UX in the Games Industry

6:00 - Pizza, sushi & drinks will be kindly sponsored by Valtech (https://www.valtech.co.uk)

6:30 - Designing for large gaming communities

The first talk will explain the design challenges and the UX process behind a series of apps and websites designed for the large user base (with 100 million+ monthly users) of the League of Legends game (http://euw.leagueoflegends.com/). From a designer's perspective, Fabio will provide interesting insights about his year as European Design Consultant for Riot Games (https://www.riotgames.com/) in Dublin, working in an interdisciplinary environment and wearing many hats while liaising with project managers, developers, and in-house designers. He will also demonstrate some of the methods used for prototype testing at Riot’s Research Lab, and will explain how new apps and ideas were gradually introduced to millions of players and how feedback was collected on the live product, all of which could be replicated at a much smaller scale for new startups or other tech projects.

Fabio Basile (https://twitter.com/fffabs) is a Partner at Mikleo Ltd (http://mikleo.com/), his very own research and design studio in Manchester, and works as a consultant for Musixmatch (https://www.musixmatch.com/), an Italian company nominated as the best startup in Europe in 2016 where he advises on usability at a large scale for 5+ million active daily users. He also has 10 years of experience consulting for clients like Qantas, Porsche, Samsung and GoDaddy and is widely known for his vibrant, elegant and fun designs.

7:30 - Overcoming design challenges for the gambling industry

The second talk will explain the design and UX process behind gambling apps developed by Degree 53 (https://www.degree53.com/) for Betfred and other clients. The main UX challenges for an agency in this industry are to create products that help to maintain customer retention, create conversion, are optimised for a number of devices, and provide a comprehensive and engaging UX. This talk will explain how Degree 53 enhances these aspects through a close collaboration between designers and developers, how stakeholders are involved in the process of finding the best design solutions, and how relationships with clients are built based on trust from early on.

Jade Sahota (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-sahota-216b434b/)/@Jadie0503 (https://twitter.com/Jadie0503) has been designing gambling apps and websites for more than 5 years, having previously worked in Betfred’s in-house team. As a Head of Design at Degree 53, she applies her vast experience in design and UX principles to help to create better user experience for Degree 53’s clients and to actively support designers' development internally. Besides having a keen interest in tech, Jade enjoys karaoke, music, cooking, and films & TV shows (she’s a big Harry Potter fan!).

Seats are limited, please arrive on time if you wish to be seated

This talk will be broadcasted live as well as archived on Periscope @UXManchester (https://www.periscope.tv/UXManchester/1BdxYXYDakNJX) (a link to the video will also be posted just before the talk on Twitter @RealUXMCR (https://twitter.com/RealUXMCR)).