UXSA conference promises ‘ all round view of user experiences’

Attendees of the UXSA conference, set to take place between 24 and 26 November at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, will get an “all round view of User Experiences, from finding out who your customers are and what they need to creating a unique and valuable end user experience for them”.

That’s according to press release issued by the organisers, who say they hope to help shed new light on a conversation that dates back to the building of aeroplane dashboards during World War II.

As Theo Sauls, founder of Evenir Pty Ltd (the company hosting the event) notes, UX is not just for [web and product]designers, but is something that everyone who has a product on the market.

“Essentially,” he says, “it looks at human behaviour and emotions, and how you can optimise your product to give your client a pleasurable experience when they use your product.”

While UX may not be a new discipline, it is playing an increasingly important role in a number of fields, meaning a growing number of people need to have a solid understanding of what UX entails.

Read more: 4 common UX mistakes in brand apps (and how to fix them)

“The central tenant of UX is that the user should be at the centre of any design exercise. Understanding the user, their psychology and their environment is key to building successful products,” says Gareth Murphey, Omni Channel Technology Senior Manager at Accenture, South Africa – one of the sponsors of the UXSA Conference.

According to Sauls, the emerging nature of UX — especially in the online space — is precisely why the topic requires a dedicated conference.

“A lot of our attendees do not have UX departments like the big corporate, so part of the purpose of the conference is to show delegates where to start.”

The conference will host a mix of workshops and topics by prominent industry stakeholders such as Farai Madzima, Digital Product Designer at Standard Bank who will be presenting on Prototyping for Mobile Apps, and Phil Barret, Associate Director at Deloitte Digital South Africa who will facilitate a workshop on innovation for product and within the workplace.

For more information, visit the conference website.