Thread by @rasagy

Glad to be back at @DesignUpConf, this year as part of the organizing team, doing graphic recording and helping with the scholarship program. 🙌
Here's a thread with my #sketchnotes, photos & reflections from this year's edition: #DUp18!
(1/n)

Yesterday was dedicated to masterclasses, and in the morning, I got a chance to listen to @vlh highlight how animation can be a part of design systems, explain easing curves & walk us through an inspiring set of popular design systems!
(2/n) #DUp18

Next half was a masterclass on using sketching in the design process by @bencrothers (author of @prestosketching). It was great to watch him distill sketching into smaller pieces to learn through inspiring examples!
Here are my #sketchnotes from his session!
(3/n) #DUp18

Today (day two) began with an honest, reflective talk by @dburka on his design career, how he's embracing being wrong (by using quick experiments to find that how he's wrong!), and his work for Resolve to Save Lives.
My #sketchnotes:
(4/n) #DUp18

Next, @laurencza & @uxwallah — designers & researchers for @googlemaps — explained how they created navigation for two wheeler, why use research was critical for designing this, and how an inclusive product is created only through an inclusive process!
#sketchnotes
(5/n) #DUp18

@vlh highlighted some interesting examples of *good animation* in UI Design, and how to use continuity, choreography, feedback & directing attention to achieve this.
Loved how animated she is while talking about animations! ♥️
(6/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

And @kshitiz gave an inspiring glimpse into the amazing work he's doing through @HappyHorizons in rethinking education for adolescent girls in Bihar.
Perfect example of solving real, hard problems for the Indian context!
(7/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

This was followed by the leadership track, with the highlight being @Folletto's talk on getting better at giving feedback. His talk was an exhaustive introduction on how to ask, give & receive feedback well.
(8/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

My day ended with the panel discussion on design leadership, with a mixed bag of questions on culture, management & politics ft. @jurgenspangl, @anjalide, @amyxjhuang, @dburka, @ashishelephant and anchored by @Suvenk.
(9/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

That's all for today, see you tomorrow for the last day of #DUp18!
If you're interested in sketchnoting, graphic facilitation or data viz, feel free to catch me in person (or over twitter!)
(10/n)

My favorite shot from the day: me and @bencrothers fooling around while discussing my sketchnotes!

Such fun getting feedback and picking up tips from amazing graphic recorders like him. ♥️

Thanks @nikitasarkar108 for the shot!
(11/n) #DUp18

Here are more sketchnotes after a good night's sleep! 😅

Day #2 started with a surprise — @bencrothers joined me & we did #GraphicRecording / #sketchnoting side by side!

Such fun seeing what each of us noted and discussing how I can get better.
♥️
(12/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

The day started with @jurgenspangl (Head of Design for @Atlassian) narrating their journey to designing better design systems by learning to love the problem, not the solution.

Loved the love story metaphor! 😉

(13/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

My favorite bit of @jurgenspangl's talk was how it was a frank reflection on their pursuit of creating a *good* design system.

He acknowledged the hype around creating (yet another) design system & emphasized on actually questioning the "Why" & how to maintain it.

(14/n) #DUp18

Next was @TheOtherIdeas's fun talk on turning Uncertainty into Creative Power. He shared inspiring stories behind Seinfeld, Samsung, Insta etc & mocked the amusing rituals of creativity (Moooaaar sticky notes!) 😂

(15/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

My favorite bit of @TheOtherIdeas's talk was how he highlighted the value in assuming that your project will fail, and then working backward by discussing why and how it might fail.

Such an interesting way to get a team to self critic their work! 👏

(16/n) #DUp18

Tatiana Toutikian gave my favorite talk at @DesignUpConf on Speculative Design & Objects. I loved how the talk was very provocative ("What if" scenarios in religion, death, xenophobia etc.) & it was presented in such an engaging way that my #sketchnotes can't show!

(17/n) #DUp18

If there is one talk that you should definitely see from this year's edition, it's her talk.

Great insights on how to critically think about the future we designers are creating & how effective speculative design is at sparking conversations about the future.

(18/n) #DUp18

Next, @jdallcaps gave a short summary of how @DesignUpConf has grown over the years, how DesignUp Reboot didn't work out and had to be canceled, some issues faced this year in scaling the conf & what is in plan for the coming editions.

(19/n) #DUp18 #sketchnotes

While there are many reasons why conf like @DesignUpConf are successful (curation, team, motivations, ethos…), this is most important: Honest (& critical) discussion about what worked & what didn't, and clear plans on making an impact beyond the conf. ♥️
(20/n) #DUp18

The last talk I made #sketchnotes for was by @ravinaidoo — an amazing glimpse into the huge impact of @designindaba in highlighting great design from Africa.

From 1st african in space to fifa world cup to preventing violence against women — such inspiring stories!

(21/n) #DUp18

I had heard great things about @DI_Festival from @jdallcaps, but I only understood the real impact of @designindaba from @ravinaidoo's talk.

This sets such a high bar for India — how can Indian conferences go beyond the few days of event and have a bigger impact?

(22/n) #DUp18

Post-lunch, I heard @gggodhwani & @imakshayverma speak about how they're making budget data more accessible to the public by visualizing it at @CBGAIndia.

If you are looking for examples of impactful #dataviz in India, you should definitely talk to them both!

(23/n) #DUp18

And I couldn't miss @blnaveen speak about how he's using participatory speculative design to teach his students at @SrishtiArtDes.

So great how they stay in rural Rajasthan and re-imagine narratives around sanitary pads and nightfall through songs & ramp walks!

(24/n) #DUp18

For me, @DesignUpConf ended on a high thanks to a workshop by someone I've been dying to meet for years — Mahendra Bhai!

We did a lot of non-latin/indic lettering with brushes, reed pens & chisel-tip sketchpens. 😍

Here's a glimpse of it:

https://twitter.com/Kenneth/status/1056218395996233728?s=19

(25/n) #DUp18

We also managed to catch Mahendra bhai after the event to talk about things like selling design to clients (🙉), his time at NID as a faculty (😍), how to be a better teacher (♥️), state of design education today (😥) and what he learnt from Frutiger (😱)

(26/n) #DUp18

And with that, @DesignUpConf was a wrap! Last year, as a speaker, I only got a glimpse of how the conf works. But this year as a volunteer, I got to see the selfless spirit, passion & dedication that everyone in the team has.

Honored to have played a tiny part in #DUp18!

(27/n)

This year, I also met many more familiar faces, & made new friends! From NID super seniors & super juniors, colleagues from my old jobs to people I've only known through social media, it was an amazing crowd!

#DUp18 was truly perfect for a team off-site!

https://twitter.com/rasagy/status/1042712299977334784

Before I wrap up this thread, a huge shoutout to the 8 scholars who did some interesting stuff in the background! 🙌

✍️ @leenasoni_, @abivnahom, @yadavnikhil012 & @booleanhunter
💻 @nitin_pande & Vinod
🎨 @Ankeeta301
📹 Nitish

Will collate & write about it soon!

(29/n) #DUp18

For those who found my #sketchnotes interesting & want to get started:

📹 by @douglaspneill
✍️ by @craightonberman core77.com/posts/19678/sk…
📚 Sketchnote Handbook & Workbook by @rohdesign
🎙 @SketchnoteArmy Podcast

(Made any? Tweet to me!)

(30/n) #DUp18

So @DesignUpConf gave me a lot to think about (impact of a conference, value in volunteering), read about (speculative design & design fiction), to work more on (networking as an introvert).

And I got my first ever NEULAND MARKERS thanks to @bencrothers! 😍😍🙇🙇

(31/n) #DUp18

See you all at the next @DesignUpConf, or maybe at one of the pre events! 😉

👋

(fin)

(32/2^5)