Sonja Rattay


Main focus: Design Strategy

Twitter handle: @grapemind

Websites/blogs: sonjarattay.de , blockzero.se

Languages: English, German

City: Malmö

Country: Germany

Topics: user experience design, user centered design, business and technology innovation, innovation, design thinking, design for the real world, design research, strategy, design for the digital age, design strategy, design thinking research, design ethics, ethical design, ecosystem design, strategic design

Bio:

I am a Berlin-born strategic designer, currently based in Malmö. I co-founded the strategic design studio Block Zero and am currently leading the Design & UX efforts of our team. Together with our clients we work towards creating experiences which bring humans and technology closer. Projects I have worked on range from creating immersive fashion technology exploring the perceptual senses of the human body to UX for embodied interaction and creating machines with personality. I talk about my work at conferences and give workshops on topics such as design ethics, futuristic interfaces and cyborgism.

When I am not working I am learning about the human brain, travel the world and tinker with new technologies such as implants, VR and robots.

Examples of previous talks / appearances:

Design process challenges for Mixed Realities
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When designing for mixed realities from a product perspective, designers encounter challenges that are hard to address with the standard methods and tools. From concept sketching to user testing, mixed reality experiences need different formats and approaches to enable positive results. In this talk I will share some of our experiences dealing with these challenges and the insights we gained.

This talk is in: English
THE BRAIN AND THE INTERFACE

As Designer we strive to create interfaces that are intuitive and unobtrusive. Sometimes that means we struggle with a good distinction between unconcious guidance and user consent, especially as machine learning and context detection are potentially being introduced into the design ecosystem. This talk will cover some of the obvious as well as hidden challenges designers face as interfaces evolve, from touch interfaces, to voice commands up to the horizon of brain-machine interfaces.

This talk is in: English
Re-Thinking User Experience: Creating Ecosystem User Journeys

Following emerging discussions and a much more critical evaluation of every day tech, product innovation and UX strategy, we at Block Zero have started re-evaluating our work processes and tools when working with the social structures of modern UX. Based on two case studies, this talk focuses on creating system holistic UX and broadening the strategy around the experience of a product to an ecosystem based thinking. From a design and development perspective, this talk discusses a mindful shift from focusing on the singular user experience to a community driven experience and making connecting people a fundamental affordance in our user flows rather than an after thought.

This talk is in: English
DESIGNING WITH INTEGRITY

Following emerging discussions and a much more critical evaluation of every day tech, product innovation and UX strategy, design professionals need to start re-evaluating our work processes and tools when dealing with the social structures of modern UX.

Based on two case studies, this talk focuses on creating system holistic UX and broadening the strategy around the experience of a product to an ecosystem based thinking.

From a design and development perspective, this talk discusses a mindful shift from focusing on the singular user experience to a community driven experience and making connecting people a fundamental affordance in our user flows rather than an after thought.

This talk is in: English