UX Edinburgh Festive Meetup

For our festive meetup, not only do we have 2 fantastic speakers, but a brand new venue to boot! Our thanks to Laura Tecce & ClearSky Logic for accommodating us at short notice.

During this event, you’ll hear personal stories and reflections, as Yana Varankova and Jean-Luc Potte draw upon their unique experiences to bring you insights, learnings and tactics from the coalface of UX practice.

We hope to see you there in person – but if, for whatever reason you’re not able to make it, check out the Livestream feed (brought to you by the one and only Allan Lloyds)
https://youtube.com/live/sO119IbrxRY

Proceedings:

• 6.00pm: Doors
• 6.30pm: Trading Comfort for Growth: Building a UX Career Across Countries, Cultures, and Contracts (Yana Varankova)
• 7.15pm: Break
• 7.30pm: I have no buy-in and I must UX: lessons learned from being the new team, at 4 game studios (Jean-Luc Potte)
• 8.30pm: Close

Talk 1: Trading Comfort for Growth: Building a UX Career Across Countries, Cultures, and Contracts (Yana Varankova)
I've worked in AAA games and fast-paced tech startups. I've been an employee, a freelancer, and a consultant. I've built a life and career across several different countries.

In this talk, I'll share the personal strategies from my global UX career path that help you survive and thrive when the ground keeps shifting:

• Navigating Cultures: How to translate your UX value when moving between the distinct worlds of Video Games (engagement-first) and Tech (utility-first).
• Navigating Contracts: The honest reality of swapping the "safety" of employment for the "freedom" of consultancy, and how to know which fits you best.
• Designing Resilience: Practical tactics for staying focused and adaptable when you trade your comfort zone for new opportunities.

Talk 2: I have no buy-in and I must UX: lessons learned from being the new team, at 4 game studios (Jean-Luc Potte)
I was among the first UX practitioners hired at 4 different studios. This is a collection of practical ways of working (and behaving) that fit with game teams – especially with technically-minded ones.

About our speakers
Yana is a Senior UX Strategist and Founder who specialises in the human side of tech. Drawing on her background in Psychology and Big Five Personality theory, and an international career with major companies like Wargaming and PLAION, she helps tech and games businesses design holistic user experiences.
Currently navigating life in Edinburgh as a global professional, Yana focuses on helping founders move from risky guesswork to evidence-based strategy. She is also passionate about mentoring graduates and founders-to-be on the resilience and soft skills needed to build a sustainable career.

Jean-Luc is a UX researcher and UI programmer. For 12 years he's been helping video game studios iterate better at places like Rockstar Games, Ubisoft, Creative Assembly and Paradox Interactive. He focuses on ways to iterate without diverting resources away from product development, and on systemically complex games.