We’re delighted to share after long last the video from Cheryl’s very well-received keynote presentation at the largest design conference in the Southern Hemisphere, Interaction Latin America. Her 2019 “Opti-Pessimism” keynote inspired many local designers to start thinking and talking about their “run!” moments. Opti-Pessimism is one of the many frameworks covered in Cheryl’s book, Design Beyond Devices, which is now available from Rosenfeld Media.
Can’t see the video embedded here? Click here to view it on Vimeo.
NOTE: The video feed was used for the large LED screens behind speakers, so it does NOT contain slides. We recommend you download the slides from this version of the talk (included below) before watching and use them to follow along.
Thanks once again to Juan Madrigal and the rest of the hardworking staff and volunteers for Interaction Latin America 2019 for making this excellent event and these videos a reality.
In the world of technology and product design, we were trained to focus on the most common customer experiences. Edge cases were to be minimized as we devoted our attention to the most common experiences. But this best practice was built upon the assumption that the least common experiences can’t cause lasting harm. As we work with increased scale (thanks to the proliferation of devices into our lives) and increased uncertainty (thanks to newer, more powerful AI), this assumption is no longer valid. How do we reframe our design process to adapt to this new world? In this talk, Cheryl draws from her personal and professional experience working with large-scale, high-impact situations and shares the concept of “opti-pessimism” she’s used to cope with design at that level. You’ll walk away with four concrete steps to apply when approaching your biggest challenges… and a deeper appreciation for elephant dung.
