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Home / Sessions / Systems Thinking as a Design Method: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Complexity

Systems Thinking as a Design Method: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Complexity

2019 IA Conference

Time(s)

September 23, 2020

Description

Over the last several decades, we’ve seen a rapid expansion of several contradictory trends: hyper-personalized experiences driven by proprietary algorithms, loss of community despite an increasingly connected world, idealistic products brought to market that radically changed our institutions. Cheery, right? And these trends are only increasing.

How do make sense of this complexity? How do we unwind it? And how do we design predictable experiences within it? This is the challenge, and opportunity in front of us, and we’re going to need to rethink our tools and practices to solve it.

One method to adopt is systems thinking. Instead of simplifying complexity by breaking it out to smaller problems, systems thinking trains us to look at the system as a whole. From that lens, we identify leverage points where our solutions can make foundational changes to the structure itself.

The goal is to simplify our solution by making it more targeted, rather than prescribe multiple unconnected solutions across many interconnected parts. This allows us to maximize our impact upon the system while minimizing unintended consequences, and it applies across any scale.

In this talk, I’ll cover a primer of systems thinking, demonstrate how it pairs well with other design methods, cover practices you can adopt immediately in your work, and share case studies of where systems thinking has produced (or could produce) better outcomes.

About the speakers

Emily Campbell

Emily Campbell is a Senior Design Specialist on InVision’s Design Transformation team, where she helps design teams and leaders mature their practices and increase their impact through workshops, inclusive presentations, co-creation, and coaching. She is also a yoga and meditation teacher with an academic background in economics, and a staunch advocate of combining mindfulness, systems thinking, and design methodology to generate transformation from within.

Sponsor IAC

We’re looking for organizations who share our commitment to building and sustaining programs that drive a more inclusive industry. Learn more on the Sponsor IAC23 page or contact us directly at info@theiaconference.com for more information.

Thanks to this year’s sponsors!

Logo for sponsor Optimal Workshop
Platinum sponsor
Optimal Workshop
Logo for sponsor Factor Firm
Gold sponsor
Factor Firm
Logo for sponsor Last Call Media
Silver sponsor
Last Call Media
Logo for sponsor Design for Context
Scholarship sponsor
Design for Context

Logo for sponsor A Book Apart
In-Kind sponsor
A Book Apart
Logo for sponsor Balsamiq
In-Kind sponsor
Balsamiq
Logo for sponsor MURAL
In-Kind sponsor
MURAL
Logo for sponsor OOUX Masterclass
In-Kind sponsor
OOUX Masterclass
Logo for sponsor Rosenfeld Media
In-Kind sponsor
Rosenfeld Media

Logo for sponsor UX Camp DC
Community sponsor
UX Camp DC
Logo for sponsor World IA Day
Community sponsor
World IA Day

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