SDN Global Conference 2024
Studio Notes | What We’ve Been Up To
Studio Notes | What We’ve Been Up To
We’ve come home energised and inspired after a few days spent with the international service design community – hearing new ideas, making new connections and catching up with some old ones. It was also hugely inspiring to witness the vibrancy and maturity of design in Helsinki itself, something we were constantly reminded of both during the conference and while exploring the city.
The two days were jammed with good brain food, but there were definitely some highlight sessions which stood out for us…
Marie Van Driessche’s opening keynote “Inclusive Design, more than you hear” was a captivating talk which challenged our perceptions of inclusivity by sharing her first-hand expertise as a Deaf UX researcher, and emphasising the importance of co-design when designing for accessibility.
“It’s time for a revolution in Boldness” saw dynamic duo Kristofer Kelly-Frere & Stephen Wood present their manifesto for maximising boldness in design, employing face paint and audience participation to demonstrate the value of expectation management and pushing boundaries in design.
Alan Colville’s “Prepare to disagree; unlock the power of conflict in design” made the argument for embracing constructive conflict in collaboration, and armed us with some practical tools for building healthier creative relationships with our teammates.
There were many more fresh ideas and opinions shared across the couple days, and there’s plenty we missed that we’ll be catching up with online!
Overall, we had a fantastic trip. It was a privilege to have attended as award nominees, and though we missed out on the win we were extremely proud to have seen our work regarded alongside such exemplary projects. Congratulations also to our fellow nominees – and be sure to check out the winning project from our category: “Modernising Singapore’s Employment Pass Legacy Systems to Deliver Seamless Customer Services” by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower.
Thanks too to the local and international volunteers, the Service Design Network, and of course the local Helsinki Chapter of the SDN for bringing such a fantastic conference programme together.