Emy Alegre

Thanks Steve. It's a noble quest, for sure. An effective answer should be one that will unlock someone's understanding of design, and cause them to act differently as a result. I think you are close. To me, a definition using design as a strategic capability should include the things you've mentioned. I feel it should also include bringing the ambitions to life (eg a future state experience vision of sorts). As you know, strategy is also as much about what you say no to as what you say yes to, and being very clear about the path you take to get there. Those decisions could be made with any number of customer insights or lack thereof, and therefore I would include the fact that design can play a part in prioritising, defining horizons and also de-risking the big bets.

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Will I ever stop talking about the business value of design? NEVER. Designers are under selling themselves if they don't know how to connect the dots. It only took me first half of my career working directly with founders to build business through different stages, plus 7 years to build my own side hustle from nearly drain out my life savings to turning over multi six figures to figured out:👇 Designers absolutely need to know more than design to succeed in the business eco system. so where do you even start? All will be revealed in this session. Warning: this talk will be filled with relationship analogies. come for a laugh 😂 ✌️🌈🚀 #businessdesign #designcareer #productdesign #uxdesign

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Next week. I'm talking about disconnection of business and design Atlassian Sydney. Looking forward to share few nuggets about getting these two to talk to each other. Thank you for the crew behind the scene Kevin Wilkins, Lydia Bradshaw, Sylvia Luk, Ashlee King, Sarah Stokes, Tim Dixon, PhD, Timothy Parker for organising. Reminder for everyone, I also run a half day in bootcamp on 21st JUNE in Sydney on - Mastering Business Acumen for Designers. Link in comment. 💬🔗 #businessdesigner #productdesigner #productstrategy

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Another great Macquarie Design Blog post by Leah Ochroch went live this morning. Insightful, practical tips to ensure your design is accessible for all. #design #experiencedesign #uxdesign #accessibility

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💡Design leader Glen Lipka's advice on thinking about software as a system in flow. ▶️ Watch the full #DesignLeaderInsights episode on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gQabKA54 by Fuego UX

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"Austerity service design has been going on for so long, and has crept up on us so slowly that it isn't something that we notice now" We reflect on a career of designing under austerity and how this has shaped the field of service design over the last 14 years since the 'Big Society' term was introduced Can we end austerity-era service design? https://lnkd.in/eUCP5jX6

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What are the best design, product and alround tech events these days? I've been out of the loop since covid but would like to get out and about more. AND if anyone is interested in hosting me talk about how designers should move into product, let me know!

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Highlighting my article on some of the Lessons I've learnt from working in Product Design across a variety of industries. https://lnkd.in/gSxD6nCe #design #designthinking #designbuild #designstrategy #product #producctdesign #productmanagement #productstrategy #designprinciples #innovation #designers #digitaltransformation #ux #uxdesign #uiux #uidesign #designinnovation #application #software #softwaredesign #usability #userresearch #research #usercentereddesign #productleadership #uxwriting #designsystems #empathy #interfacedesign #usabilitytesting #userexperience #productdesign #accessibility #ui

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A little job market update from me. This is what I'm seeing out there across the world of design in Australia: 👉 We're still seeing most of the roles on the market across the end-to-end Product Design and Service Design space. There has - for the last year or so - been a real dip in pure User Research roles going to market, as well as a significant decrease in Content Design roles too. As the market stabilises, we anticipate a resurgence in demand here. 👉 Most of the roles on the market at the moment are at the Senior to Lead/Principal level - we're not seeing too many mid-level jobs out there, though we are seeing some of our bigger enterprise businesses investing in their grad schemes after a bit of a hiatus! 👉 Within these roles, there is a clear need for seasoned Senior ICs. Companies are seeking designers who can be on the tools, lead projects, and mentor junior members of staff. 👉 While the contract market is still busy, there is a notable tilt towards permanent positions, with a bit of downward pressure on salaries. 👉 The landscape at the leadership level remains quiet, though a lot of businesses I'm speaking with are earmarking budget for these types of hires in the new financial year. 👉 Most positively, there seems to be a shift across most verticals away from purely BAU, to new products, services (and usually CAPEX funded) projects. If you're looking to discuss your next step or looking to build out your team in the new year, get in touch! 📲 0414 636 440 📧 [email protected]

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This month on the Macquarie Design Blog, Leah Ochroch, User Experience Engineer, discusses the world of accessibility and how designers can take practical steps to include accessible practices into their designs. In a diverse world, it’s important to make sure that design is accessible to all, and design can only be made better by doing so. Learn more about how you can incorporate accessibility into your design practice here: https://lnkd.in/gm7uQbrE

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🤯 In 2024, interfaces like this should be officially banned by the international high council of interface design (of which I hereby promote myself to be the chief director of the board). There’s a core principle to interface design which I have long called (only to myself) the caveman principle. Me want. Me grab. Any time you take an interface away from that principle to something like “I turn this knob over here, in order for this thing over there to work” you have to have a strong user-based justification for why that’s a better interface. Keep interfaces logical, simple, caveman proof. Is that so hard world? 

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We often talk about UX maturity in organisations, but what about the maturity of the practitioners themselves? 🤔 In this article, I dive into how UX practitioners can grow and ultimately elevate the overall UX maturity of the company. Big thanks to Sean Vöckerodt and Arun Kumar for their feedback 🙏 If you’re a UX designer, researcher, or work alongside them, I'd love to hear your thoughts: - What level of UX maturity do you see in your team? - How do you approach the growth and development of your UX practitioners? #UXDesign #UXResearch #UserExperience #UX #DesignLeadership

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Design is not limited to a screen. Culture, services, even relationships (sad as it sounds) have much to gain from design thinking. I’m hosting a panel next Wednesday in Melbourne called “Design Beyond Boxes” where I’ll be interviewing three people who have taken their UX design skills into new domains. The problem is, I’ve had a late drop-out that I need to replace. If you know a Melbourne-based black-belt professional who has gone from UX into legal design, org design, spatial design, designing AI products or things you can touch, please introduce me. Bonus points for interesting journeys or diverse perspectives

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🤯 Mind blown at Dazed & Diffused! 🤯 This generative AI meetup as part of #DO24 was seriously buzzing with energy and innovation. It's amazing to see the Australian tech scene stepping up in this space. Here are a few things that really stood out: - SpatialGPT.ai: Imagine using AI to design your dream home, virtually walk through it, and even see how it will look at different times of day. Spatial Computing + generative AI is seriously game-changing. The demo was mind-blowing, with Robert Marolda showcasing how you could change a wall colour, rearrange furniture, and talking through the near-term possibilities with GenAI of seeing what the space would look like on a Sunday afternoon. - Leonardo.Ai: They're pushing the boundaries of image and video generation. I loved their emphasis on user control and the intuitive platform. From Jonathon Birrell's presentation, it's clear they're building something truly special. The real-time canvas feature was particularly impressive, allowing users to sketch and manipulate images with amazing results. - Peak (from Time Under Tension): Brad Searle and Tim O'Neill showcased their new product Peak, which acts as your internal marketing assistant. Using AI, it can generate everything from marketing briefs to scripts, storyboards, and even visuals. This is a massive time saver for anyone in marketing and a fantastic example of how AI can streamline creative processes. And it wouldn't have been the same without meeting the brilliant minds behind these companies. Shout out to Tim & Brad from Time Under Tension, Jono from Leonardo.AI, Robert Marolda from SpatialGPT.ai and the whole Dazed & Diffused team for putting together such a fantastic event. Fantastic to connect with other like-minded AI enthusiasts and Design X AI fans. #generativeAI #AI #tech #design #innovation #startup #melbourne #australia #DO24 #dazedanddiffused

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Check out Allison Ravenhall's insightful talk from A11y Camp on Customer Informed Accessibility in the CommBank app. This session highlights how usability testing with low vision users revealed an issue in our App 5.0 redesign. Some of you might remember Jacob Torres Agudo and Liam Corry's presentation at The Research Society Human Insights conference, where they discussed the research journey behind the new CommBank app home screen (I might of mentioned it a couple of times, did you hear they won an award?). Allison's talk goes deeper into how our testing with low vision users uncovered an unexpected design flaw. Usability testing often gets a bad rap for being boring and low value, but for me, it's some of the most crucial work we do. A lot of the time designs pass with flying colours, but it's those moments when we uncover a usability issue that are truly invaluable. This is especially true when we're addressing the needs of users with accessibility requirements. Enjoy this super informative talk and learn more about the importance of usability testing in creating accessible designs: https://lnkd.in/gKrQTexE #commbanklife #accessibility #a11y #research #humaninsightsconference

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It's always great to see design experiences you've worked on, being highlighted and discussed! Waiting for the final ux/ui to 'go live' takes patience, but it's fantastic to see the teams at Bendigo Bank & NAB delivering consistent design journeys! (and how fun is it to be able to take on contract roles at not one, but two of the experiences highlighted in this article?!) 🤠

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What’s one of the most important traits of a UX designer? Learning to deal with ambiguity As designers, we have to deal with ambiguity all the time It’s unlikely you will get a clear request or brief On many projects, you will likely get Unclear brief Unclear information Unclear problems to solve Unclear stakeholders and responsibilities Your role as a designer is to bring clarity the ambiguity and get people aligned along the way It is to connect the dots, and help others visualize what the future looks like The best way to deal with ambiguity? Get started Explore ideas Ask questions Seek for feedback Be extremely curious Be flexible to change direction Do you agree? Let me know in the comments! #UXdesign #UX #userexperience

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Nathan Curtis "Successful design systems always have a core team and encourage collaboration". In this article [The Fallacy of Federated Design Systems] Nathan Curtis discusses some of the myths of federated models of design systems and why they are not the best option. Here are some of the myths: - Everyone can, should, and must contribute. - Every component created goes into the system. - Anyone who does UI can contribute. - All UI components of any level of composition are welcome. - Federated contribution is a primary success indicator. - Federated contribution gives you a free design system. Read “The Fallacy of Federated Design Systems“ by Nathan Curtis on Medium: https://lnkd.in/e-w9jdPw

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