Designing beyond ourselves

We’re back with some first-hand takes on inclusion, accessibility, diversity

3 talks at ustwo covering designing beyond ourselves. Tickets are refundable if you request at the end in line with our policy.

Beyond Boxes: Asking better questions to bridge differences
Labelling and categorising others is automatic and normal. But it can limit our ability to truly connect and collaborate. Drawing on personal and professional insights, this talk demonstrates how asking better questions can help bridge differences, creating a more inclusive and innovative environment.

Designing for our future selves: Why this idea doesn’t work as well as we think
Advice on designing for older people often urges us to think of this audience as our future selves. In one sense this is helpful, as it fosters empathy with older users. But in another sense it’s misleading — it hints that all of the challenges we face in designing for older people now are ones we ourselves will face in 20, 30, 40 years.
Some design considerations persist as bodies age. Eyesight dims, colour vision changes, hearing declines, joints lose flexibility, memory isn’t what it once was. We will all experience some of these changes as we grow older, although at our own pace and in our own unique ways. Bodies will continue to develop age-related limitations. Older people will always face these challenges simply because they are older, and our designs will always need to accommodate them.

Unfortunately, much of what we read and hear about designing for older adults mixes ageing-body limitations with issues like comfort with technology or ability to perform typical online activities (eg, scrolling). Perhaps people will become more hesitant to learn new technologies as they grow older, and more frustrated when technology doesn’t work as they expect. But the specific design considerations will change as technology evolves.

As designers, we need to understand which challenges we will always need to accommodate and which ones will evolve. It all boils down to the difference between challenges that people have because they are older — and ones they have because they are older NOW.

This talk will help you understand what advice you can rely on for the long term and what issues you should keep testing for. It will illustrate with examples, including some from my own experience of being an older person who is seeing some age-related physical changes and is also very comfortable with technology.

Well, I didn’t see that coming!
Join Kardo Ayoub for a fun, lighthearted, and eye-opening (pun intended!) journey through the world of design as he shares his personal story of becoming a visually impaired designer. He’ll be talking about what it’s like to navigate the design world with a vision impairment, how it’s transformed the way he thinks about accessibility, and why inclusive design isn’t just important—it’s essential.

Expect real-life insights, humorous stories, and practical tips to help you rethink the way you approach design.

Whether you’re a seasoned designer or just curious about how to make your products more user-friendly, this talk will inspire you to see the world of design differently. You’ll no doubt walk away with a fresh perspective on how good design can make a huge impact for everyone—whether they have 20/20 vision or not!

Speakers…

Elizabeth Buie
Elizabeth Buie (she/her) is a Senior UX Consultant with Nexer Digital and an independent academic researcher. She returned to UX practice in 2017 after completing a PhD in design research, for which she had moved across the Pond at age 60. In almost five decades in industry she has contributed to the UX of systems and products from websites to mobile apps to air-traffic control systems.

Kardo Ayoub
Kardo is a London based Experience/Product Designer with a unique perspective shaped by becoming visually impaired. With a career that began 15 years ago, he combines personal experience and professional expertise to advocate for inclusive design practices that benefit everyone. Drawing on firsthand knowledge of accessibility challenges, he is dedicated to creating products and experiences that empower users, regardless of ability.

Victoria Kirk
Vic’s a customer insights expert and a team coach who thinks about othering and cultural inclusion every day – at work and at home. As the child of an American mother and an English father she never wanted to be boxed into being just one or the other. Today, she’s raising biracial Indian-American-English children in London.

She guides her family through tricky conversations about identity, belonging, and why we have labels for people. With clients, she guides big companies and government departments through the tricky process of finding overlooked customers they haven’t fully tapped yet, so they can build more resilient products and systems.