Refresh Edinburgh returns to The Voodoo Rooms on Thursday 26th July, with two designers eager to share their abundant experience and ideas around design process.

Schedule

Tickets are £6. Doors open at 19:00, with the first talk beginning at 19:30 sharp. The venue and bar will remain open after the talks, so stick around to chat to our speakers and other attendees.

Talks

A Philosophy of Restraint — Simon Collison

With a wealth of ideas and tools at our disposal, we often muddle our messages and complicate our code. We appreciate that less is usually more, yet stuff our sites to bursting point, failing to be economical with what we have. We must know when to stop, and when to throw things out. We should embrace simplicity and subtlety, and exploit the invisible. Through timeless lessons and practical examples, learn how reduction and restraint can improve communication, emotion, and experience in our designs, with a philosophy applicable to every aspect of the systems we produce.

I'm Not Really Here — Ben Holliday

What's the value of research? What about the 'genius' of the designer or 'gut instinct'? The process of experience design gives us the insights we need to disrupt ourselves. We're good at knowing how to design, but we’re not so good at knowing what to design–especially when it comes to creating meaningful things with lasting value. Understanding people is hard, because empathy moves. It isn’t a fixed moment. We already have the answers, the insight comes from us, but first we have to become problem seekers, not problem solvers.

Speakers

Simon Collison

Simon is a designer who's been thinking and designing at the sharp end for well over a decade, and regularly presents his thoughts at conferences and in publications. He's worked in a variety of situations for bands, governments, banks, explorers and most other things. He's currently collaborating on a new music start-up as a proud member of Fictive Kin, and organises the annual New Adventures events.

Ben Holliday

Ben is a designer passionate about exploring the process of design and incorporating design research. He believes that good design starts with finding the right problems. He is currently User Experience designer at FreeAgent and has previously worked in senior design roles for projects with education, arts, and not-for-profit organisations such as the National Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Arts and Friends of the Earth. He always starts with pen and paper.