WORLD INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE DAY 2017 (WIAD) – ZURICH

The World Information Architecture Day in Zurich (WIAD 2017) is one of those UX events I try not to miss out on. The reasons lie in sympathy that binds me to the organisers, the stature of the speakers and the beauty of the Swiss location. What occurred on Saturday, February 18, 2017, met all my expectations. Here is a summary of the talks that caught my attention and that left me with the desire to investigate further on some topics:

Andy Fitzgerald (@andybywire)

Andy talked about “Designing for human scale,” trying to shift the focus on humanising the computation metaphor through embodiment, magnitude, and belief.

It is pivotal, during the creation of the UX process, to take into account trends and user behaviours as human beings. The three concepts expressed tend to harmonise the interactions that we humans have in the analogue and digital worlds.

Click here to watch the presentation

Clementina Gentile (@clementina_g)

The talk of Clementina struck me because its content was focused on the dynamics through which language affects our perception of the world. Starting from this assumption, it becomes easy to see how important prototyping conversations have become, all the more so with respect to digital experience. The language, the context and the metaphors used to communicate are comparable to a graphical UI. If applied to conversational UIs, this approach is particularly effective in striking a balance between machine and human language.

Click here to watch the presentation

Sara Watcher (@sara_ann_marie)

If I was to provide a summary of this talk, this would boil down to a single sentence: “shit happens”.

The talk about the book “Designing for Real Life” has questioned some aspects of my experience as a UX Designer. Often in the economy of a project (despite UX researchers, prototyping phases and usability tests), we do not allocate enough attention (or we do not allocate any attention) to the dynamics and patterns of the real context for that specific product/service.

It’s a matter of fact that the spectrum of use cases and the types of users require way more attention when we design a product/service. It’s very difficult to get a neutral design that works with anyone in any context. This is the reason why Sara has shown us how:

Design for Diversity
Design for stress
Design for worth
Design for real life

Click here to go to Sara Watcher’s website
Click here to see Sara’s “Design real life”

Conclusions

The World Information Architecture Day 2017 in Zurich (WIAD) helped me to harness my passion for topics I underestimated due to a lack of knowledge and/or lack of time. The added value of events such as these lies in the quality of the people who organise and in the passion of the people who participate. The atmosphere during the talks and during breaks (embellished by delicious food) is sparkling and energetic. Comparing my experience as a designer with the ones of other professionals is always something stimulating and valuable to my professional growth.