IxDA Stories

Our Guest Nicolas Nova, www.nicolasnova.net
Hosted by Lidia Panio, Lead Product Design, IxDA Local Leader @smallandpepper
Book Dr. Smartphone - An Ethnography of Mobile Phone Repair Shops
Book Excercices d'observations

Interaction 23 - 15 min session - A day in the life of a Dr. Smartphone

"Dr. Smartphone", “iklinik” “iPhone clinic”... These are some of the names of a new type of business that has appeared in the past ten years: smartphone repair stores represent the most visible element of this ecosystem, but similar practices can be seen in hackerspaces and repair cafés.

The services provided vary, focusing on the material elements of the handset or terminal, software issues, and more importantly, on helping users domesticate their devices.

‍Drawing on results from an ethnographic study, this talk will focus on the practices of the repairers. How do these individuals help users of such technologies? What kind of user problems do they encounter? And what does it mean for the future of interaction design?

Sound @copyright Carlo Onofaro

Guest Lara Portmann
Host Lidia Panio, Lead Product Design, IxDA Local Leader @smallandpepper

Interaction 23 - Talk - Normativity by design: Challenging the ideal of the invisible interface

One of the most persistent myths in design is that, ideally, interfaces should be invisible. To some, this means futuristic ideals of non-material interfaces, to most, it means designing things in such a way that an interface seems natural, intuitive, and, through this, “invisible” to users. But rarely do we stop and ask: What are the implications of such a (seemingly) invisible interface? Inspired by work in critical interface studies, this talk is about how our attachment to the invisible interface is inevitably bound up with issues of power and inequality – sometimes in ways we might not have anticipated or intended, but which nonetheless cause real and preventable harm.

Using examples from my doctoral research on norms and ideals in UX writing, I offer a critical examination of the myth of the invisible interface. I elaborate on some of its historical roots, how it surfaces in contemporary design work, and what we might want to do differently in the future. While there have been increased efforts in the design industry to address questions of power, ethics, and inequality recently, the idea(l) of the invisible interface has gone surprisingly unchallenged.

Ultimately, my goal with this talk is to illustrate the pervasiveness of the invisible interface, challenge its persistency, and reflect on how we might detach ourselves from this in many ways problematic ideal. Because in the end, an invisible interface always normalizes certain ways of being while obscuring or even invalidating others.

@copyright sound Carlo Onofaro

Guest Lara Portmann
Host Lidia Panio, Lead Product Design, IxDA Local Leader @smallandpepper

Interaction 23 - Talk - Normativity by design: Challenging the ideal of the invisible interface

One of the most persistent myths in design is that, ideally, interfaces should be invisible. To some, this means futuristic ideals of non-material interfaces, to most, it means designing things in such a way that an interface seems natural, intuitive, and, through this, “invisible” to users. But rarely do we stop and ask: What are the implications of such a (seemingly) invisible interface? Inspired by work in critical interface studies, this talk is about how our attachment to the invisible interface is inevitably bound up with issues of power and inequality – sometimes in ways we might not have anticipated or intended, but which nonetheless cause real and preventable harm.

Using examples from my doctoral research on norms and ideals in UX writing, I offer a critical examination of the myth of the invisible interface. I elaborate on some of its historical roots, how it surfaces in contemporary design work, and what we might want to do differently in the future. While there have been increased efforts in the design industry to address questions of power, ethics, and inequality recently, the idea(l) of the invisible interface has gone surprisingly unchallenged.

Ultimately, my goal with this talk is to illustrate the pervasiveness of the invisible interface, challenge its persistency, and reflect on how we might detach ourselves from this in many ways problematic ideal. Because in the end, an invisible interface always normalizes certain ways of being while obscuring or even invalidating others.

@copyright sound Carlo Onofaro

Welcome to 'Get to know IxD23!'

This interview with Thomas Link and Karmen Franinovic, our Interaction 23 co-chairs, is intended to shed light on the event and why we think it will be meaningful for you and many others.

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community. In this episode, Interaction 21 team member Poppe Guthrie sits down with Day 3 Keynote Mel MacCoubrey, an Associate Creative Director with Cloud Chamber, currently working on the latest instalment of the critically-acclaimed Bioshock series.

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group: https://ixda.org/community/local-groups/

Learn more about Interaction 21 and get your tickets: https://ti.to/ixda/ixd21

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere:https://newtendencies.bandcamp.com/

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community. In this episode, Alexis sits down with Catarina Tsang, Scher Foord, and Kate Dixon, all three of whom are Design Directors at Compass, a Presenting Sponsor of Interaction21 and innovative digital real estate platform.

Special thanks to Compass for their support of the Interaction 21 Conference!

Check out opportunities to join Catarina, Scher, and Kate's team at https://www.compass.com/careers/

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group.

Learn more about Interaction 21.

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere.

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community.

In this episode, Poppe Guthrie sits down with Ariel Muller, the Managing Director for Asia with Forum for the Future, a leading international sustainability non-profit that works to re-design some of the key systems that underpin our world.

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group.
Learn more about Interaction 21 and get your tickets.

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere.

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community. In this episode, Alexis sits down with Claire-Lise, Hany, and Ethan, leaders of the experience design team behind Adobe XD's "XD Immersive" workshops, to talk about how they approach making a virtual workshop as exciting and effective as an in-person session.

Special thanks to Adobe for their continued support of the Interaction Design Association, including the Interaction 21 Conference and World Interaction Design Day.

Apply for XD Immersive at tiny.cc/xdimmersive

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group.

Learn more about Interaction 21 and get your tickets.

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere.

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community. In this episode, Alexis sits down with Eddie Ishak, the Head of User Experience for Financial Products at Bloomberg, Interaction 21's Presenting Sponsor, to talk about how the Bloomberg team weathered the pandemic and came out stronger thanks to design thinking and great collaboration.

Special thanks to Bloomberg for their continued support of the Interaction conference series, which this year underpinned the 1:1 ticket matching program, making this year's conference the most accessible ever!

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group.

Learn more about Interaction 21 and get your tickets.

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere.

Join hosts Elaine Matthias and Alexis Morin as they interview design luminaries, thought leaders, and experts to showcase the best of the IxDA community. In this episode, Alexis sits down with Day 2 keynote Odile Joanette, an Indigenous Canadian activist, creator, and member of the Innue community of Pessamit who works to promote Indigenous resurgence and increase Indigenous social and societal participation.

Learn more about IxDA and find your local group.

Learn more about Interaction 21 and get your tickets.

Our music for this podcast is by New Tendencies from the album Everywhere.