Last week was a moment. I attended my very first UX Live Conference — and not just as a curious creative, but as part of the team behind it. I’m currently the Creative Lead at TechCircus, a London-based startup that organizes UX and design conferences. It’s wild (in the best way) to design for designers — the standards are high, the eyes are sharp, and the bar for good UX is practically on the moon. But oh, the joy when it all comes together.

Seeing my work come to life at UX LIVE was surreal. The signage, the branding, the program materials — all things I had a hand in were suddenly out there, IRL, being touched and photographed and spilled-coffee-on. And in between running around the venue and soaking in all the details, I got to attend some of the talks. Here are 10 messy, raw, but honest notes I scribbled into my sketchbook — in no particular order:

1. ABR — Always Be Recruiting

Every speaker — whether from an agency, consultancy, startup or BigCorp — was looking for talent. If you’re a product designer or user researcher in the UK right now, chances are high someone wants to hire you. One speaker talked about how BT (yes, British Telecom!) built their team by simplifying roles, now everyone’s a Product Designer or Content Designer. Great for flexibility. Maybe not so great if your identity is tied to the words “UX Ninja” on your card.

2. The Power of Process

The double diamond is still very much a thing. But EY Seren’s take? They do it daily. Yes, every day. Their process: “Daily LESS” — Listen, Explore, Sketch, Share. The emphasis? SHARING. That crucial, often-skipped part where we communicate work-in-progress. Chris Thelwell had a killer quote about this: “I scheduled our stand ups at 9.47, and guess what, it really screws up people’s agendas!” Legend.

3. How Design Gets Lost in Translation

Barclays’ Noel Lyons shared real-life misinterpretations of design methods that made us collectively laugh (and cry). Examples: “We need a half-day Design Sprint!” “We tested with customers — twice!” “This is our Job to be Done” “We need a prototype for our presentation” “It’s customer-centric because 1 million people already use it!” 😬 You get the idea.

4. “Be an Ally, Not a Resource”

One of my favorite lines from the whole event. Morgane Peng of Societe Generale delivered this gold. She even gave names to the typical difficult stakeholder archetypes:

• Hostile Jean: “Make it pretty. Also, bigger logo.”

• Contemptuous Paul: “Show me the tool — I’ll just do it myself.”

• Manipulator Audrey: “Add a wow effect. A mix of TikTok and Airbnb. I need screens for my meeting.” Her advice? Don’t fight them — ally with them. Understand their fear. Speak their language. And no, that doesn’t mean Comic Sans.

5. Strategic Research = Better Business

Alexander Muir from John Lewis walked us through how research can actually inform decisions, not just tick boxes. Want to be taken seriously by PMs? Know their KPIs. Understand their deadlines. Dig into what’s keeping them up at night. And for the love of usability, don’t bury them in Figma screenshots.

6. Toddlers > Focus Groups

Paige Bennett from Dropbox shared the most adorable, humble moment from the conference. Her toddler inadvertently revealed a key truth: what people say they want vs. what they need are rarely the same thing. Never underestimate the power of a small human to deliver a design epiphany.

7. Passion Projects = Work Fuel

Renato Verdugo from YouTube was tired of seeing research insights gather digital dust. So, he used his love of photography and started capturing “A Day in the Life Of…” YouTube creators. These stories are now displayed in offices globally. Visual storytelling = empathy that sticks.

8. 5G is Not Just Faster 4G 🤯

This one stretched my brain. Yes, machines can talk to each other. Printers can reorder their ink. But do I want my fridge ordering oat milk just because it thinks I’m out? (No, thank you, robot overlord.) The message: automation is cool, but humans still need to steer the ship.

9. Solar System Design Thinking

There was this beautiful visual shared (wish I had the name!) showing how your perspective changes depending on what’s at the center: Earth or Sun. Same applies to product design — is your user at the center? Or your business model? A humbling check-in.

10. “Eyes Expect Uniformity. Ears Expect Variety.”

Andrea Muttoni from Amazon Alexa blew my mind with this one. In voice UI, repetition is deadly. Unlike visual interfaces that thrive on consistency, audio interactions demand variation. People hate hearing the same thing twice. (See what I did there?)

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We were all buzzing afterward, already planning the next big thing: HX LIVE 2020. It was shaping up to be even better… until COVID-19 swept in and changed everything. The event, like so many others, was cancelled. Our world shifted from physical conferences to Zoom rectangles, Slack threads, and awkwardly silent happy hours. And while remote work brought its share of friction, it also brought clarity: design isn’t just a method, it’s a mindset. One that adapts, evolves, and keeps people at the heart of it.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. Whether you’re a fellow designer, a founder, or just someone who believes that good design matters — I see you.

Let’s keep building better things. Thoughtfully, creatively, together.

xo,
Studio Vagari