3 minutes Our UX experts, Orsolya Jaksa and Tímea Gőcze, attended the Geekle UX/UI Summit online lecture series in March. The event featured presentations from experts at Google, Figma, IBM, Ubisoft, and United Airlines, among others. The presenters came from a variety of fields, including UI designers, graphic designers, UX researchers and strategists, and front-end developers.
Day one: Career Tips and Preventing Burnout
The first half of the two-day event (Junior track) focused primarily on career advice, covering topics such as:
- How to stay creative and find inspiration
- Communication and presentation skills
- How to identify and address our knowledge and skill gaps
- Key considerations when assembling a portfolio
Marc Ballart Germà (Game Designer, Ubisoft) delivered a particularly interesting presentation on user and game experience design. He discussed the UX designer’s responsibility in game design, including how players interact with in-game elements and how the interface should provide feedback to users.
He also compared game design with designing websites and apps, noting that the goal for digital interfaces is for users to complete tasks as quickly as possible with minimal time spent on each interface. In contrast, users might spend hundreds or even thousands of hours on a game, where the aim is to entertain and engage players for as long as possible.
From the messages of the first day, the “UX Cycle of Excellence” presentation was the most applicable to my work. The speaker, with over 20 years in the UX field, emphasized that there are always areas for growth and learning, even after 20 years of experience, as UX is a constantly evolving profession.
UX Strategies and Completed Forms
On the second day (Senior track), presenters covered a range of topics, including:
- AR, MR, and VR worlds
- Recession and adapting to the changing job market
- UX strategy and consulting
- Artificial Intelligence
- Cultural differences and their impact on UX
The presentation titled “UX Strategy: Unlocking the True Potential of Design with a Business-Like Approach” was particularly interesting. The focus was on UX strategy and consulting, including developing UX competencies within a company.
Helena Hill convincingly spoke about the importance of a well-developed UX strategy, noting that it can increase user satisfaction, conversion rates, and improve business outcomes. According to the presentation, one characteristic of the most successful UX strategies is that all divisions within the company adapt and utilize the strategy.
To design a successful UX strategy, it is crucial to become involved in the company’s background and operations: understand the technologies and platforms used, record stakeholder interviews to grasp needs and be aware of opportunities and resources. Additionally, it is important to understand and navigate the company’s structure and operations, including internal culture and the challenges of implementing a new UX strategy.
Creating an internal UX strategy is an ongoing process with no definitive end; it requires continuous improvement and effort to ensure its effectiveness. Eliminating separation between different hierarchical levels and divisions is also essential for success, as it allows for gathering ideas and experiences from all levels and sharing knowledge.
Stephy Hogan (Associate UX Designer, IBM) delivered an engaging presentation titled “Do Your Users Rage Quit Out Of Your Forms? Let’s Fix That.” She illustrated with data and concrete examples the points where users often abandon forms, such as:
- General error messages
- Inactive “Next” button
- Dropdown menu issues in country selection
- Inline validation occurring too early during field completion
- Small clickable and scrollable areas
She also highlighted positive aspects, such as:
- Useful error messages that specify the reason for the error
- Indication of different field states
- Appropriately sized text
- Checkboxes and radio buttons
- Dropdowns that open on click
- Fast and effective autocomplete
Yan Grinshtein (Head of Design, Augment) gave a presentation titled “You Should Hire Junior and Immigrant Designers!” focusing on the importance of junior professionals and why they should be valued.
He emphasized the fresh perspectives that international professionals bring to a company, highlighting the value of their new insights.
The UX Summit was extremely useful, interesting, and inspiring. Almost every topic added something valuable to our daily work and opened our eyes to the many facets of the UX profession.
