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Impact in UX Culture

For 3 years I’ve been volunteering to design and organise an internal event for the Product Design-Research community at Ocado called O!UX.

The goal of the event is to celebrate the User Experience craft in Ocado Technology by giving the UX community a chance to come together to learn, make connections, have fun and maximise our impact within the organisation.

We formed a small working group with reps in each of Ocado’s Dev Centres to orchestrate this event. Our team’s responsibilities included sourcing speakers, crafting the agenda, defining the event’s visual identity, and leading engaging sessions. Six of us collaborated to curate an remarkable event for a gathering of all 83 UXers working at Ocado.

I designed the event's branding keeping the ideas of dynamism and vibrancy at the forefront of the design

Since we were a bunch of UX folks, we implemented UX methods and a user-centered approach. To understand our audience’s learning needs, we began by sending out a survey to the internal UX community.

I facilitated and helped design and organise the event

The Product design and Research community from Ocado collaborated with suggestions of topics and learning needs. We mapped those suggestions in a board and started planning the event.

We planned the agenda and reached out to speakers, organised workshops and activities for all 83 UX team members.

I focused the most on crafting the event’s branding design and art direction. I designed all the visual design material, deck animations and instructed other designers involved on the visuals look and feel. I also organised activities and contacted external speakers to talk at our event.

Giving back to the product design and research community!

I love opportunities like this, where I can make an impact beyond day-to-day product work and give back to the product design community by helping create spaces that inspire, connect, and elevate our practice.

We had a blast and learned a lot through team workshops and inspiring talks!

Learnings

Challenges and Solutions

We planned a lot but we had a few hiccups on the day that could have been potentially avoided with more testing and planning. 

For example, we had an accessibility specialist that needed a screen reader but we had some issues with the audio when streaming to other locations, we could have avoided those issues by double checking all the tech equipment. 

We also could have had better visibility of the plan, as there were questions in the lead up from people who were still not sure what to expect from the day. For future events we plan to:

  • Test all tech (and double-check everything!)
  • Check what all requirements from external providers/speakers
  • Create consistent comms about the event

Final thoughts

In a nutshell, my collaboration in the O!UX event at Ocado Technology was all about boosting our Product Design-Research team culture. Through branding, research, and project management, and facilitation I contributed to its success. It was a blast – building a strong community, emphasising UX’s relevance, and even drawing in top talent. As the social glue in the team, I’m all in for keeping our Product Design-Research culture thriving, and the O!UX event was a big step in that direction 🎉

I also organise and facilitate several Product Design meetup events in collaboration with AllWomen Design School and UX Salon Barcelona

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© copyright Ligia Olmos 2023

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