Design Groups London

Navigating the Designer-AI Dilemma

We're back after a ridiculously long pause. For reasons, somewhat directly and indirectly to do with the topic of this event. How we are adapting ourselves, or need to in this strange age of AI. *Tickets are refundable if you request at the end in line with [our policy](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1011q0yqUr8qN0SWZauZnf2hdHyJLE1kITWW9A0IH0U0/edit?usp=sharing).* **Session overview** Designers face a dilemma: AI is reshaping how decisions get made and work gets done, but the stories around its benefits are polarized. What is authentic vs synthetic? Extreme points of view don't help you day to day. They keep you wrapped up in debates about process while the actual work still needs to get done, and the question around quality and value stay in question. In this session, Jason and Vic explore what's real: which skills stay irreplaceable, when AI genuinely saves time vs. when it wastes it, and how to build capability that keeps you relevant without losing what makes you valuable. Jason and Vic will walk you through frameworks, data, and exercises, that help you examine where you need to adapt, what to keep, and how to make decisions grounded in reality, not hype. Expect debate, and practical lessons, not cheerleading. **[Jason Mesut, Resonant Futures](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmesut/)** Jason Mesut has been a local leader for IxDA alongside Boon Chew for IxDA London since 2011. He works as a strategic consultant, a creative coach and as a shaper of designer capability through his Shaping Design work. He has 30 years of design behind him, and is questioning what the next 3–30 years ahead might look like for him, his clients and his peers. **[Victoria Lee Kirk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriakirkstrategy?skipRedirect=true&miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_miniProfile%3AACoAAAD__wABvtUfrJ9mn2hLf1EPZN9ssWJcNyw)** Vic is a tech strategist, writer, and a TEDx speaker focused on turning data into meaning and bias into belonging. She helps teams ask better questions about their customers, their process, and themselves. She led user research that piloted an AI assisted service to map global supply chains within the UK government after lockdown and helped turn the tool and its consulting service into a standing business function, demonstrating how good people and better questions, not just better tools, actually create value. She joins IxDA London to explore where human intuition still outperforms AI in the design process, and where it doesn't.

Design Systems London #17

DSL is a non-profit community aimed at creating a platform for every enthusiast to share experiences, ideas and approaches on Design Systems. We are excited to invite you to our autumn edition of DSL! 🍂 DSL #17 will happen on 16 September, organised by YLD and sponsored by Revolut. Tickets go live on Monday, 17 August, at noon, so make sure you set your reminder and reserve your seat to join us: [https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt](https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt) The evening's agenda and talks line-up to be announced soon. **Who are [Revolut](https://www.revolut.com/ "https://www.revolut.com/")** People deserve more from their money. More visibility, more control, and more freedom. Since 2015, Revolut has been on a mission to deliver just that. Our powerhouse of products — including spending, saving, investing, exchanging, travelling, and more — help our 75+ million customers get more from their money every day. As they continue the lightning-fast growth,‌ 2 things are essential to their success: their people and their culture. So far, they have 13,000+ people working around the world, from their offices and remotely, to help them achieve their mission. And they're looking for more brilliant people. People who love building great products, redefining success, and turning the complexity of a chaotic world into the simplicity of a beautiful solution. **Who are [YLD](https://www.yld.com/ "https://www.yld.com/")** Founded in 2013, YLD is a technology consultancy headquartered in London, with offices in Lisbon and Porto. The business supports clients across the UK, Europe, and the US, working with technology leaders across a diverse range of sectors. These include heavily regulated industries such as fintech, health, energy, and media, where compliance, data governance, and audit requirements shape every technical decision. YLD brings together AI-augmented software engineering, product design, and data engineering under a single offering, built around a fluid, embedded team model where composition is shaped by the client brief, not a fixed org chart. YLD is hiring - check out the [job page](https://www.yld.com/join-us "https://www.yld.com/join-us") Join the conversation on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/")

#3 - the UX of third spaces

**Meet likeminded UX professionals over coffee/brunch and discuss ways to use design to create third spaces that evoke a feeling of comfort and belonging.** ​**The Problem:** When was the last time you discovered a place that made you feel a sense of comfort and belonging, and what contributed to that feeling? ​For our third **design impact lab** session, we’ll be discussing how simple interventions can help create better third spaces for communities. ​**The Flow (Sunday 6th September 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM):** * ​**10:30 \| Coffee & Intros \(Paris Baguette Southbank\):** We’ll meet for coffee & brunch to kick things off. You'll meet other attendees and discuss the problem space. * ​**10:45 \| Conversation Game:** We'll break up into small groups of 4-5 and play a Japanese conversation game designed to encourage you to discuss this topic in a fun way. * ​**11:15 \| Discussion:** After the game, we'll break up into pairs and exchange UX intervention ideas. * ​**11:30 \| Free Discussion:** We'll wrap up with free discussions about UX, design, third spaces or whatever is on your mind. *** ​**Pre-Event Mission:** ​Your mission is to think about the third spaces (cafes, pubs, libraries, community spaces etc.) in your city or community that you love to go, and what makes them special to you. *** ​**The Details:** * **Location:** [Paris Baguette Southbank](https://maps.app.goo.gl/5fwo9QUZFZr8mqYh7) (1 min from Waterloo Station) * ​**Capacity:** We’re keeping this to a small group to ensure everyone can connect and contribute. Please ensure your RSVP is up to date and let us know if you're unable to attend. * ​**Vibe:** Friendly and relaxed! No laptops, just notebooks and fresh air. *** ​**Why Join?** ​If you’re a designer or researcher who wants to use your skills for more than just conversion, come say hi. ​It’s a chance to meet like-minded people and consider how design can solve universal human problems. ​**Who is this for?** ​Our events are for UX designers, researchers and other strategic and creative thinkers who are passionate about using their skills for social good, not just profit. Please note that this is not a networking event, or a place to find a job. ​**Who is the host?** ​Hi! 👋 I'm Max - a London based design researcher. Until recently I was based in Tokyo, where I ran a small design agency and spent over 10 years as a meetup organizer. I'm exploring ways to bring designers together to use our skills to work on meaningful problems. If that sounds like something you're interested in, I'd love to have you join! \*This event is being advertised on multiple sites, so the actual number of attendees will be different to what appears on meetup.

Nature Walk & Talk on How We Can Create Social Impact

Let's take some time to go out and enjoy nature. Join us on this unique UXers Nature Walk and learn about the area we are focused on this year to drive social impact through our [Responsible Design for Change Fellowship](https://www.ux4change.org/responsible-design-for-change-fellowship/). Get a chance to meet our founder, Sandra Gonzalez, and some of the fellows who graduated from The Responsible Design for Change Fellowship. This is a very lovely opportunity to connect with nature and our community. You are welcome to bring your pet and/or your children. We will start and end the walk at the Princess of Wales to share a drink and network a bit. We look forward to spending a lovely morning with you.

AI Signals #34: Agent Harnesses, and Geometric Thoughts

​Supported by [lenses.io](https://lenses.io/?utm_source=luma) **Agenda** 06:00pm - Doors open 06:30pm - Welcome 06:35pm - [Alper Nebi Kanli](https://www.linkedin.com/in/alpernkanli/), [Optimizely,](https://www.linkedin.com/company/optimizely/) "How LLMs Represent Concepts Internally: A Tour of the Geometry" 07:05pm - Break 07:20pm - [Tun Shwe](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tunshwe/), [Lenses.io](https://Lenses.io) "Understanding Agent Harnesses" 08:00pm - Lightning Talks: * "Which AI Model Will Win the World Cup?" Fred Smits **Please note you will be unable to enter the venue before 6.00pm.** RSVPs will close 24 hours before the event, you may be unable to register after this time but you can still watch online. If you can't join us in person you can watch remotely via [our YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@ai-signals-community). **Our hosts may require that we provide a list of all attendees, please ensure that you register with a name that matches your government issued ID or bank card: if you do not we cannot guarantee you entry to the building.** Please RSVP for the event well in advance if you plan to attend in person and unRSVP if you can no longer attend as limited spaces are available. Large language models look like they just predict the next word, so it is surprising how much structure they build inside. They actually represent concepts: you can find directions in their activations for things like gender, sentiment, or even truthfulness, and you can use those directions to steer what the model does. This talk starts there, with the evidence that concepts really are represented inside these models. Then it goes one level deeper: what does it actually mean for a concept to be "a direction"? The answer depends on geometry, on how you choose to measure, and that choice does more work than it looks. You will come away seeing the inside of an LLM a little more clearly, with a few surprises about something many of us use every day.

Typography Photography : Shoreditch

Emerging Designer Fashion Show

London Art Bar fashion show for emerging creatives and designers! Doors from 6pm, Catwalk from 7pm Ticket includes a glass of prosecco

MACS Goes To...NIGO: From Japan With Love

**Join MACS at the Design Museum for NIGO: From Japan With Love on 12 September!** From the back streets of Harajuku, Tokyo, to the global stage, this is the first-ever museum retrospective exhibition outside of Japan that charts the career and life of the Japanese creative director, NIGO, one of the first creatives to bridge the worlds of streetwear and luxury fashion. Over a 30-year career, NIGO has helped define some of the most influential trends in contemporary fashion, successfully crossing fashion, music, architecture and interior design. This landmark exhibition features over 700 objects, with highlights including a recreation of NIGO’s teenage bedroom, rare designs, ceramics hand-thrown by NIGO himself, and a life-size glass tea house made especially for the exhibition. His work draws on influences spanning vintage Americana, streetwear, hip-hop, traditional Japanese craft and growing up in 1980s Tokyo. Read more here: https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/nigo-from-japan-with-love **MEET DETAILS FOR 12 September:** **☕️ FROM 1:45 PM: MEET AT DESIGN MUSEUM CAFE** (optional) Address: 224 – 238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG Look out for the MACS sign on the café table. **🏛️ 2:30 PM: ENTER THE MUSEUM/EXHIBITION** Address: 224 – 238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG **🍻 4:30PM- LATE: PUB SOCIAL** (optional) We'll head to a local pub to chat over drinks! Address: *Location tbc 48 hours before event.* **🎟️ TICKETS:** You’ll need to purchase your own ticket. Please book here: **https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/nigo-from-japan-with-love** and choose the 2:30PM slot (or thereabouts) on 12 September. Ticket: £17.09 (no donation) Ticket with Art Pass: £8.55 (no donation) Members: free, no need to book **📍GETTING THERE:** https://designmuseum.org/plan-your-visit **📲 EVENT WHATSAPP GROUP:** Please join the event WhatsApp group to help you find the group on the day. The link will be posted in the event comments on this page around 48 hours before the event, for those on the Going list. N.B. Joining the WhatsApp group will make your phone number visible to other members in the group. **🌟 PLEASE READ:** All MACS events are run entirely by volunteers, so please note we do what we can with the time and energy we have available! Our events have an attendee limit as we prefer a smaller, friendlier group. If you RSVP but can no longer attend, please change your RSVP as soon as possible so that we know numbers. Thank you for being part of MACS! 🧡🏛️🩵 Image credit: HI 622, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Web Engineering London: Next.js, AI & Modern Frontend

Hi friends, We're excited to welcome you back to another Web Engineering London Meetup! Join us on **September 17** for an evening of practical talks on modern web development, performance and the latest engineering practices. **🗣 Call for Proposals** Have an idea or story to share? Submit your talk proposal through our [CFP form](https://forms.gle/rCiQ8Y4jajiC8AHMA) and take the stage at one of our upcoming meetups! **🤝 Organized by** This event made possible thanks to the support from [React Advanced Conference](https://reactadvanced.com/) organizers – [GitNation](https://portal.gitnation.org/). **🤝 Hosted by** Huge thanks to [Zoopla](http://zoopla.co.uk)! Win at moving, and find your next home with Zoopla. Zoopla is one of the UK’s most instantly recognisable property brands. In fact, we’re known and loved by over 91% of the nation (and we’re working hard on the other 9%). Our mission is to help the nation make better home decisions - by connecting everyone to their home and giving them personalised insights to help with moving, managing or financing. Over 50 million people visit Zoopla every month to access exclusive data and information on every UK property, search over 500,000 homes for sale and rent, find the best agents and secure the latest mortgage deals. We’re a growing, dynamic team that embraces innovation and isn’t afraid to push the boundaries. **🕑 Event Schedule** 18:30 — Doors open: snacks, drinks & networking 19:00 — Opening notes **19:10 — [Yaroslav Matushevych](https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaroslav-matushevych/) \- Instant Navigations: How Next\.js Makes Server\-Rendered Apps Feel Like SPAs** **19:35 — Andrey Goryainov - Beyond the Chatbox: Engineering Generative Interfaces with React and A2UI** 20:00 — Break 20:00 — Talk TBA **19:50 — Networking & Open Mic Lightning Talks** Mingle until around 21:30 — **👍 Code of Conduct** By registering for this event you agree to comply with our [CoC](https://gitnation.com/coc) **📩 Contact** events@gitnation.org [https://twitter.com/ReactAdvanced](https://twitter.com/ReactAdvanced) [http://youtube.com/ReactConferences](http://youtube.com/ReactConferences) [https://bsky.app/profile/reactadvanced.gitnation.org](https://bsky.app/profile/reactadvanced.gitnation.org)

Visual Calculations in Power BI with Erik Svensen

We're excited to be back after a break for the summer to welcome Erik Svensen presenting a Power BI session on Visual Calculations: **Visual Calculations in Power BI** Visual Calculations has now been here for over 2 years and is now gone GA. But have you really started using them. In most of our data modelling life we have been preaching that calculations should be done in the model layer - so where does visual calculations fit in and where and when could you benefit from using them. I will take you through of the basics to the more advanced use case and show examples on how they can be used to enhance your visuals and make them dynamic and flexible. My goal is to put another tool in your belt and show you that they can very useful in certain scenario - and yes make DAX simple 😃 The session will be full of demos and provide you with examples that you hopefully can get inspired by. **Agenda** 18:30 - Welcome, drinks, pizza & networking 19:00 - Main Session 20:00 - Close **Venue** Tenth Revolution offices in London. Aldgate House, 33 Aldgate High St, London EC3N 1DL Please provide your first and last name when registering for the event, as this is provided to building security to allow you entrance into the venue.

SOLD OUT • ZINE MAKING with LESS STRESS PRESS: cultivate creativity

This event is full. Join the **[WAITLIST](https://thoughtexperiments.kit.com/waitlistlessstresspress)** and we'll let you know if a place becomes available. A special event to share the creative practice of zine making 💭✍️✂️🎨📖 IN A NUTSHELL, zine making creates opportunities to: * spend time exploring ideas * hone in on something you love or care about: a cause, a message, a skill, a place (the possibilities are endless) * get creative with collage, drawing, writing, printmaking (etc.) * produce compelling and unique booklets that you can print cheaply and share with friends and strangers offline After lots of creative brainstorming of their own, Bonny and Ellie have landed on zine making as the perfect way to both open up space for playful, low stakes creativity, and focus their minds on bite sized projects. You will soon be able to see some of their zines [here](https://www.instagram.com/lessstresspress). They’re excited to share with you! **IN THIS WORKSHOP, we will:** * Introduce the practice * Share some examples: brief history of zine making, LessStressPress examples * Get to know each other’s interests * Brainstorm using collage and scribbles: get into a low stakes, creative headspace * Use a template to plot our zines: 2 covers and 6 pages of content * Design our first zines (everything is possible with analogue materials, but if you love digital design, bring a laptop) * Sharing circle * **Optional finale:** * Visit the print shop visit together * Print copies of our new zines * LESS STRESS PRESS Pop Up: hand out copies of our new zines to strangers :-) **BY THE END OF THE DAY, we'll have** * learned a new practice to spark creativity and clarify thinking * met a new group of people and learned about the things they care enough to make a zine about * had some thought provoking conversations * produced our own original zines, ready to share :-) **NOTES ON THE GENERAL ATMOSPHERE:** Although we’ll be learning a new practice we'll also be aiming to have an enjoyable day, with good humour and fun. This will be less like school and more like a relaxed hang out in a café with an additional creative twist. **WHO SHOULD COME:** Everyone! We believe that the more perspectives, the richer the experience. This group is not about being experts, it is about thinking creatively together and learning new ways to develop and communicate ideas. **WHERE WE'LL MEET:** We'll be meeting in a beautiful little creative studio in Stoke Newington. The exact address will be provided to attendees directly. **[SUBSTACK](https://experimentsingroupwisdom.substack.com/)** \- newsletter and reflections **[WHATSAPP GROUP](https://chat.whatsapp.com/DcSICl49X509EFdGBo3hKg)** \- stay in the loop **[INSTAGRAM](https://www.instagram.com/lessstresspress)** \- see what we look like \(content coming soon 😅\) **[WEBSITE](http://www.alltogether.one/)** \- everything else **#creativity #inclusivity #openmindedness #creativepractices #community #newskills #zinemaking**

In what ways can we benefit from “the Arts”?

\*\*\* Our first meeting in a second venue to allow more people to take part in our group \*\*\* NOTE: the pub does not charge for our space on the understanding that we all purchase something from the bar. Please support them. **Please arrive in time for a prompt start at 7:30.** We’ll inevitably spend some time exploring what distinguishes “art” from anything else. But most of our discussion will focus on the ways in which art can be beneficial to both the consumer and the creator. We’ll take a fairly broad interpretation of "the arts", including music, literature and other forms of creativity, in addition to the sorts of things you see in art galleries. (Hence my use of “consumer” instead of “viewer”/”listener”/”reader”). Some questions we might consider… * To what extent does “art” need to be pleasing to the consumer? * If not “pleasing”, what else draws people to experience it? * To what extent should art challenge us to think, or see the world differently? How does this vary across different art forms? * In what ways is being creative for its own sake, beneficial? * In what ways is expressing feelings through art a form of therapy? * What distinguishes works produced primarily to benefit the creator from works produced primarily to benefit the consumer? Who judges? On what basis? * “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” is a quote attributed to Picasso. What did he mean? Was he right? Is “art” a licence to break rules? How healthy is that – for creators and consumers? * Marc Chagall, an early 20C painter said “If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.” To what extent does successful creation and consumption of art rely on an emotional component / a rational component? * To what extent does a consumer need to understand the creator's intent in order to benefit from a work of art? * What effort does the consumer have to make to fully benefit from the art they consume? How does this vary across different art forms? * To what extent is the act of physically going to a gallery/concert/theatre… more beneficial than seeing photos of pictures in a book / listening to music at home / watching a play on TV etc.? * In what ways do the benefits of creating differ from the benefits of consuming? Relevant articles you may want to look at: [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/28/picture-of-health-going-to-art-galleries-can-improve-wellbeing-study-reveals) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no) [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/20/art-cure-by-daisy-fancourt-review-is-culture-the-best-medicine](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/may/20/art-cure-by-daisy-fancourt-review-is-culture-the-best-medicine) Hope to see you there.