# Design Shapes Context, Context Shapes Design — Cornel Steyn, Jess Witt — session 2026-08-27T00:00:00.000Z → 2026-08-27T00:30:00.000Z _443 transcript lines · 93 slides_ ## Transcript Alright. For those of you who have not been to one of my conferences before, my name is Steve, by the way. But you'll find that I I get a little bit worked up about some of these things during the interludes. However, let's move on. It is my pleasure to introduce Cornell and Jess from Thurston, who are going to talk about the role and the interrelationship between context and design and vice versa. Please join me in welcoming them to the stage. Thank you. Hello. Yeah. Thank you. Let me know if you can hear me from here and I might if we need to move over this way as well. Is it working? It's been put on mute. What should work? Hello. I wonder if my mom's dialing in. I think we're good. Is she is she working? Is your mom dialing out? She might. That's sweet. Cool. If my computer goes to sleep, we'll solve that problem. Every time it does. Still having got you? Hello. Again, it's my mommy if you're dialing in. Can you hear me? Mark? Send me a WhatsApp. Maybe just move over this way. Just stay on the phone. Just one second because You need to come over here. Alright. Try again. Hello. Is that better? I could hear something, Dan. Why does it start off as a creep? I love it. Okay. I think we're good to go. Alright. Great. Thank you. So my name is Jess. This is my colleague, Cornell. We're as we said, so we're gonna be speaking about context shaping design, and how design can also shape context. So yes. A bit about the origin story of this talk, we've given a version of this talk before last year at, in Perth at UX camp. So, around about the time this clicker is as slow as I am this morning. So, yeah, around about October last year and we thought we we designed this talk from the perspective of what we thought we wanted to hear. AI on your social media feeds, just colleagues always learning in a new tool. You never have the full time to invest that time to learn the tools. You always felt a little bit behind. And you felt distracted. Meanwhile, you're still probably busy with work that you're doing. So we thought, how can we share, some of our examples of the work that we do in a software consulting capacity, but also some found examples like we've heard some brilliant stories shared this morning. So amplifying that again. Some problems have been solved. How have they been solved? And really connecting us back to that design is responding to a context but for us, the purpose of why we're doing it is to reshape that context. And that was really the whole sort of background of this topic. AI feels like years are dating like dog years. Like, October 2025 feels like in terms of AI, if you think about your personal workflows, think like that. What the heck? What's happened in the last few months? It feels like so, yeah, this talk just feels more and more relevant, you know. Yeah. So in terms of AI years, it feels like it's been 10 since the beginning of the year. But we are going to be looking at the word context, which our industry has absolutely hijacked. So, if we're looking, you might spend your day hearing things like context farming, context windows, context engineering, context MD files for your AI. It's it's it's blown out, but I have to apologize to this where at some point in our career, but we're gonna be looking at sort of the more original the o g sort of way that we use the word context in, the context of our practice. Yes. So we thought, how might we simplify a very broad topic of context and the different lenses and nuances? Again, we've heard some of that this morning already. And simplify that into a takeaway, sort of a cheat sheet of something you can just quickly refer to. So we believe to understand the full picture of a design intervention that you might be embarking on, need to understand the personal environmental, social ecological, temporal, and organizational context. That's shape design. So what do all these words mean? Let's quickly define it. I'll go clockwise starting with identity. So the identity of the person in this example of who is using your services, be physiological, someone that may have had an injury, other effects temporary? Are they permanent? Are we unsure? Is that recovery leading to frost causing to a, like, potentially, like, resilience and frustration, those kind of things. Someone's cognition someone's emotional state when they're using your products, their accessibility needs, Then we look at that person within the environment that they find themselves in. Environment's not fixed, It's always changing. You've been in multiple different environments just this morning already. Your physical location, is that location private, for example? Is it public, for example? The modality or the surfaces is the new word for multi modal that I see emerging. So what device or surface are you using? Your connectivity, is that stable? Spoilers, mine is not. So some animations might be slow. The sound, effects of the user and how that might, influence their experience. And also the lights. Think of light and dark mode. There's many more environmental factors, but we'll just gloss over it for now. So if, environmental is everything around us, then the socioecological can be just, defined as everything between us. So if we think about our social company, you might be alone, you might be with, a group of friends, you might be in a big theater at a conference, and so we need to think about how our designs can shape that and how our, designs or other products can also help, support those environments. So looking also at collaboration, ethics, sustainability, and community. We've heard a little bit about that this morning already. So how can our designs help shape and grow community? As well as reflecting on how much some of the things that we're designing also hinder community. Then we are on to temporal. So temporal is really about, sensing the right moment and sensing in time and anticipating needs. As well as the duration, or potentially time of day, We might even have a cyclical need. So perhaps it's only seasonal, perhaps it's daily, there could be a sense of urgency, could be a deadline, maybe I'm just in a rush. And then we can also look at frequency. So maybe things happen all the time throughout the day or maybe it's a daily occurrence. And then the last one in our, list is organizational in a consulting capacity, we thought it's it's nice to also relevant and bring this up. Maturity, that could be in terms of design. You might need to start where your environment or your your cohort is at. Or with AI maturity or data maturity, look out to that because that shapes your practice. I always like to say KPI shape behavior. So what gets measured matters. So it's consider which KPIs are at is is influencing the kind of spaces you're in. Constraints, I refer to them as our givens. You can't do everything all at once all the time. I know you would like to and I would love to, but we just don't have the budget, time, people. So consider the constraints and and really work with them. And then competition, are you purely just following what someone else doing for relevant, or are you truly distinguishing yourself and filling a space, yeah, that might not be met. So, again, oversimplifying that context, but if you consider these lists, so we're gonna share some examples of each also, just, again, that sort of breath refresher, like, examples of them. But we thought it's not like you experience one of them discreetly. We mentioned there was a lot of bubbles on the screen, a lot that weren't even on the screen, but we want to say consider that context again are sort of, you experience them as a slice. So vertically here, you might have even just us in this room today. We've got multiple of these. So attention to the most relevant ones is kind of what we're trying to say. But that's a lot to remember, Jess. Thanks, Grano. Yeah. So we try and think about how we could package this up in a easy memorable way, maybe stick it in a blender, take only the first letters of all of these words. You get just o. So How old are you? If it if it's in your fridge, in the top? How old is it? How old is it? Just think about that. You know? So, we are going to now have a look at how some examples of how context has shaped the design and how the design has shaped the context through the lens of Pesto. Love it. So the first example here is back to that personal. So in the example of where cognitive load needs to be reduced for a certain digital product, here's an example of Uber's simple mode. I'm not sure if anyone has of this, but this is a very relevant example for me. On the example on the left is likely what the app in your pocket look like looks like today. Lots of things happening. I always think home screens are the ultimate ash of iteration. They just everything belongs on the home screen. Uber simple mode, and again, the whole goal is to reduce the cognition of finding a simple intent on the right, perhaps your last address, and just the more more critical services. Since literally taking these screenshots October, I've just been using Uber in this mode. It's so nice. So I I get this organizational factors I play, etcetera. If you look at a screen reader, the ultimate test for me is how many objects it chooses to announce. It's about 75% less on that screen. So I feel like already for multiple like, the success is clear. So it's just it's just a nice feature. And then we come to think about how, design can also shape the context in a very personal way where we are looking at emotional, psychological, and physical safety. This is a project that Cornell and I did work on, with my 800 Respect, so Australia's National Domestic Violence Helpline. We help them launch a new video service where they can get immediate support by actually speaking to someone face to face on the phone. And so it was a really powerful piece of work and, sort of one that I won't forget ever, working on. But there it became so important to be explicitly clear on the instructions on how to use it to be very concise, to enable things like anonymous two factor authentication, video preview, quick and making sure all of those things were really really clear to ensure that person who requires this support is, transitioning from a position where they might be extremely vulnerable fear to one of hopefully just a little bit more support and a little bit less isolation. The next we look at the context of Jess's many haircuts. So this is in the environmental context. So this is for Rio Tinto up in the Pilbara, if I look like a mining person. I I don't know. It was very immerse ourselves in this context as well. So things like the temperature of a ruggedized device, they don't they just don't cool the same way. Stylus is gloves. Things like that. But your more traditional issues as well of current state system I prefer them over going, like, more mobile. But, obviously, if there's mobility out in the field that empowers sort of at the point of doing the work. Especially when there's breakdowns have been quite critical to production. And on the right, it was extremely valuable for us to go. That's actually an autonomous truck as well. And in the pit, connectivity is not like it's always working or never working. It's intermittent. So, we reappropriated airplane mode to pit mode. But, yeah, it just is good to see what's the impact on that digital product in areas of mixed connectivity. So yeah. Okay. So why are we looking at the wonderful Kerrigan family? Well, a few a couple of years ago, I had the privilege of working with the Department of Queensland on sort of digital transformation, strategy with them to try to increase their access for digital products for people who needed housing support the most. So we're looking at sort of rental grants or bond loans and I think they had up to 25 products and only one of them was actually available digital. Digitally. So everything was done on paper at that point. And they're so completely trying to change the context of someone's, housing stability offering them and and meeting them, where they need these products in that those crucial moments where housing stability and your safety is of utmost importance. And it can truly shape the quality of of your life. And then now we're moving on to the concept here is about localization. So in certain East Asian, cultures, the idea of red equating to the values of vitality is interesting if you bring it back to some people's hears context about, red might mean a deficit, and green might be positive. So that is flipped. So it's it's more specific in, like, for example, stock markets and things like that where, yeah, increases rate again because of fortune. Some native, like, operating systems and things respond to that with localization settings as well, but it's the support still isn't fully there. But it was just an interesting example, especially if you're working on global products and things like that, color theory, and other examples of localized context. There's lots of gestures. Symbolism, and things like that, which is yeah. I'm not the expert in that at all, but it's just a a positive frame of that. And the other example, I think the the sort of interlude between the talks, I was like, carry on because sends good foundation for what we want to talk about, but again, in a room full of designers, we've got carry a lot of responsibility in our work. I've got more questions than answers, but this was just purely us just thinking, about the sort of socio ecological impact of our work. A lot of our work these days happens through a single chat interface. That interface is so simple. Too simple. It hides the true cost of all the models that's been trained before. It hides the real impact of the in so socio ecological environmental impact of our work. So the chat interface, it hides a lot. So we want to live in a what's the word? Apocalyptomist, Yeah. In an I can't even say it. In that world, what does it look like? What if our AI to our own detriment, but encouraged metrics to give you feedback around higher quality queries, if it showed you how much energy you use today, just cooling data centers, just purely the compute power and cost. The companies reporting on this are the ones financially gaining from this. So I believe the numbers reported seem very low. So unsure what that looks like. Don't wanna be sued today. And and then also the community data training pool. Where is this data coming from? Is it from destroyed books, from authors who never get credit for the work? Or where does that come from? That's a really powerful example. That's just text. Image generation can be up to 10 times more, so let's say resource exhaustive or whatever, and video even more. So let's say you, where people wanna see me with a mullet, you wanna generate an image for that. Like I was saying, how might we nudge higher quality queries? You should really be questioning your prompt here at this stage. Might you stop? Oh, I forgot that one thing. I forgot that one thing. Can I get a better quality prompt? And again, what if the purely just a question, the exact resources used, the exact creators who can be credited or financially redistributed for this work, living in utopia, but it was just an interesting concept for us to explore. Now we look at the temporal context. I mentioned before this is something about sensing sort of those just in time moments. So a personal thing that I do on my phone, I have a focus mode for when I'm driving because I want to ensure that while I'm driving, I am driving in the safest context. And that means no notifications, not me looking down at all of the red little badges that I have or my unread messages or any phone calls coming through. I have it so that as soon as I'm driving, my phone recognizes that I'm moving and that I'm driving. It silences all notifications the people who I have selected that if they try to call me or contact me, my phone will automatically just send them a text back that I have by design. Written myself and it just says, I'll get I'll I'll get back to you when I get there. So this is just it's not something that is for a very long time, it just temporarily changes my context, for a short amount of time to improve my, safety. And now the temporal example where the design might shape a context. So we spoke about reducing friction in a digital world. In banking, this is one of the slides we updated, was, we there's this concept of intelligent friction. So it is to prevent scams and fraud and that things. Platforms also have power to detect things. So this is a example of, Meta, specifically Instagram's nudity protection feature. It's by default. I understand it's on for, teenage accounts. You not relevant for Australia anymore, but the latest numbers, I think, shows up to just over seventy percent of teenagers who were on Instagram before the ban are still on it. So I think it's still extremely relevant. The feature works as such if on device, it detects nudity in an image. It will send it as a blurred image. But when this feature is on, it'll provide this model. So, the latest statistics that I could find again, who reports the statistics, a big question mark, question mark, question mark, the up to 40% of the images remain blurred. If you think of that as a good success case, especially for, like, child sexual abuse material, it I believe it's a fantastic direction that this is moving in. So for 40% of those images to remain blurred, that means successful intervention by this sort of temporal, intervention. Flip the metric, though. 60% are still viewed. So where does that line of responsibility lie? Is it with the platform? Is it someone potentially in a vulnerable state being manipulated to distribute produce and distribute this illegal material? It's a very big topic. It's a very big question. I went on a rabbit hole reading about this. So just temporarily, sometimes friction can be added for a better goal. So organizational context. In this we might need to consider, where your organization or a organization's readiness is when they want to, sort of approach digital transformation projects. Especially in a fixed contract sort of realm. Colanelle and I are very familiar with the perils of a fixed contract for organizational change and, digital transformation. And often the thing that is sacrificed is the quality of the experience. Not just ours, but the, the thing that we're trying to to design. And so, if we consider or if I can compare this to hiking up a mountain, you start at the bottom with everything in your bag, and you've you've said, you've we've set the journey, we know where we're going, we've got all our resources strapped to our back and we get halfway up, And then all of a sudden on the ground, it's like, oh, actually, guys just want a helicopter to come pick you up and take you to the top? Absolutely. But no we can't because our contract said no. So now instead, we've still got all that stuff we've watched the helicopter fly past us and we trudge all the way up the top We get to the top, we've got there, so we're out, we're on budget, on scope, on time. But look at the state of us. We are exhausted. The quality has been impacted dramatically. So something that we're trying, we have it solved this problem, it's something we're always thinking about, and please talk to us later if you solve this problem. But it's keeping the door open especially in these AI years where new technologies, new processes, new systems are available to us all the time and it changes so rapidly, how do we sort of explore ways to keep the door open a little bit so that the helicopter can come and pick us up if we need it. And the last example here of the context to be influenced is was a snappy little TikTok video. The example here is from a South Korean call center. So someone who might be waiting in a call queue for they might get increasingly frustrated, and that might yield in sort of, like, abuse of the call taker agents. I don't know if anyone here has worked in hospital or customer service and can relate. What happens is if you're the next caller in line according to this video, is, this let's say, it's this person who works there. Their son might say, next, you're gonna talk to my dad. Yeah, he's the breadwinner of our family. He's gonna try his absolute best to help you. Yeah, please be kind to him or something like that. I just thought that was the most delight example of a small little service design intervention, and I would like to see it more of it because that's quite cute. Again, how do we bring this into our practice? Yeah. So ultimately, we need to sort of try and start with prioritizing context awareness. We already have so many tools that we use that do this but this is more just a refresher and just a reminder of to do the things that we do best and the things that we love. So map your assumptions. This can help obviously identify your gaps, where you might need to focus your attention, what you might need to validate, But ultimately context awareness, starts with awareness. And ultimately awareness of where your own gaps might be. Second one is get out of the building and validate those assumptions or validate your designs or just understand what the context is. We would never have understood or quite understood the pain of the minors in the pit with a tiny little device that we designed for them in 48 degree heat with red dust in their eyes and they're complaining that tap targets are too small. We wouldn't have really Remember pesto? So, map the context not just the journey. We when you map the context, you sort of design for a more multi multimodal experience not just for our screens. And just so that you don't forget, we made little glitter stickers of pesto, so if anyone wants them on the way out You don't have to like them. We like them. You can put them on the back of your, laptop or the back of the bathroom door, whatever context you prefer. Jump to the next one. Rubbing the word context in there, that's nice. I like it. So design micro solutions to macro problems. And try to prioritize based on all of the things you've done before, based on the impact. We're looking at, the very first coin ever. I believe, to be designed. And I read this one of my favorite books, it's called The Brutal Simplicity of Thought where thinking back, you know, thousands of years ago, the biggest problem was how do we, comfortably and functionally trade. And so their book asks the question, how do I fit a cow in my pocket? The answer is to invent currency. So sometimes, design at its best it will distill complexity into something so deceivably deceivably small. And honestly, it could really just sort of, design and quietly reshape the world around you. K. So context as a requirement. This is now about building it into our practice. So it's an end to end, process and actually seeing this come to reality. We can do all of the research and all the activities that we like. How do we actually bring this into reality? And so we are suggesting that maybe you can include it as a part of your user stories. Because when it's part of a user story, it'll be part of your product. So we have, prepared one for you and I'll just let you read it on your own. My always That's enough of the indulgent drugs. So in the future of context, I have a mullet. How good is that? And every, surely, hopefully not, that every, app in your pocket looks exactly the same. I think some of that is good to do with, like, kids' bottles and stuff. I recognize the Tommy Tippi brand. It's like, why are you in the AI space? It might just be a happy coincidence. So in this moment in time, if you want a message of hope with how AI might reshape our practice and all of that, stuff, or if you're busy actively solving some of the risks or problems with AI and things in our craft, I think this, designers' relevance, we believe, is more than ever. So everyone has a version of this for themselves. So this is some three takeaways we try to summarize. Yeah, in the in the realm of context. So AI is fantastic at classification and yeah, quickly looking at those general cases and things like that. But as designers, your power is the specifics. So focus on that. Make context, your advantage. I think you the all the teams you work with, you can be that, let's use a word from today, custodian of context and bring it into your practice because if it's not there, your the problem definition might be more generic. The solution definition, therefore, might be more generic. Might not be adopted. So really bring that into your practice. The next is more context. In today's world, often means more data. Which means more responsibility. So we believe those who create trust with all of this data are the ones that'll have sort of long term success and viability, especially platforms who prioritize that transparency on device processing. So really start with some strong universally understood safety principles and trust principles in your work. That's a really, practical way to adopt this. The AI world, especially with consent of what you allow devices to track and see still not quite as well understood by me, but that inference complexity also comes granting permission in one app versus not, you know, or how do these things relate to one another. It's a deeply complex topic that I would love to learn more about. But, yeah, use context to build trust. And then the last one is that message of don't necessarily change what you do. I think the how is actively changing how we're solving problems. If you can be better, be better, adopt some of these tools. I think the what and the cost of prototyping is really collapsing. So if you can get versions out there quicker, go for it because I'd like to be glass half full and say that allows more iteration and maybe more iteration was always what this always about. It like, that learning loop that you build into your practice but, yeah, our practice doesn't change much in my opinion. The discovery that you need to do is still there. The iteration loops that you, will go through on hopefully still also there. And then that ultimate, like, let's just skip a few steps, but assuming something gets built out of value focus. So always making sure that you're introducing tools, and I ideas and things based on that prioritization of value. That's what we're all about or should be about or own a small piece of that in in in that sort of broader symphony. So yeah, if we take these three lessons, I think there's a lot of, excitement to, sort of get from these new tools. And it's a wicked ride. So that was us. Yep. Thank you. Cheers. Well done. Thank you, Gus. We've got some stickers there. You're at the table, so indulge us or yourselves. Yeah. Save one for me. We have time for some questions from Cornell and Jess, if anyone has a question while we switch over. No? Okay. And that's and that's fine. You get to run away and change mics and that kind of stuff. So during the during their talk, while we're talking about context, I I cycle. I sort of ride a road bike and go out and do sort of longish bike rides. And by longish, I mean sort of anything up to a 150, 200 kilometers in a single ride sort of out and about around Sydney. And I use a service, a digital service to plan those rides called Ride With GPS. And they've just introduced a new feature and they're telling me about it and I think you'll enjoy it in the context of that last talk. The email was titled, Don't Let Fire Season Ruin Your Neck Ride. The Wildfires Layer comes to ride with GPS. Now available in Australia, see active fires on the map and plan safer rides with the new wildfires layer. It also comes with another layer for air quality and wind. So if you're not sure which direction the fire might head, the wind layer can help tell you. It also has handy hints like how much, area has been burned so far and whether or not this particular wildfire has a name yet. It's a pretty cool feature. Personally, when I'm out riding, if I am anywhere near a wildfire, I can tell. But I'm glad that I have this feature now so that the flames and the smoke don't have to be the giveaway. I can I can check the app, and plan a different ride? It's very useful. I I do wonder though, what was going through the team's mind when they decided that my priority in the event of a wildfire in my area will be a different route for my bike ride rather than, you know, the house or the farm or the kids or the school that they might be going to or one of the number of other things that might be going on, but there you go. Are we ready? We're ready. I've got a two thumbs up from John. Yep. Yep. Alright. Our next, speakers coming up on stage are Nadine and Emily from Reach Out. If you're not familiar with Reach Out, they do ## Slides ### 00:00:47 # CONTEXT SHAPES DESIGN DESIGN SHAPES CONTEXT [Two small profile pictures above the words "SHAPES DESIGN"] ### 00:01:08 # CONTEXT SHAPES DESIGN - DESIGN - SHAPES - CONTEXT [Two small profile pictures of people] ### 00:01:32 # CONTEXT SHAPES DESIGN - DESIGN - SHAPES - CONTEXT [Two headshots of a woman and a man] ### 00:01:48 # Cornel 10:04 WAAZZZUUUP YOU READY? [Chat message interface with a profile picture] ### 00:01:54 # Cornel 10:04 WAAZZZUUUP YOU READY? [Chat message interface with a profile picture] ### 00:02:16 # UXCAMP BOORLOO | PERTH OCT' 2025 ### 00:02:39 # UXCAMP BOORLOO | PERTH OCT' 2025 [Two people standing in front of a large screen displaying the event title] ### 00:03:02 # CONTEXT ## Let's define it - Minimum viable context - Context window - Context farming - Context management - Context-aware - Context engineering - Context.md - MCP [The word "CONTEXT" displayed in large, bold letters, with smaller, colored labels floating around it, each naming a related concept.] ### 00:03:24 # CONTEXT Let's define it ↓ - Minimum viable context - Context-aware - Context engineering - Context window - Context farming - MCP - Context.md - Context management [The word "CONTEXT" in large black letters, surrounded by smaller, colored labels representing related concepts like "Minimum viable context" and "Context management"] ### 00:03:47 To understand the complete picture, we must consider the personal, environmental, socio-ecological, temporal and organisational contexts that shape design. ### 00:04:08 To understand the complete picture, we must consider **personal**, environment, socio-ecological, temporal, and organizational aspects that shape our... [Circular image of a person sleeping, labeled "Physiological"] [Circular image of a brain illustration, labeled "Cognition"] [Circular image of a cat yawning, labeled "Emotional"] [Circular image of a face sculpture, labeled "Identity"] [Circular image of a man adjusting a hearing aid, labeled "Accessibility"] ### 00:04:31 ...the complex ...we must consider **environmental**, sociological, temporal and organisational context that shape design. [Image of a person using a laptop on a train ### 00:04:47 ...the complex... we must consider physical, **environmental**, sociological, temporal and organisational context that shape design. [Image of a man on a train using a laptop, labeled "Physical Location"] [Image of a car infotainment screen playing music, labeled "Device"] [Illustration of a Wi-Fi signal icon, labeled "Connectivity"] [Abstract image of blurred city lights, labeled "Sound"] [Image of a woman looking at her phone with bright lights in the background, labeled "Light"] ### 00:05:11 To understand a complete picture, we must consider the personal, environmental, **socio-ecological**, temporal and organizational context that shape decisions. [Circular image of hands holding a bowl of food, labeled "Social company"] [Circular image of a mouse cursor on a black background, labeled "Collaboration"] [Circular image of a pile of clothes with a person, labeled "Ethics"] [Circular image of a green abstract illustration, labeled "Sustainability"] [Circular image of two people playing rugby, labeled "Community"] ### 00:05:36 To understand a complete ... we must consider the personal, environmental, **socio-ecological**, temporal, and organizational contexts that ... shape de... [Circular image of hands holding a bowl of food, labeled "Social company"] [Circular image of a mouse cursor on a black background, labeled "Collaboration"] [Circular image of two people playing rugby, labeled "Community"] [Circular image of a pile of clothes with a person on top, labeled "Ethics"] [Circular image of a green abstract shape, labeled "Sustainability"] ### 00:06:02 To understand the complete picture, consider personal, environmental, sociological, **temporal** and organizational contexts to shape design. [Image of a red button with "Help" embossed, labeled "Urgency"] [Image of yellow flowers, labeled "Cyclical"] [Image of an alarm clock on a split pink and mint background, labeled "Time of day"] [Image of a person in a dentist's chair, labeled "Frequency"] [Image of skin with water droplets, labeled "Duration"] ### 00:06:24 ...derstar... ...we mus...onsid... personal, environmental, socio-ecological, temp...l and **organisational** cont...at shape desig... [Image of four small figurines, labeled "Maturity"] [Image of a target board with a bullseye, labeled "KPIs"] [Image of scissors cutting a roll of US dollar bills, labeled "Constraints"] [Image of the Eiffel Tower, labeled "Competition"] ### 00:06:47 ...derstand [missing context], we must consider personal, environmental, socio-ecological, temporal and **organisational context** that shape design. [Image of miniature people, labeled "Matur ### 00:07:14 To understand the complete picture, we must consider the **personal**, **environmental**, **socio-ecological**, **temporal** and **organisational** contexts that shape design. ### 00:07:37 - personal, - environmental, - socio-ecological, - temporal - organisational ### 00:08:01 - CONTEXT SHAPES DESIGN - DESIGN SHAPES CONTEXT [Two overlapping rectangular cards, one pink and one red, each with a three-line statement. A light blue circular element with a cursor icon and the text "SEE SOME EXAMPLES" is positioned above the red card.] ### 00:08:24 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Simple Mode Turn on a simplified version of the app #### About this feature - A minimal homescreen makes booking straightforward. - Only ### 00:08:47 # Context shapes design. Design shapes context. # Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisation [Three mobile app screenshots showing the Uber app interface, including a home screen, a "Simple Mode" feature description, and a services screen.] ### 00:09:11 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** # Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational - SERVICE HOURS - 000 - ### 00:09:35 ### Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** - SERVICE HOURS - 000 - QUICK EXIT - WAIT TIMES - ALWAYS-ON RECORDING - ANON 2FA - DELETE REMINDER - CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS - VIDEO PREVIEW [A 3x3 grid of boxes, each containing a short text label] ### 00:09:47 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [A 3x3 grid diagram with nine boxes, each containing a short phrase: Service Hours, 000, Quick Exit, Wait Times, Always-On Recording, Anon 2FA, Delete Reminder, Clear Instructions, Video Preview.] ### 00:10:10 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ## Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [3x3 grid diagram with the following labels: SERVICE HOURS, 000, QUICK EXIT, WAIT TIMES, ALWAYS-ON RECORDING, ANON 2FA, DELETE REMINDER, CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS, VIDEO PREVIEW] ### 00:10:32 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. #### Personal #### Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Image of a person in a yellow shirt looking at a device outdoors, with a dusty landscape in the background] [Image of the interior of a vehicle with a rugged tablet mounted on the dashboard, showing a similar dusty landscape through the windshield] [Pile of dark brown soil] ### 00:10:47 ## Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Personal ### Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Two images: one of a person in a high-vis vest using a phone in a desert landscape, and another of a person driving a vehicle with a tablet mounted on the dashboard.] [A pile of reddish-brown soil.] ### 00:10:54 ## Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Personal ### Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Two images: one of a person in a high-vis vest using a phone in a desert landscape, and another of a person driving a vehicle with a tablet mounted on the dashboard.] [A pile of reddish-brown soil.] ### 00:11:21 ### Context shapes d... ### Design shap... ### Personal ## Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Collage of overlapping photographs, including a group of ### 00:11:46 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Personal ### Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Stack of photographs, with the most prominent showing a group of seven people standing in front of a house, and another showing a white mailbox with the number 3.] ### 00:11:47 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## SYDNEY AUGUST 2026 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Personal ### Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Stack of photographs, with the most prominent showing a group of seven people standing in front of a house, and another showing a white mailbox with the number 3.] ### 00:12:11 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ## Environmental - Personal - Socio-Ecological - Temporal - Organisational [Stack of photographs, with the top one showing a group of people standing in front of a house] ### 00:12:34 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational [Screenshot of a mobile app showing a list of recent financial transactions titled "交易记录"] ### 00:12:46 # Context shapes design. Design shapes context. # Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational ### Screenshot of a financial transaction list [Screenshot of a mobile app showing a list of financial transactions with amounts and dates] ### 00:13:09 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** # Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational [Screenshot of a mobile application with the title "Go off, King!" and a text input field] ### 00:13:31 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Go off, King! ## Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational [Screenshot of ### 00:13:48 # Context shapes design. # **Design shapes context.** ## Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational ### Conscious AI App Interface ### 00:13:54 ### Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ## Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational ### Conscious AI App Metrics - **High ### 00:14:18 ## Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Conscious AI: Community Training Data Pool ### 00:14:43 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational [Screenshot of a mobile app titled "Go off ### 00:14:45 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ## Socio-Ecological - Personal - Environmental - Temporal - Organisational ### Screenshot of an app generating an image - Title: Go off, King! - Generating image... - Prompt: Cornel with a mullet - Timer: 9 seconds until generation - Action: Want to rethink? Click pause to cancel [Screenshot of a mobile application interface showing an image generation process with a prompt and a countdown timer] ### 00:15:08 # WEB DIRECTIONS UX AUSTRALIA ## Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Temporal - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Organisational [Lego scene featuring a city bus, a person, a red car, a police officer, and a security camera] ### 00:15:30 # Context shapes design. Design shapes context. - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - **Temporal** - Organisational [Lego scene featuring a bus, a person vomiting, a red jeep, a police officer, and a security camera] ### 00:15:47 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Temporal - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Organisational [Lego illustration featuring a bus, a jeep, a person vomiting, a police officer, and a security camera] ### 00:15:50 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Temporal - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Organisational [Lego illustration featuring a bus, a jeep, a person vomiting, a police officer, and a security camera] ### 00:16:12 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Don't feel pressured to send sensitive photos Your photo hasn't been sent yet. It can be hard to control what happens to photos once they're sent. Others can screenshot or forward them without you knowing. See safety tips. Don't send Send You're seeing this because nudity protection is turned on. - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological ## Temporal - Organisational [Screenshot of a mobile chat application showing a warning message about sending sensitive photos, with options to "Don't send" or "Send"] ### 00:16:35 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Don't feel pressured to send sensitive photos ### Temporal - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Organisational ### 00:16:47 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Don't feel pressured to send sensitive photos Personal Environmental Socio-Ecological ## Temporal Organisational ### 00:17:12 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Don't feel pressured to send sensitive photos Your photo hasn't been sent yet. It can be hard to control what happens to photos once they're sent. Others can screenshot or forward them without you knowing. See safety tips. - Don't send - Send You're seeing this because nudity protection is turned on. - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - **Temporal** - Organisational [Screenshot of a mobile messaging app showing a privacy warning about sending sensitive photos] ### 00:17:34 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** ### Don't feel pressured to send sensitive photos ## Temporal - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Organisational ### 00:17:46 # Context shapes design. Design shapes context. - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal ## Organisational [Cartoon illustration of a smiling mountain with snow, clouds, and stars] ### 00:18:06 # Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ## Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal [Cartoon illustration of a mountain with a worried face, labeled "SCOPE" at the top, "COST" at the left base, and "TIME" at the right base. Clouds and stars are around the mountain.] ### 00:18:29 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal ## Organisational [Illustration of a cartoon mountain with a sad face, labeled "SCOPE" at the peak, "COST" at the left base, and "TIME" at the right base. Clouds and stars surround the mountain.] ### 00:18:47 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal [Illustration of a cartoon mountain with a sad face, labeled "SCOPE" at the top, "COST" on the left, and "TIME" on the right] ### 00:18:48 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ### Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal [Illustration of a mountain with a sad face, labeled "SCOPE" at the peak, "COST" at the left base, and "TIME" at the right base. Clouds and stars surround the mountain.] ### 00:19:10 ### Context shapes design. Design shapes context. ## Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal [Cartoon illustration of a mountain with a face, labeled "SCOPE" at the top, "COST" on the left base, and "TIME" on the right base. Clouds and stars surround the mountain.] ### 00:19:33 Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal ## Organisational [Screenshot of a phone screen showing a person's face and text overlayed: "I think Korea might have just found a solution to customer abuse" and Korean text below it.] ### 00:19:48 ### Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** > I think Korea might have just found a solution to customer abuse [Screenshot of a phone showing a person speaking, with English and Korean subtitles] ### 00:19:54 ## Organisational - Personal - Environmental - Socio-Ecological - Temporal Context shapes design. **Design shapes context.** > I think Korea might have just found ### 00:20:20 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS - Shadowing - Observations - Service blueprinting - Baseline metrics - Competition - Surveys - Product strategy - Assumption maps - User testing - Interviews [Mind map or cluster diagram with the central title "PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS" surrounded by various related terms in colored, rounded rectangles] ### 00:20:43 ## PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ### Map your assumptions Identify your blind spots. Context-awareness starts with awareness, and that means being honest about the limits of your understanding. [Illustration of a human brain at the center of a spiderweb] ### 00:20:45 ## PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ### Map your assumptions Identify your blind spots. Context-awareness starts with awareness, and that means being honest about the limits of your understanding. [Illustration of a human brain inside a spiderweb] ### 00:21:09 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Get out of the building Seriously. Get out there. Go to site, hang out in airports, watch people on their commutes. You'll see things that only show up in extreme conditions. [Illustration of a stick figure breaking out of a green emergency exit sign] ### 00:21:30 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Map the context, not just the journey Think beyond goals and tasks. When you map the context, you stop designing for screens and start designing for reality. [Illustration of a jar of pesto labeled "PESTO + Context" with basil leaves and cashews scattered around it, connected by a dotted line.] ### 00:21:47 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Map the context, not just the journey Think beyond goals and tasks. When you map the context, you stop designing for screens and start designing for reality. [Illustration of a jar labeled "Pesto + Context shapes design" with basil leaves and cashew nuts, connected by a dotted line representing a journey or flow.] ### 00:21:51 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Map the context, not just the journey Think beyond goals and tasks. When you map the context, you stop designing for screens and start designing for reality. [Illustration of a jar labeled "Pesto + Context shapes design" with basil leaves and cashew nuts, connected by a dotted line representing a journey or flow.] ### 00:22:12 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Design micro solutions for macro problems Prioritise based on impact. Sometimes smallest design decisions can quietly reshape the world around you. [Image of an ancient gold coin or artifact] ### 00:22:33 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS Design micro solutions for macro problems Prioritise based on impact. Sometimes smallest design decisions can quietly reshape the world around you. [Image of an ancient golden coin or artifact with intricate carvings] ### 00:22:47 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Context as a requirement As a I want to so that I When it's part of the user story, it's part of your product. [Three orange, rounded rectangles containing the phrases "As a", "I want to", and "so that I", representing parts of a user story template.] ### 00:22:53 # PRIORITISING CONTEXT-AWARENESS ## Context as a requirement As a I want to so that I When it's part of the user story, it's part of your product. [Three orange, rounded rectangles containing the phrases "As a", "I want to", and "so that I", representing parts of a user story template.] ### 00:23:15 As a UX practitioner (**legend**) at UX Australia in Sydney (**location, social visibility**), I'm two talks and zero lunches deep (**blood sugar crisis**), I can smell hot chips from the catering area (**olfactory, hope**) while someone nearby produces a stomach growl with genuine keynote presence (**ambient soundscape**). As a people pleaser (**person development**), I'm constantly shifting left to right because I'm too polite to ask the person in front to stop moving (**spatial obstruction, unspoken social contract**). I need to walk away with 'one good idea' for my team (**plausible deniability**), but the slides are 8-point font in a 200-person room (**accessibility failure, main character energy from whoever made this deck**). The WIFI keeps frustratingly dropping out (**connectivity**) so I can't secretly doom scroll LinkedIn to pass the time (**device, addictions**). While the person next to me is just using Claude to record this session for later (**privacy**). ### 00:23:39 As a UX practitioner (**legend**) at UX Australia in Sydney (**location, social visibility**), I'm two talks and zero lunches deep (**blood sugar crisis**), I can smell hot chips from the catering area (**olfactory, hope**) while someone nearby produces a stomach growl with genuine keynote presence (**ambient soundscape**). As a people pleaser (**person development**), I'm constantly shifting left to right because I'm too polite to ask the person in front to stop moving (**spatial obstruction, unspoken social contract**). # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT ### 00:24:01 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT [Illustration of a man with a mullet and reflective sunglasses, partially obscuring a smartphone screen displaying a grid of app icons. The app icons are labeled: Regina Romero, Locally AI, Luma, Lunaria, Moonlit Mind, Sirius, starryai, TradeStars, Petit Plus, Unfollowa, Tommee Tippee, Gemini. A small security camera illustration is in the top right.] ### 00:24:25 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three colored cards with text] ### 00:24:47 ## THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three rectangular boxes, each containing a short phrase] ### 00:25:08 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down ### 00:25:32 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three colored rectangular cards, each containing a key statement] ### 00:25:46 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three rectangular boxes, each containing a short phrase] ### 00:26:07 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three rectangular cards with rounded corners, each containing a short phrase] ### 00:26:28 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down [Three rectangular boxes with rounded corners, each containing one of the key points] ### 00:26:47 # THE FUTURE OF CONTEXT - Make context your advantage - More context = more responsibility - Don't change what you do, double down ### 00:27:09 # Cornel Steyn Principal Designer Versent [Two headshots, one of Cornel Steyn] ### 00:27:30 [The slide content is unreadable due to distance and blur.] ### 00:27:46 attendees [QR code in the top right corner] ### 00:28:07 [Screenshot of a video player or application interface with a timeline at the top; the main content area is blank or extremely blurry] ### 00:28:32 # On-demand mental health support for young people REACHOUT [Abstract shapes in various pastel colors on a purple background] ### 00:28:47 # on-demand mental health support for young people REACHOUT [Illustration of several abstract, rounded shapes in pastel colors, resembling pills or capsules] ### 00:29:08 # on-demand mental health support for young people ## REACHOUT [Abstract illustration with overlapping circles and rounded rectangles in pink, yellow, green, and white] ### 00:29:29 # support for young people REACHOUT [Abstract graphic with several large, rounded shapes in various colors on a purple background] ### 00:29:48 # support for young people REACHOUT [Abstract illustration of several large, rounded, pill-like shapes in various pastel colors] ### 00:29:49 # support for young people REACHOUT [Abstract illustration of several large, rounded, pill-shaped forms in various pastel colors]