Differentiating with Design Activism Slides from the NUX6 talk by Daniel Harris, Friday 27th October 2017. 2017.nuxconf.uk / nuxuk.org Synopsis: We’re in an incredible era of un-precidented technological opportunity where anything we can imagine can be built. As designers, we’re at the forefront of making this technology work for organisations. The question is, are we pointing this power in a positive direction? Welcome, generation i!. You are more likely to be depressed and mentally unwell than ever before! Our digital culture compounds these generational challenges and the industry continues to treat digital like an exploitable asset. So what happens then as that asset becomes further and further a part of society. A part of our humanity? At the same time this generation is valuing the part organisations have to play in improving communities and lives – not just with sponsorship or CSR programmes, but in the way they operate and serve. And it’s becoming part of big business. Some estimates suggest that 75% of the S&P 500 companies will not exist in 2027 – companies unable to respond to the rate of change in customer expectations of them. In comes Design Activism; termed by Alistair Fuad-Luke as “design thinking, imagination and practice applied… to generate and balance positive social, institutional, environmental and/or economic change.” I’ll use stories and examples to show how UXers are increasingly empowered to build the world they want to see, with their client and organisational stakeholders with them all the way. In this new era, appetite, point of view, and passion become major ingredients for unleashing the power of UX and design into a new realm of influence.

1. design activism
Dan Harris

2. cxpartners is a globally
renowned experience
design consultancy.
We apply research & design
thinking to solve the
commercial challenges of
the future.
We create products &
services that measurably
improve people’s lives.
We love good design
We translate research into design. And we
work across devices and platforms to
create an integrated brand experience that
customers love.
Measurable results
We do great work for the benefit of end-
users, so that our clients do better. And we
measure the impact of what we do to
ensure your business is flourishing.
You say vacation we say holiday
We are proud to be UK based and are
always on hand to offer a global
perspective
Integrating easily into your team
Our ethos is around being open, flexible
and can-do, but we’re ready to challenge
assumptions and we don’t try to fly in the
face of facts.

6. SUB TITLE IF NEEDED
Menonites
Farm
Tractors
Growth
Less diversity
Lack of intimacy
Ignorance
Loss, 100 years later

9. SUB TITLE IF NEEDED
Cameras
Apple AR
Google cam
Reloch camera

12. SUB TITLE IF NEEDED
Generation I stats
Picture: Alarmy

13. SUB TITLE IF NEEDED
[Facebook story from the engineer
plus the Australian Facebook
designing boosts for teenagers]
Amazon home device
Ordering stuff through it
Uber as a living service and it’s
downfall

14. OUR PROFESSION IS
IN BETWEEN ‘UTOPIA
AND OBLIVION’
BUCKMINSTER FULLER

15. BY 2027, 25% OF
THE WORLDS TOP
COMPANIES WILL
NOT EXIST
RICHARD FOSTER, YALE UNIVERSITY

16. SUB TITLE IF NEEDED
Good companies
[show that we are preferring orgs
and product that are good over
those that arent]
Airbnb employee experience

17. 60% OF YOUNG UK CITIZENS THINK
CAPITALISM IS UNFAIR
51% OF YOUNG US CITIZENS NO LONGER
SUPPORT THE SYSTEM OF CAPITALISM
HARVARD UNIVERSITY

18. THE LOWEST EARNING 80% OF
AMERICAN HOUSEHOLD’S INCOME
ROSE BY 42% BETWEEN 1979-2013.
FOR THE NEXT 19% IS ROSE BY 70%.
FOR THE TOP 1%, IT ROSE BY 192%.
(RICHARD REEVES, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS)

19. DESIGN ACTIVISM
“DESIGN THINKING, IMAGINATION AND
PRACTICE APPLIED KNOWINGLY OR
UNKNOWINGLY TO CREATE A COUNTER-
NARRATIVE AIMED AT GENERATING AND
BALANCING POSITIVE SOCIAL,
INSTITUTIONAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND/
OR ECONOMIC CHANGE.”
ALASTAIR FUAD-LUKE

20. 5

21. 1. THE JOY OF
DESIGN
RESEARCH

23. 2. CHALLENGING
DESIGN PRINCIPLES

25. 3. PURPOSE

26. “To Bring Joy to Life”
Wiltshire Farm Foods

27. “To Accelerate the world's transition
to sustainable energy”
Tesla

28. 4. CREATE
“BADDASS
HUMANS”

31. 5. DESIGN THE
OPERATION TO
BE LEAN

32. Big presentation title goes
here

34. 1. THE JOY OF DESIGN RESEARCH
2. CHALLENGING DESIGN PRINCIPLES
3. PURPOSE
4. CREATE “BADDASS HUMANS”
5. DESIGN THE OPERATION TO BE LEAN

36. @DANRAMBLE
#RUBBERTYRES
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