he is building at Atos to teach accessible design skills.

Show notes with links to everything discussed & bonus content:

http://mobileuserexperience.com/?p=4009

Contact:

T: @mexfeed

E: [email protected]

In this episode we share 6 digital design inspirations, from a sci-fi film script written by artificial intelligence to a fashion collection influenced by sound waves. Prompted by a move to Basecamp for MEX collaboration, podcast co-host Alex Guest introduced ‘Friday inspirations’, a recurring task for each member of the team to share a weekly ‘find’ with colleagues. Alex and co-host Marek Pawlowski take turns explaining why they picked each inspiration and how it relates to digital experience design. It leads to a discussion about how the project has influenced the work of the MEX team and how tangential inspirations inform the day-to-day of MEX research and conferences.

Show notes with links to everything discussed & bonus content:

http://mobileuserexperience.com/?p=4002

Contact:

T: @mexfeed

E: [email protected]

Design improves in proportion with how accurately users’ true feelings are understood. However, are user experience practitioners doing enough to look outside their own field to evolve new research techniques? We spoke with Aaron Garner of the Emotional Intelligence Academy about the methods he uses to understand microexpressions – fine nuances which are often more reflective of users’ real reaction to a product, before they are quickly hidden in the interests of social etiquette. Aaron’s current work is in areas such as security and human resources, but a conversation with podcast hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest reveals valuable cross-industry lessons which could be applied to digital experience design.

You can find detailed show notes, with links to everything mentioned, at http://www.mobileuserexperience.com/?p=3973.

Don't forget the MEX/16 conference at http://pmn.co.uk/mex/.

Email [email protected].

This special edition of the MEX podcast takes you hands-on with the user experience of virtual reality, with bonus photos and videos. In episode 12 we went in-depth on the design principles of augmented, virtual and mixed reality with Greg Taylor of Tigerspike. When Greg took delivery of his HTC Vive – arguably the most immersive virtual reality experience available to consumers today – he invited Design Talk hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest to spend an afternoon exploring it in Tigerspike’s London studio. The podcast recounts first-hand impressions of the Vive and expands into a discussion of how this new form of digital experience might change design agency strategy and individual practitioner skills. You can find detailed show notes, with links to everything mentioned, at http://www.mobileuserexperience.com/?p=3933

Many of us are now in the ideas business and, of course, those ideas have to come from somewhere. Sometimes they’re iterative and result from the day-to-day work we’re already doing. Sometimes they spin off from specific client projects. But what about those transformative, tangential ideas which seem to come out of nowhere and surprise us with their potency and unexpected ability to solve difficult digital experience challenges? This episode is all about those random insights, where they come from, how valuable they can be and how you can invest in nurturing them. You can find detailed show notes, with links to everything mentioned, at http://www.mobileuserexperience.com/?p=3914

Automotive is an industry in transition. The challenge is two-fold: an immediate need to enhance digital elements of the vehicle experience, while contemplating the longer term – and arguably more significant – conceptual revolution in personal mobility enabled by pervasive computing. Parrish Hanna, Global Director of Interaction & Ergonomics at Ford joins Design Talk hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest for a discussion which ranges from lessons learned in smartphone design and the intricacies of user testing to new ways of shaping automotive brand experience and design skills for the future. You can find detailed show notes, with links to everything mentioned, at http://mobileuserexperience.com/?cat=360.

What does it take to create digital experiences which positively impact our health? How do user experience requirements change as digital evolves from a method for simply self-tracking health metrics to becomes a platform for diagnosing and even treating conditions. What are the requirements from different stakeholders, from end user patients to their casual networks of supporting friends and family, prescribing clinicians and the insurers and national health services which manage the costs. Hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest discuss examples, explore design principles and user research challenges. You can find detailed show notes, with links to everything mentioned, at http://mobileuserexperience.com/?cat=360

Understanding user behaviour and translating what we learn into actionable insights is the core of experience design. Host Marek Pawlowski is joined on the show by Ahbishek Gupta, UX Director at Lumosity and a practitioner with a strong personal interest in frameworks for behavioural insight. The discussion ranges from practical examples of these frameworks in action to Abhishek's own career path, mentors and favourite product experiences. Find detailed show notes linking to everything discussed at http://mobileuserexperience.com in the podcast section.

What will the experience feel like for the first users of virtual, augmented and mixed reality? How might designers prepare for this new, multi-dimensional digital canvas? Hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest discuss with Greg Taylor, General Manager of Tigerspike Next in London, a pioneering digital agency. Greg has been thinking about ways of breaking outside the traditional form factor of digital screens for many years, including a prescient talk at MEX in 2010, entitled 'Screen today, gone tomorrow'. You can find show notes linking to everything mentioned in the podcast section at http://mobileuserexperience.com.

Hosts Marek Pawlowski and Alex Guest examine user experience trends from 3 points on a timeline: 10 years past, the present and 10 years into the future. Alex discusses scenarios relating to his travels in Patagonia, trust, social networking and the sharing economy, while Marek focuses on cycling, quantified self and digital memories. The conversation goes on to look at how design approaches must evolve to cope with the growth in data, sensors and the role of digital in users’ lives. You can find show notes linking to everything mentioned in the podcast section at http://mobileuserexperience.com.