For many folks, January is a hard month of cold, dark nights, self-imposed abstinence and unsustainable gym routines. Or you could do as the Danes do and embrace the spirit of Hygge, which celebrates this month by getting cosy, appreciating the simple things in life, and looking ahead at the possibilities of a new year waiting to be embraced.
The Angry Creative design team had a great 2017 and I felt it was an especially good time to be working in user experience. Clients have always valued the power of design, but each passing year I’m pleased to find more are equally embracing User Experience. Existing brands and clients who have been exposed to the benefits of UX investment actively want to know more, and become fully invested and integrated into the process. Furthermore, new clients now come to us with their own opinions on UX without us having to over educate or convert, which is a really wonderful thing.
In 2017 blog posts and meet-ups reverberated with developers and designers wanting to expand and develop their knowledge and skills in all things customer and user experience shaped. If you’re looking to learn more about UX in 2018, we’ve put together a list of some of the events happening on our doorstep here in Brighton, and a small snapshot of the resources our design and UX team visit on a daily basis.
UX Events
UXcamp Brighton is happening very soon and is a brilliant day of learning and insights run by an incredibly dedicated and talented team here in Brighton.
UXBrighton last year was bigger and better than ever before and the cross-section of people attending seemed genuinely diverse, no longer strictly the preserve of us designers and developers. This years event looks set to be even better.
Word Up: Our marketing and development teams are always at the local monthly Word Up meet-ups, but this year the design and UX team are hoping to free ourselves from the studio to be able to share some of our ideas with the Word Up community.
Brighton SEO Hands-on, informative, and widely relevant, we were proud last year to be represented by our CEO David on stage, and eager employees in the crowd (or lurking in the arcade room). We’ll be back at April’s event with our own exhibitor stand; make sure you say hello!
Also, 30 Digital Days campaign will be back as part of the Brighton Digital Festival. So get your UX and UI design contributions ready to share with everyone in October.
UX Community
If you’re a Slack user the UX Brighton channel is well worth a visit, with a buzzing local community of good advice and friendly, supportive folks.
Further UX reading
For anyone working in User Experience, you’ll be familiar with these (and many more besides). But if you’re new or looking to dip your toe into learning more, these are some good places to start for inspiration and to get excited about UX in 2018.
We’re looking forward to another great year of UX events, hope to see you there!