MEX

MEX Design Talk is the podcast for the MEX community, exploring emerging technologies, user behaviour and how to design better digital experiences.

On this edition

• Marek Pawlowski, co-host & founder of MEX (@marekpawlowski)
• Alex Guest, co-host & CEO of Zingy.life (@alexguest)
• Ed Rex, founder & CEO of Jukedeck (@edrex_)

Theme: user experience for creators

Alex Guest and Marek Pawlowski discuss user experience for creators, starting with examples of creative apps, then digging into what happens to user behaviour at the intersection of consumption and creativity.

• Hipstamatic Snap Magazine
• Pelican Imaging
• Findings from the MEX 2011 sessions on creative UX, including the team facilitated by Mikko-Pekka Hanski
• Marek and Alex’s project on user experience at the intersection of consumption and creativity
• Findings from Alex’s working group at MEX in March 2014, exploring principles for restoring focus to digital consumption
• p.s. The ‘creative chaos’ app Alex & Marek couldn’t remember the name of is ‘Byte‘

News from the MEX community

• Swiftkey acquired by Microsoft for $250m. Swiftkey – then known as ‘TouchType’ – was short-listed for a MEX User Experience Award in 2009, while founder & CTO Ben Medlock spoke at MEX in 2011 on techniques for making user experience feel natural and innate.
• IBM buys digital agency Aperto, the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions of user experience agencies, explored in Marek’s September 2015 report ‘Acquisitions & long-term growth strategies for design agencies’.
• Ordnance Survey has a map trade-in offer. You can send in your old paper maps and receive vouchers to buy the new editions, which combine the physical map and a downloadable version for your smartphone.  Ben Scott-Robinson, head of digital at Ordnance Survey, spoke at MEX/15 about the challenges of digital transformation for a beloved brand like OS Maps.
• Made In Brunel is running Craft Cafe, with free facilitated design workshops to re-design London, at the OXO Tower 12th – 14th February.
• Last chance to buy a Pioneer ticket for MEX/16.

Interview: Ed Rex

Ed Rex talks to Marek Pawlowski about his start-up Jukedeck, composing music and the challenges of building great user experience alongside a powerful artificial intelligence engine.

• Jukedeck
• @edrex_
• UX of the Year 2015, where we chose Jukedeck

User story: navigating with digital breadcrumbs

A chance meeting at a supper club reveals an unexpected way of using photos to navigate unfamiliar places.

• MEX User story archive

MEX links

• Subscribe for future editions by searching ‘MEX Design Talk’ in your favourite podcast player, on iTunes, following on SoundCloud or adding the RSS feed
• Get in touch with feedback and questions @mexfeed on Twitter
• MEX events
• MEX journal

Special thanks

• Steve Litchfield, of the Phones Show Chat, for his patient help and feedback
• Jukedeck, for the artificial intelligence engine which provided the music