Last week at the inaugural BelTech conference I was allowed to go on stage and rant for a good half hour about one of my pet topics: User Experience design.
I’ve never been a fan of technology for its own sake. Technological innovation should exist only to serve us, to help solve problems and improve lives. And UX design should be at the core of technology, because it results in technology designed to be used and enjoyed.
In my presentation I explained some core UX concepts and hopefully showed a strong case for embedding UX design in to the foundation of every technology project, be it an app, website, or device. The whole talk was recorded so you can view it here, and the slides are embedded below.
Following my talk I was joined on stage by Gareth Dunlop and Rick Monro from Fathom for a panel discussion about UX, moderated by Kainos’s Tom Gray. It proved a very fruitful session and I felt we discussed many important aspects of UX and how to embed it in business practices.
I was honoured to be part of this first Belfast Technology conference, expertly organised by Aisling Events and with many superb talks and sessions.
My own favourite session was without a doubt the Women in Technology panel with Mary McKenna, Emma Mulqueeny, Alaina Percival, and moderated by Sheree Atcheson. It was a powerful session where some incredibly important issues about women in the tech industry were discussed.
Kainos has said this is just the first of an annual series of Belfast Technology conferences, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s edition!