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Failing companies the most open to new ideas – Wes Yun, UX Design Day

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“The most exciting places to work are those big companies that are failing.They’re most open to ideas, they have nothing to lose. They’re looking for the Hail Marypass.”

[American gridiron quarterback’s hope and a prayer hurl of the balldown the field in the faith it’ll be caught by one of his own players]
[caption width="470"align="aligncenter"] Wes Yun[/caption]
This counter-intuitive comment, in an offline conversation with the UX Design Day’s keynote speaker Wes Yun, was one ofthe unexpected aha moments of an event which attracted a fullhouse of 360 attendees. It was also thefirst conference to be held in Wellington’s refurbished Shed 6.

(No doubt) using design thinking, the organisers had Yun as the last speaker of the day ratherthan the first – so there wasn’t that gradual crowd erosion that often happens at these sort ofdo’s.

The self-deprecating American designer these days is creative director at Samsung (USA), butamong other stints has been Motorola, RIM (on its last legs at now renamed Blackberry) and FHM (asit was creating its online platform in the early 2000s).

A few of his take home points in his hour-long (but it didn’t seem it) presentation were:

  • When you’re designing something new, you have to be aware of the old thing you’redisplacing (the old thing, or the people attached to it in various ways may not be that keen to bereplaced)

  •  Get comfortable with failure. If at first you don’t fail…try…failagain

  • Don’t fail fast. Listen fast


Yun also made theobservation that it is a fascinating time to be a designer.
“Everybody ‘gets’what you’re talking about, that your trying to influence for the better, culture society, theworld, behaviour.”

And for acouple of other take home points (unfortunately I was only able to make the later afternoonsession).

Ruth Brown, head of UX at Trademe :

[caption width="470" align="aligncenter"] Ruth Brown[/caption]

  • Data is the new coal. Abundant, dirty and bloody difficult to mine…but coal drove theindustrial revolution (told to her by her friend Hansa, who received it from her friend Pierre, whois not sure where he got it from)

  • Design like you know everything. Listen like youknow nothing

Resn designer Marcus Brown:

[caption width="470" align="aligncenter"] Marcus Brown[/caption]

  • Audio adds the emotion. (Marcus reckons that so often designers are concentrating on thepictures, graphics and movement, they tack on the music and sound at the end almost as anafter-thought. Compare that to the movies where audio is a key component right from the beginning– it adds to the overall feeling


This was an excellent event, and thosepeople I asked who had been there all day felt they’d learned lots.

As a plug, and a hope that this inaugural UX Design Day is repeated next year, get there if youcan.

Failing companies the most open to new ideas – Wes Yun, UX Design Day

Failing companies the most open to new ideas – Wes Yun, UX Design Day
 
 
 
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