Schedule

09:05 - 09:50

Keynote: The business value of design

From small-scale start-ups to large corporate entities, we'll unpack how to leverage design to better contribute to your business' bottom line, and better understand the role design plays in the success of today’s business landscape, and in building the brands of the future

Natalie de Canha | Product Designer and Manager.

10:00 - 10:25

The UX Taskmaster

In this presentation, I will explain how a well-designed UX process can help guide users toward achieving the business's objectives. By becoming a "Taskmaster," I can assign tasks to various individuals and analyze the outcomes based on their backgrounds and experiences. When a well-design task is set out we can control the process and outcome. 

Michael Marais | Product Designer

11:00 - 11:25

What Coffee has taught me about Design

Designers often tend to neglect how much we can learn from external industries. This topic is universal to any designer and relatable for both a junior and experienced UX design professional.

Stephanie de Beer | Lead UX Designer

11:35 - 12:00

Keynote

Topic to be announced.

Kayembe Gilles Ilunga | Director of Business Consulting at TechniCap Partners

13:00 - 13:25

Everyday Design Thinking

This topic explores how you can use Design Thinking, a methodology that we mostly use in UX and Product Design, applied to other areas of your life - such as time management, health & fitness, personal finance, relationships or learning new skills. By going through the empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test and iteration phases of the Design Thinking framework, you can apply it to solving almost any area in your life - not just UX problems specifically.   Here's an example by Chat:   Time Management:

• Empathize: Identify when you feel most productive and when you struggle.
• Define: Recognise that you have trouble managing time in the mornings and formulate the problem statement.
• Ideate: Brainstorm routines or tools that could help, like setting a regular wake-up time, using time-blocking techniques, or a productivity app.
• Prototype: Start with a new morning routine for a week.
• Test: Track your productivity and feelings throughout the week.
• Iterate: Adjust the routine based on what worked and what didn't.

Health and Fitness:

• Empathize: Understand your motivations and barriers to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• Define: Pinpoint the specific challenge, such as not finding time to exercise.
• Ideate: Think of various ways to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, like short workouts, walking meetings, or biking to work.
• Prototype: Try a few different methods over a month.
• Test: Observe which methods fit best into your schedule and make you feel better.
• Iterate: Continuously tweak your exercise routine to improve adherence and enjoyment.

Mika O’Donovan | Lead Digital Product Designer

Schedule |

14:10 - 14:35

Advancing UX Maturity in Mining: Enhancing Safety and Efficiency

Safety-First is ingrained in the mining industry, with companies steadfast in prioritising the safety, health, and well-being of their workforce and local communities.

Whether operating heavy machinery, performing equipment inspections, or conducting geological surveys, every detail from data logging to monitoring‚ is crucial for on-site safety.

Yet, UX and human-centred design have not historically been prioritised. I'll share my journey to cultivate UX maturity in mining, underscoring its role in enhancing industry-wide efficiency and safety standards.

Estee Jacobs | Senior UX Engineer at Entelect

09:05 - 09:50

Pixel Imperfection

• "Which iPhone's size should I use for my breakpoint?"
• "How can I make the font look the same on macOS and Windows?"
• "Why does my design look different in this browser?"
• "Why does the dev never get it right?"

If you're asking these questions, I have answers; though they'll turn your approach to the Web upside-down. Some designers approach the Web much like print, especially if they have a formal education. The Web can frustrate designers' efforts to bring their vision to life. Let's embrace these challenges as design constraints instead of roadblocks. The Web is its own medium, and we ought to develop designs in tandem with the technology. Join me as I outline some of the ways that the Web is different to more traditional media, and show how embracing these differences will elevate your work to a new level. It's my hope that, if you dislike designing for the Web, you'll walk away feeling empowered and hungry for new challenges in this wonderful medium.

Xandor Schiefer | Independent Consultant

10:00 - 10:25

Feathers, Pixels, and Code: A Flight Through Collaborative UX Magic

Soar with us as we navigate the skies of design and development in our journey to create a ZA-based birding app. Following our well-received talk at DevConf, we’ll chirp about our experiences transitioning to Compose (Android) and SwiftUI, and how these tools have given our workflow wings. Join us as we tweet about the magic that happens when developers and designers flock together. We’ll share how we divided our roles, avoided nest-falls, and used the latest trends in UX and design to hatch a seamless user experience. This talk is for anyone eager to peck at the secrets of successful collaboration between design and development, offering practical insights and inspiration to help your projects take flight.

Ebbie Swart | Product Design Lead at DVT

& Stephan Swart | Fractional CTO | Engineering/DevOps Leadership

11:00 - 12:00

Freeform Panel: Topic: Artefacts + Handovers between Design and Dev

13:00 - 13:30

A11y Beyond the Theory: Integrating Accessibility Testing into Your Workflow

This talk aims to transform theoretical understanding of accessibility into practical, actionable steps for software teams. It focuses on how designers and developers can seamlessly integrate accessibility testing throughout their project lifecycle, ensuring that products are inclusive from the outset. The presentation will cover effective strategies for incorporating accessibility checks early in the design phase, techniques for automated and manual testing during development, and best practices for maintaining accessibility standards post-launch. Attendees will learn how to use tools and frameworks that facilitate accessibility testing, and how to foster a culture that prioritizes inclusivity. This talk is essential for professionals looking to make accessibility a standard element of their development process, rather than an afterthought.

Lucky Nkosi | Software engineer - Head of R&D at BBD

13:50 - 14:20

Harnessing No-Code and Low-Code: Adapting for the Future

In an evolving digital landscape, the rise of no-code and low-code platforms is redefining how we build and innovate. This talk will explore how developers can adapt to and leverage these tools to accelerate development and stay ahead in the competitive tech industry. Embrace the future of development by mastering the blend of traditional coding with the efficiency of no-code and low-code solutions.

Brandon Tancott | Founder

14:30 - 15:30

Freeform Panel: Should Designers Code & Dev’s Design?

Panel discussion.

Schedule |

09:05 - 09:50

Keynote: From Idea to Market: The ChatWallet Design Story

Once upon a time, the Absa design office was a mere five people sitting around a table designing and building a mobile banking app. Today, we are 163 people strong with skills spanning UX and UI design, service design, content writing, strategy and engineering. We build sticky products that our customers love and we deliver real business impact while doing so. We are a level five maturity design team in an organisation that embraces design and all it delivers for the business and its customers. And, there is no greater proof of this than the story of Absa's most innovative new digital product, ChatWallet. ChatWallet began as a 2am big, hairy, audacious idea to solve for financial inclusion in Africa. But, on what planet could we integrate our core banking systems with WhatsApp and deliver full financial services to customers without them ever having to touch a core banking channel?! Planet Absa, I will tell you. We were naive, but that naivety gave us the courage needed to pursue this wild idea unhindered. A truly design-led idea and innovation, ChatWallet went from a very rapid prototype to a fully mobilised product with monetary and executive investment. Today, ChatWallet is Absa's answer to the question of financial inclusion and in just four short months since market launch, ChatWallet has resulted in a digital sales uplift of 144%. ChatWallet empowers Africans. Customers can get a mobile wallet to safely store their hard-earned money and with no monthly fees, in under one minute and then bank anytime, all on the app they already use and love every day, WhatsApp. The story of how we got here is one of courage and perseverance, and I would love to tell it at UXSA.

Sivan Lapidus | Senior Design Director

10:00 - 10:25

Adapting to Change: A Designer’s Guide to Surviving the AI Wave

An autobiographical talk sharing my experiences of expanding my professional journey from design into mentorship, right before the AI wave transformed our industry. Learn how to react and adapt to extreme changes without feeling overwhelmed, with practical insights and strategies.

Alfi Oloo | Designer | Mentor | Speaker l Founder of Campfire

11:00 - 11:25

Researching designers: what we do and don’t know about women in the workplace

She Can Do has conducted a study on women in UX & Design in South Africa. The presentation will cover the key influences and experiences affecting women in different places and spaces, the need for more transparency through further research, and the complexities of studying one's own peers. Our organisation has done an in-depth study that has not been presented to anyone yet, that speaks about the state of design for women now, how it has changed, and what we need for the future.

Kate van Niekerk | Anthropologist and UX Researcher

11:35 - 12:00

We need to talk about talking about accessibility

Discussions on accessibility are quite popular these days. Despite its importance and the effort involved, accessibility issues persist, with lawsuits doubling over six years. The problem may lie in how we discuss accessibility and our lack of effective tools to address it.

Barend Chamberlain | Senior User Experience Engineer

Schedule |

13:35 - 14:00

DuoLingo for Wellness

Embarking on a playful but powerful journey to craft a wellbeing app that aims to democratise and simplify our overall wellness. Imagine Duolingo, but for health. Join me as I step you through how we're crafting a fun, engaging, and impactful wellness experience from concept to launch.

Nadia Naidoo | Competency Lead: Service Design & Design Research

14:10 - 14:35

Speaker Panel: How has UX changed for you over the last 10 years?

Discussion about the changing landscape of UX over the last 10years.