In November 2022, I attended CanUX, a UX conference in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, alongside my colleagues from Athlon Studio, where I did my co-op placement. As Athlon is a remote-first company, this was my first time meeting my colleagues in person, making the experience even more memorable.

CanUX is a non-profit, volunteer-driven conference that brings the UX community together to learn, share, and get inspired. The event featured two days of insightful talks from industry leaders, covering topics such as designing for joy, age-appropriate UX, ethical research practices, service design principles, AI-human collaboration, and the role of qualitative research in traditionally quantitative fields like NASA.

Some of my favorite talks included:

🎨 Jenny Wen’s session on how the FigJam team integrates joy into their design roadmap.
🔬 Melanie Buset’s insights on improving the UX of research itself, with best practices from Spotify.
🏛️ Lisa Lokshina’s case study on the importance of UX and AR to bring ancient art to life at the Getty Villa.
🤖 Claudel Rheault’s exploration of the challenges in Human-AI collaboration.

CanUX was an incredible opportunity to hear from diverse voices in UX, reflect on emerging trends, and connect with fellow designers. The conference reinforced the importance of human-centered design and designing for diverse experiences, both of which continue to shape my approach to design.