Flupa UX Camp is an event that takes place in France once a year, allowing attendees to both discover and test new user experience design workshops. We retained three key points throughout the experience:
- Games aren’t just for facilitating custom workshops for the client, but also for challenging us on a daily basis.
- Responsible and ethical design spurs customer growth in all the right ways.
- Voice interface is not yet perfect, but is rapidly improving in terms of user experience (did you know you can design a voicebot in 60 minutes flat?).
Gamifying design
When we talk about games, we might think of our evenings or holidays playing with friends and family, but more and more companies are tapping into gaming to challenge their innovation practices and user experience. At PALO IT, we use it daily, so it was very interesting to find new inspiration.
Card creation was also on the docket, including an engrossing set by Camille Cohignac which educates players on the different stages of Design Thinking.
Gaming is an altogether great way of breaking out of bad habits and preconceived notions, allowing us to understand concepts from new angles, and communicate better as a team and organisation.
Let’s talk ethics
At another workshop we delved into the relationship between design and ethics. Notably, the conversation revolved around popular tools, and means of educating customers.
The framework is simple, but worth reiterating…
The first step is simply awareness, working with customers to understand the impact a new product or service might have on the world. Second is finding that deep motivation—intrinsic in most—that drives them to leverage their work for the greater good. Lastly is challenging the current economic model of customers, elevating it towards sustainable development.
This blueprint for positive impact and sustainability rings true to the work we do at PALO IT, and seeing it become such a large part of UX Camp was encouraging to say the least.
Giving a ‘voice’ to our work
You might have noticed that the chatbot and voicebot are suffering from a lack of love in the digital community. This is quite possibly a result of a lack of understanding among design teams, but this will and should change.
The arrival of AI is shaking up the system currently in place, and bots are great communication tools which—even if not yet optimised—are making a mark on the daily lives of users.
Maaike Coppens has developed a methodology that allows designers and clients alike to conceptualise a fully vocal (and therefore image-free) journey. This offers benefits in great part owed the fluidity of vocal exchange.
At UX Camp, two groups engaged in a sprint around the theme ‘how vocal can encourage waste sorting’.
In just 60 minutes we were able to reflect on the challenges of the voicebot, including its tone and its first interactions with users.
The two groups ended up proposing extremely different experiences, highlighting how the user journey in the vocal era will become multifaceted and allow innovation in parallel with IoT.
Shout out to the organisers of the UX Camp Montpellier for a weekend rich in knowledge exchange! Working with a diverse community of experienced designers opens us up to constructive feedback on our own approach at PALO IT, allowing us to evolve as a team, and as an industry. Looking forward to the UX Days in June 2020 to be held in Paris!
