MORE than 100 guests from the digital sector were at a special edition of the industry event UX Bournemouth.

The event marked the 10th anniversary of the company which created it, the Bournemouth-based user experience (UX) specialist Experience UX.

Speakers included Katy Arnold, head of user research and design at the Home Office; Naintara Land, of Gov.uk and NHS.uk; and the published UX expert and psychologist Jo Leach.

Damian Rees, co-founder of Experience UX, opened the event with a review of a decade in UX.

He said: “It’s incredible how far UX has come in the past 10 years with innovations pushing the limits of how we interact with technology.

“But essentially it’s people who shape technology and not the other way around.

“We still see so many businesses making the same mistakes they did 10, even 15 years ago.

“In this digital era, where experience is everything, you cannot afford to make assumptions about user behaviour.

“Businesses who depend on their online experience are investing in first class UX and understand that it’s a shifting landscape, not a one-time job.”

In her talk, Building Accessible Services for Everyone, Katy Arnold from the Home Office shared her aim of eliminating social exclusion on the web.

She argued that “setting deliberately high standards when it comes focussing on the people with the greatest access needs makes you a better designer”.

Naintara Land gave an overview of the government’s project to create the single domain, user-centred service Gov.uk.

“UX is everyone’s responsibility within an organisation,” she

said.

Neuroscientist and UX expert Joe Leech gave a talk on UX psychology and why users dislike change.

He then gave an overview of how best to implement changes to branding, design and interfaces to avoid a negative backlash.

After the talks, guests were invited to meet the speakers, network with peers and enjoy celebratory birthday cupcakes.

Experience UX, based on Poole Hill, was established in 2007 by directors Ali Carmichael and Damian Rees, who believed companies should be doing more to understand their users’ needs before designing digital products and services.

It has worked with clients including the Body Shop, LV= and the Open University, helping UX teams overcome internal politics and make changes based on UX research and knowledge in the field.

UX Bournemouth was launched in October 2016 as a quarterly event aimed at building a network of creative and digital businesses and individuals interested in the subject.

The next UX Bournemouth talks place on November 7, priced £9.50 and tickets are at http://uxbournemouth.co.uk