The emotional journey of Chris Grant in the new DI55ECCIONS

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated the fifth and penultimate conference of our cycle with Chris Grant as main protagonist. The Senior Director for Product & UX of the famous online gaming company King began his speech talking about the five aspects that have influenced him most throughout his career (including some details of his personal life). After commenting on how much the failure has taught him some years ago, he remarked that if you work in an agency it is necessary to always fight for the good of the user beyond the demands of the contracting companies. In addition, Grant revealed what’s the great secret of UX design for him: being able to abstract oneself and think about what people really want and need ("In my classes I always tell students that they should be metathinkers", he added). To finish this first part of the conference, he praised the figure of his father, a psychologist whose work inspired him to always seek the welfare and happiness of the people, and emphasized that his studies of American Civilization taught him to think and to develop a critical awareness despite not being directly related to their current work area.

In the section on trends, the speaker talked about five concepts that, in his opinion, will mark the future of the industry: data analysis (and all we get from it), artificial intelligence ("The apps will be able to think, communicate in a better way with the user", said Grant), society's fear of a changing world, discoveries in the field of human thought and, finally, ethical debates that will emerge with new milestones. The guest ended by stating that: "As designers, we have the ability to influence others, make them almost addicted to something. We must be responsible”.

In the ensuing debate, the speaker answered the questions of the attendees. After, all of them enjoyed a cocktail in the Agora space courtesy of Moritz and Vermut Yzaguirre as they shared their impressions on the fifth DI55ECCIONS. On his Twitter, Grant showed his gratitude for the strong response to the conference: "My talk started as an open class but ended as an emotional journey to my past and our future. Hope you all enjoyed the ride!".