The 14th international MEX opens in London on 19th – 20th March, welcoming user experience pioneers for 2 days of inspirational speakers and in-depth design challenges.

Follow #mex14 or sign-up to receive an email summary.

We are grateful to our sponsors, the Technology Strategy Board’s ICTKTN and CIKTN, who have been instrumental in supporting the event. Also, to the Brunel University design team, Offscreen Magazine and Shellsuit Zombie.

An introduction to #mex14 themes

Good design needs inspiration. The MEX initiative was founded on the principle that user behaviour, properly translated, is the most reliable source of that inspiration.

If MEX has thrived it is due to the efforts of the diverse community of designers, technologists and strategists who gather both at our events and virtually. They bring with them a willingness to exchange best practice and to work together in creating new ideas.

These 2 day events in London (and we are now hosting our 14th) are an opportunity to set aside the pressures of your day-to-day role and take a fresh look at user experience. In doing so, you will certainly find answers and, better still, perhaps uncover new questions about the future of digital industry.

We already know that translating knowledge of user behaviour into usability improvements is becoming more difficult. Hitherto products existed more or less within their own confines, but now users interact with their digital worlds through multiple touchpoints. To design for ‘mobile’ is no longer enough, and certainly no longer limited to the devices formerly know as ‘mobile phones’.

Those tasked with delivering these experiences must find new ways to respond to user behaviour. To anticipate every permutation of users’ tasks is impossible; to be driven by technologies alone, misguided.

Instead, we believe design succeeds by reflecting a user’s mode. These modes are groupings of behavioural characteristics which provide a more reliable guide to user expectations than targeting device types, screen sizes or fickle trends. This MEX looks at 6 modes: communicate, control, consume, locate, trust and create.

We look forward to the speakers who will challenge and expand on these themes and to joining with participants in crafting an overall response during the creative sessions.

If you’re not able to make it in person, you can follow #mex14, visit the MEX blog or download a PDF of the MEX booklet for a wealth of essays and inspirations on these themes. Put a note in your diary to watch out for the 15th MEX, September 2014, in London.

Marek Pawlowski, Founder & Andrew Muir Wood, Research Director, MEX