WXG SIX — Meet the Speakers (№6)
When I saw the lineup for #WXGSIX, I was particularly excited for Emma Lawton’s talk. At 29, the design agency she was working for had just completed building a new website for Parkinson’s UK. At the same time, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s herself.
Since then, Emma has worked as a Creative Director, a Freelance Strategist, a Consultant for Microsoft, an Advisor and a Trustee. She is an Author, has written for the Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, and is a 3-time TEDx speaker. I think it’s safe to say that Emma has continued her life undeterred. But it hasn’t been without its challenges.
Learn more about Emma and her upcoming talk below…
Talk title
‘Humans at the Heart’
Talk overview
I’ll be discussing the challenge that comes from trying to strike a balance between tech innovation and user need. I’ll show the power human-centred design can have when done right, drawing on my own experience, and showing some ‘fails’ we can all learn from.
What do you think attendees will get out of your talk?
Hopefully they will come away from my talk feeling that they too should be including users in their decision making, because a design that is created without user guidance stands a greater chance of failing. I’d like them to feel inspired to use technology to solve real life problems faced by individuals and the masses alike.
How did you get into your field?
This would be a big spoiler for my talk!
What advice would you give to someone new to the industry?
Learn as much as you can, be greedy and consume information about trends, developments and best practice examples. There is always something new waiting around the corner to explode onto the scene and that makes it difficult to stay up to date. But you need to, because if you don’t, someone coming out of university behind you might be hungrier for it.
What do you think is going to be the big “Thing” this year with the technology sector?
I’m really excited about connected home systems for people with health conditions. I think intelligent solutions that monitor your health and your surroundings to allow you to manage your condition better is the future of healthcare.
Imagine a system that knows your meds aren’t being very effective by monitoring your vital signs, marries this with weather data and your calendar and suggests you leave 10 minutes earlier to avoid the rain because you’re likely to move slower today. It could potentially change the way people with long-term health conditions can be active and contribute in their community.
Who inspires you?
Anyone creating clever tech that makes you go ‘ah, I wish i’d thought of that.’ And amazing women solving big challenges with the user in mind like my Microsoft buddy from ‘Big Life Fix’ Haiyan Zhang.
Be sure to catch Emma’s talk at #WXGSIX. Got your ticket? Great! See you there. Not got yours yet? You’d better hurry — we are down to our last few… www.wxg.co.uk
Read more in our ‘Meet the Speaker’ series here.
