46 Spreadsheets, 1800 entries, hundreds of coffees, mails, calls, and 1000s of whatsapp, sched, slack messages and tweets later—DesignUp 2017 Conference wrapped-up on Saturday 10th.

560 attendees in the 2nd edition, over 800 unique Designers who came to the conference and pre-events—all of it goes on to make it the largest (and youngest) Ux/Design-In-Tech conference in India. Though being the biggest is not our goal.

Our success comes from warm smiles, the audience engagement (we were trending at #3 on twitter), the animated discussions, and a room full of awake audience in the post-lunch sessions. And the discussion continues. We also announced the Designers Retreat - The DesignUp Reboot (more details below).

DesignUp had an ecclectic lineup of speakers—and in this edition I am joined by the wonderful Alysha Naples as co-curator—Alysha (AN) shares the links she mentioned in her talk. Will share more annotated links by other speakers over the next few weeks.

‘Design without ethics in VR and AR will lead to dystopia’

"Data and algorithm cannot replace facts and ethics. Empathy has to be a conscious choice." This is YourStory's overview of Alysha's talk. Her set of links follow—

Dr Brené Browne

AN: In my talk, I mentioned the work of Dr Brené Brown, a social worker and academic who utilizes a methodology called “Grounded Theory” to study human behaviour.

Brené Brown: The power of vulnerability — www.ted.com

AN: Dr Brown has 2 TED talks. Each is 20 minutes. I recommend starting here, and going onto the next talk.

Brené Brown: Listening to shame — www.ted.com

Listen to The Power of Vulnerability - Speech — www.audible.com

AN: This is a 6.5 hour series of lectures that Dr Brown gave to a group of people. It’s a great summary of her first 3 books that really shows how they tie together. It’s also a good foundation for Rising Strong. Audio only.

Rising Strong - Audiobook — www.audible.com

AN: This book builds on the work she’s done before and explores the idea that getting knocked down is part of living an authentic life. So, how do you get up and keep going when this happens? I don’t recommend this without first going through some of her earlier work (see above). The Print version is here.

Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone

AN: This is her latest book. It is about realizing that belonging begins and ends with you. Not recommended without the other reading, as it all very much builds. The audio book is here!

Short film & Games

HYPER-REALITY — www.youtube.com

Hyper-Reality is Keiichi Matsuda's dystopian version of the augmented-reality gig-economy future. It can be easy to dismiss this as being too extreme, but if you view it through the lens of unintended consequences, it becomes clear that this is a future that is possible if we don't actively work to avoid it.

Journey™ — www.playstation.com

is my great video-game love, and it is a masterpiece in every way. From aesthetics to gameplay, it's simple, human, evocative, and jaw-droppingly beautiful. However what truly sets it apart is that the game was designed specifically to foster friendship. And it succeeds in a big way. Bring a handkerchief.

☁️️ EVERYTHING ☁️️ — www.everything-game.com

AN: Everything is my favourite current video game. It's as if its designer David O'Reilly started with the idea of universal interconnectedness, added in the delightful silliness of Katamari Damacy, brought in Alan Watts to narrate it, and filtered it all through Charles & Ray Eames's brilliant Powers of Ten. It's epic and joyous and highly recommended.

DesignUp Reboot

Endless meetings, standups, sprints, deadlines: the perfect recipe for reactive, shallow solutions. Reboot is about disconneting / reconnecting: getting you re-inspired, re-energised to create your best. Reboot is by invite only.

Until next week with new co-curators,

@jdallcaps with @alyshanaples