This year, I had the chance to attend UX Days with Nicolas Lepelley, an unmissable event dedicated to user experience but also to the design approach... It is the largest event dedicated to UX in France.
I had the chance to attend the UX Days 5 years ago, but this year, it was a change of scenery. This year, Flupa, the organizer of the UXD, decided to set up shop in an inspiring place, at the Centquatre-Paris (104), a public cultural space located in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, at 5 rue Curial. Opened in 2008, it occupies the former buildings of the Pompes Funèbres de la ville de Paris, transformed into an innovative and versatile place dedicated to contemporary artistic creation.
In all, plus 14 conferences took place, it's hard to make a choice! They are organized around several UX themes (systemic design, design sprint, generative design, intelligent personal assistants, eco-design, interface design, etc.)!
Experience Design as a Driver of Change
These two days of conference, placed under the theme of experience design as a driver of change, were a real breath of fresh air for us. We had the chance to meet many former colleagues and designers, and to share with them passionate and enriching exchanges.
We discussed the conferences, our respective work, and everything that inspires and motivates us in our profession.
I propose a summary of this day rich in lessons and meetings, dedicated to design and its power of transformation. Rather than going over the 14 conferences in detail, I will focus on the two conferences that had the greatest impact on me.
With Nicolas, we were still able to attend several #REX and #Conferences, here is a non-exhaustive list:
- Repair Design in the Service of Public Policy
- Ideas and inspirations for an ecological alternative design
- Eco-designing a business tool, good practices illustrated
- Beauty and the Beast: When science comes to the rescue
of the Artistic Direction
- Design Leadership in Troubled Waters
- The Dynamic Blueprint: Catalyst for Transformation at Renault Group
- The Dunning-Kruger effect
- Designing a human rhythm in a culture of infinite growth and productivity.
- Design at the service of agriculture
- Design and behavioral sciences, the ultimate combo for making public action perform
- Designing a human rhythm in a culture of infinite growth and productivity.
Secrets of the most creative people and companies
#Opening Keynote with Aaron Walter
The day kicked off with an inspiring keynote from Aaron Walter, who shared “The Secrets of the Most Creative People and Companies.” Known for his book on emotional design, Aaron captivated the audience with valuable insights and inspiring stories, promising a day full of learning and discovery.
Who is Aaron WALTER?
Aaron Walter is a leader in design and technology. He co-hosts the Webby Award-nominated podcast Better Design. At Mailchimp, he pioneered user-centric design, helping the company grow from a few thousand customers to tens of millions. Later, at InVision, he analyzed the design teams of the world’s largest technology companies to uncover the secrets to their success.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Aaron worked with former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden at Resolve to Save Lives, helping U.S. public health teams, the Africa CDC, and WHO integrate design and technology into their emergency response.
Author of several books, including the latest edition of Designing for Emotion, Aaron has provided valuable design advice to institutions such as the White House and the US State Department, as well as many large corporations and start-ups.
Aaron tells us that since childhood, he has been driven by an obsession with creativity, a passion that manifests itself in every decision of his life. Growing up in the middle of fields and wearing woolen ties, he studied painting and drawing, which led him to become deeply involved in UX design. Aaron embodies the idea of “Build a creative life!”
Through his podcast “Design Better”, Aaron Walter has interviewed many artists from various fields: designers, directors, painters, musicians, architects, etc. These testimonies show that creativity is omnipresent.
In his engaging talk, Aaron explored the many facets of creativity. He stressed the importance of open-mindedness, exploration, and the ability to be surprised. He also discussed the need to embrace doubt and uncertainty, not fear constraints, and embrace complexity to move beyond the automated processes and methodologies we are familiar with, in order to avoid routine.
Additionally, he revisited the history of 50s design through an American prism, highlighting the historical references that precede us and inspire us to be creative.
On the example of Charles Ray, he makes us understand that constraints and creativity are part of one process. In a creative process, you have to be able to put yourself in your own bubble, isolate yourself, unlike open spaces which interrupt our creativity.
Eames Tandem Seating ETS
Charles and Ray Eames designed Tandem Seating for public waiting areas at the request of architect Eero Saarinen for the Dulles Airport terminal in Washington, DC, and for the new terminals at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. This durable and easy-to-maintain seating system is designed to provide high comfort and withstand extreme loads. The back and seat upholstery can be replaced individually. Its modularity allows an unlimited number of seating units to be combined, ensuring relaxed sitting in public spaces.
Through other examples, Aaron, explains that collaboration is essential to amplify an idea within a group, putting aside our ego for the common good. In a complex environment, as Hiroki Asat of Airbnb pointed out, the importance of organizational structure is crucial. Breaking down silos within organizations simplifies processes and promotes agility.
To truly value collaboration, it is sometimes necessary to silence some voices to hear others, ensuring that all perspectives are considered. This is essential for true collective creativity.
As Pixar's book “Creativity, Inc.” explains, the “me” is the dangerous part of creativity. Doing it together to do it well is the key.
We create to participate in the human experience, to connect with the world. Creativity is an act of generous connection, linking people and ideas in a common effort to innovate and evolve.
Let go of our ego, collaboration amplifies the idea of the group and belonging.
In their video, Damian and Tim from OK GO demonstrate the effectiveness of collaborative work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZB_rGFyeU
There are many other examples that I could cite, but I invite you to listen to Aaron's Podcast: “Design Better”
And finally, another conference that really left its mark on me during this day:
The Dunning-Kruger effect
#Conference with Aurélien Aries
You don't know the Dunning-Kruger effect? Me neither 🙂
Let’s go back a little to the origins…
The Dunning-Kruger effect, also known as the overconfidence effect, is a cognitive bias where the least skilled people in a group tend to overestimate their skills in a domain, a phenomenon close to ultra-crepid Arianism.
This phenomenon was highlighted in 1999 by American psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. They explain this bias by a metacognitive difficulty of unskilled people, who fail to recognize their incompetence and correctly assess their abilities. The study also reveals an inverse effect: the most competent people tend to underestimate their level of competence and wrongly believe that tasks that are easy for them are also easy for others.
In this conference, Aurélien explains to us that this effect aims to highlight the perception of our real skills VS perceived ones.
To illustrate his point, Aurélien told us about Donald Trump's tweet during the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral.
In this example, Donald Trump suggested sending water bombers to put out the fire, illustrating a cognitive bias known as availability bias. This bias causes us to favor the first ideas that come to mind, even if they are not the most effective or appropriate.
In our field as designers, this often translates into decisions like making a button bigger simply because the customer isn’t clicking it enough, which also reflects availability bias. It’s a tendency to rely too much on our first hunches without considering other potential solutions or a deeper analysis of the situation.
“Ignorance more often breeds trust.”
in itself than knowledge does"
Charles Darwin
Their hypothesis was that by observing a skill present in everyone to varying degrees:
- The incompetent person tends to overestimate his level of competence;
- The incompetent person fails to recognize the competence of those who truly possess it;
- The incompetent person fails to realize his degree of incompetence;
- If training these people leads to a significant improvement in their skills, they will then be able to recognize and accept their previous shortcomings.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance,
But the illusion of knowledge."
Stephen Hawking
It is crucial to continue learning and training regularly to keep our metacognition active. Reading articles, listening to podcasts, attending conferences, among others, are effective ways to achieve this.
The Dunning-Kruger effect does not spare the field of human resources. Recruiting a candidate affected by this effect can have catastrophic consequences. Why? Because the overconfidence of a candidate who overestimates his skills can mask his true abilities, while a more cautious candidate, asking more questions, could be more realistic and suited to the position.
This theory therefore applies to many fields and underlines the importance of objective assessment of skills during recruitment and decision-making processes.
So, now you have a better understanding of the Dunning-Kruger effect. To deepen your knowledge, I encourage you to read articles on this fascinating topic.
In conclusion for UX Days 2024
To conclude, this day was once again rich in lessons and moments of conviviality! It allowed us all to meet up, to share our passions and our expertise, whether in UX research, UX design or UX strategy. In summary, this edition was a real success: complete, diversified and followed by many UX designers from all over France.
A big thank you to the entire organizing team for their incredible work, to the speakers for their inspiring talks, and to UX Republic for allowing us to attend. See you next year!
Fabien de Gezelle, UI Designer at UX-Republic
