{"id":6312,"date":"2017-06-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnfreeborn.com\/words\/?p=6312"},"modified":"2025-01-19T22:39:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T06:39:39","slug":"99u-conference-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnfreeborn.com\/words\/99u-conference-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"99U Conference: 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Design thinking, and not just \u2018design thinking\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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99U stage with the charming host, Mr. Matt McCue<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m on the train, leaving New York after a pretty amazing week. It was the perfect time of year to be in New York. The weather was flawless and I got to attend the\u00a099U Conference<\/a>\u00a0for the third time. I\u2019m getting spoiled by the whole thing at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left: My conference badge with fancy designed 9 \u2014 Right: Near Grand Central station at sunset.<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe 99U Conference is a one-of-a-kind live experience that inspires creative professionals to bring their ideas to life and shape the future of the industry.\u201d \u2013 this is their words, not mine. But, it\u2019s a admirable goal and they do a great job of bringing together a diverse group of people and disciplines. The mix of people and content is why I keep coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pre-Conference Kickoff Party<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not get started a day early? A lot of the attendees gather to pre-register and hang out for a few hours at a nice hotel with a lot of fine cheese and cured meats. Some of the sponsors get to show off their new toys and tools. Google Tilt Brush<\/a> was running live demos, allowing people to put on the headset and paint in 3D. Adobe<\/a> was running a live collaborative drawing experiment. People were encouraged to draw something, scan with the iPads and then the drawing leader was grabbing elements from the public for inclusion in the final drawing. Posters of the result were given out on day two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left: My joystick scribble made it into the final piece \u2014 Right: The final, slightly wrinkled poster<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1: Morning\u2013\u2013Defining the Creative Career<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farai Chideya <\/strong>(@farai<\/a> on Twitter)
The conference started off with a solid and thoughtful presentation by Farai Chideya. She examined the changing landscape of work and presented some clear methods for getting ahead in this uncertain professional landscape. She described these as \u2018work\/life freedom strategies\u2019 and she laid out three key tactics: Do a skills audit & industry audit, be a translator (someone who can bridge areas of expertise and bring people together) and lastly, give yourself wiggle room. We all have plans, but don\u2019t beat yourself about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liz Jackson<\/strong><\/a>
I have tried to explain this a few times verbally to friends and have failed miserably\u2013let\u2019s try again\u2026
Liz Jackson is a disability advocate and told some of her story about how she came to this field. Her passion and intelligence on this subject needs to be heard by more people. Culturally \u201cwe are trained to look away\u201d from the disabled. She believes that this attitude undermines the value that \u201cdisabled ingenuity\u201d brings to the rest of us. Many popular products were developed by the disabled and then brought into the mainstream, she sighted the bicycle for example. \u201cDisability is a social construct\u201d and if we continue to view different abilities and less we only undermine our own value. As accessibility in web design has grown in awareness, hopefully in product design the same thing can happen\u2013thanks to people like Liz Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Perry<\/strong> (@mikeperrystudio<\/a> on Instagram)
This talk was a somewhat rambling but entertaining tour of Mike Perry\u2019s work, studio and thought process. He talked about his studio as a ship and his love of Star Trek the Next Generation\u2013and how in his studio on any given day they can decide what the next adventure will be. He went into detail about his project around drawing naked people and how the goal of learning to draw people led him to some interesting new experiences. He showed some of his commercial work as well as explained (loosely) how he\u2019s gone from illustration to animation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 1: Midday \u2014 Navigating the Unknown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryan Lamkin<\/strong> (@bryanlamkin<\/a> on Twitter)
An interview style chat with one of the leaders of Adobe\u2019s product group. He talked about the importance of mobile and social and how it\u2019s changing people\u2019s consumption of content (photography and video). My ears perked up when he talked about experience design as a vehicle for \u201cholistic problem solving.\u201d The last key point for me was how Adobe is tackling AI and where it\u2019s embedding machine learning into its products. He sighted content aware fill as one example of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Kaganskiy<\/strong><\/a>
The director of the NEW INC<\/a> at the New Museum gave a detailed look at her work developing this art and design incubator. This process is similar to what every project, startup or growing business deals with and she gave some great guideposts for managing the chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hope for the best, prepare for the worst<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting comfortable with uncertainty\u201d, is something, as a self admitted control freak, she\u2019s been learning and taking to heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On navigating the unknown
\u2022 Start with why
\u2022 Find your tribe
\u2022 Make a plan
\u2022 Be ready to learn and adapt
\u2022 Focus on process vs. result
\u2022 Approach challenges with honesty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rick Webb<\/strong><\/a>
Best known for his work at the Barbarian Group<\/a>, he gave a detailed history of how that all happened and then the aftermath. I can\u2019t really explain the details of his adventure, but one thing that did resonate with me was that creating a company is like giving birth to a child. It will exist with or without you and there will be times that you\u2019ll need to step back and let it go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Belsky<\/strong><\/a>
The founder of 99U<\/a> finally hit the main stage\u2013and he made it count. He jumped right in with his phased approached to making things happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phase 1: Make Ideas Happen\u2013Mission centric medium agnostic
Phase 2: Collaboration\u2013Powerful enough for pros but accessible to everyone
Phase 3: Supporting Mission Driven Teams\u2013The first mile is neglected<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collaboration and reliance on your team builds and grows your team\u2019s strength. Most products do one of two things: save you time or spend your time\u2013he views this duality as a battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last section of the talk dove into how a user interacts with your product in the first moments (15 seconds) and how lazy, vain and selfish we can be when evaluating a new product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n