News

This article is written by Alan Chen and Diana Ayoub of Sh8peshifters. 

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The story of UX Australia and Sh8peshifters started long before Sh8peshifters was a company. We have been regular attendees of UX Australia’s yearly conference since 2017. And even then, we were both quite involved in the event. Whether it was live scribing Ash Donaldson’s talk, Healthcare is Sick or hosting activations at the JMC Academy booth, every year, we’d look for something we could contribute to.

The reason was simple. The conference brought together a community; there was excitement for learning and there was passion for change through design. And we wanted to be part of that. 

Alan and Diana at UX Australia 2018 in Melbourne

 

We started Sh8peshifters towards the end of 2019, just as the COVID crisis was becoming a worldwide reality. Two years in and those long lockdowns can take it out of you, but like many resilient organisations, the team at UX Australia were determined to make their 2021 conference a smashing online experience, despite all the hurdles and seemingly never-ending restrictions. They approached us to help them create visual engagement as part of it. 

Our collaboration journey began with a booklet. We worked with the UXA team to craft a visual story that could emphasise a sense of community and belonging despite the attendees being physically separated in their houses. We worked towards imbuing the program with a human element whilst keeping the UXA purpose and vision in mind. The result was a build on the iconic puzzle pieces in the UXA logo, bringing it to life as the diverse pieces coming together to build one community. We added a human element with silhouettes of people going on a journey, alone but together, interacting with the pieces, and moving closer to each other as they did so. 

The visuals were meant to create inspiration and communicate hope. In addition to that, Alan live scribed Steve Baty’s opening keynote for the conference, helping to set the tone for the direction UXA was headed: inclusive of all design industries, environmentally-conscious and future-proof.

Working session with UXA team and Sh8peshifters for UXA 2021

 

Live graphic recording of Steve’s opening keynote UXA 2021

 

The booklet was so well-received that the UXA team offered to partner with us as their official Branding Partners, and we spent the next year working closely with the team to redesign their brand and look. In typical human-centred design fashion, our process relied heavily on exploration and co-design. A good visual brand is one that communicates the story and vision of an organisation without so many words. It’s about creating emotion and connection. In order to achieve this, we dove into discovery mode, using our own experience with UXA’s events and community to guide us. The team engaged the UXA community every chance they got to understand what they wanted out of it, what it offered them and what they expected from it. We were in constant conversation with the team to understand their why and translate it into a powerful visual presence.

Booklet cover for UXA 2021

 

The UXA team and Sh8peshifters finally meet in person after a long virtual collaboration!

 

In August of this year, the new UXA brand was officially unveiled at the UX Australia conference in Melbourne. We were so excited to see people interacting with the new logo and colours; best of all, we loved seeing the UXA team really connecting with their new brand and owning it. The puzzle pieces of the logo were still there, but transformed into a more modern interpretation where the U & X fit together perfectly and the colours created a sense of space and dimensionality. 

The logo brings to light UXA’s positioning as thought leaders in the space of design, while emphasising the main reason for the organisation’s existence: that we’re better together. It’s always about community and collaboration. The colours and texture of the brand convey another important aspect of UXA’s identity. Inspired by Australia’s rich natural resources and environment, they pay homage to our Australian roots and call to mind UXA’s vision of being stewards of the planet. 

Colour exploration for each branch of UXA

 

At Sh8peshifters, we are grateful for the collaboration journey we’ve gone on over the past year with UX Australia; it has been a chance for us to give back to a community that has inspired and encouraged us along our own journey throughout the years. We are truly better together, and we look forward to a new year filled with exciting new projects with our friends at UXA. 

Quotables from Design Research 2022

 

Co-designing the Design Research 2022 Mascot ‘DRUX’ with conference attendees 

 

Delivering our sketchnoting workshop at UXA 2022 in Sydney