Speakers
Gabriel SvennerbergHead of Design @ FortnoxDesign Process is Culture
We tend to think of design process as a set of steps to follow. But process is never neutral. What gets celebrated, what gets skipped, who gets involved, and how decisions get made all shape the culture a team actually experiences.
In this talk, I'll share how we redesigned the design process at Fortnox for a growing team of 60+ designers, not as a workflow to enforce, but as a way to reinforce the culture we wanted to build. This shapes everything from collaboration and decision-making to the responsible use of AI.
Key takeaways:
- Why process shapes culture more than values statements do
- How to design processes that reinforce desired behaviors
- How responsible AI adoption starts with ways of working, not policies
Gabriel Svennerberg
Gabriel is Head of Design at Fortnox, where he leads a design organization of 60 designers in a fast-growing, product-led SaaS company. With nearly three decades in digital product design across agencies, startups, and in-house teams, he works at the intersection of design, technology, and product strategy.
Before Fortnox, he founded Boards on Fire and ran the design agency Meetod. He is also the author of Beginning Google Maps API. When he is not working you will find him outdoors, most happily asleep in a hammock somewhere in the woods.
Guillaume VaslinDirector of Design @ AOEDesigning AI Products People Can Trust
AI products are becoming deeply integrated into everyday life, yet most users still struggle to understand what these systems can do, when they fail, and whether they should trust them at all.
This talk explores how designers can shape trust in AI products through interaction design, transparency, feedback loops, and behavioral UX patterns, not branding or visual polish alone.
Drawing from real product experience, UX strategy, and research on cross cultural digital interfaces, the session will examine how trust emerges through predictability, explainability, user control, and the design of failure itself.
Key take aways:
- Design patterns for creating trustworthy AI experiences
- Common UX mistakes that reduce trust in AI systems
- How to communicate uncertainty and limitations effectively
- Why designing for failure matters more than designing for success
- How cultural expectations shape trust in AI interactions across different users and societies
- The evolving responsibility of designers in AI product development
Guillaume Vaslin
Guillaume Vaslin is a French-German product designer, founder of ENNOstudio and Director of Design at AOE. He works at the intersection of product strategy, UX design, and digital transformation, helping enterprises and startups design scalable digital products and services.
Alongside his industry work, Guillaume conducts independent research on universal digital interfaces, exploring how cultural and generational differences influence the way people understand and interact with technology. His research focuses particularly on trust, clarity, and usability in emerging AI driven experiences.
Miss Beehives / Aleksander TonheimDrag artist & senior UX designer @ KnowitCREATIVITY, DARLING
Creativity is often framed as a skill: something you can learn, optimise, and scale. But in practice, most creative work doesn’t fail for lack of ideas. It fails because we don’t know how to handle uncertainty, tension, and the dynamics around ideas.In this talk, the Norwegian drag queen Miss Beehives takes the audience on a journey through the worlds of drag and design, revealing the surprising parallels between the two. Through personal stories, creativity, performance, and point of view, the talk explores how ideas come to life when we dare to draw inspiration from unexpected places and when we allow ourselves to stand in what makes us different.This talk will be honest, personal and thought-provoking.
Miss Beehives / Aleksander Tonheim
Aleksander is a creative, empathetic, and analytical senior designer at Knowit. He is also part of the UX Norge crew and board, contributing to Norway’s growing design community of 7,500 members through events, conversations, and knowledge sharing.
Alongside his work in design, Aleksander is the creator behind Miss Beehives: a cheeky and celebrated drag performer from Haus of Friele, known for warmth, wit, and the ability to command any stage with controlled chaos. Through drag, performance, and visual storytelling, Miss Beehives explores the intersection of art, design, identity, and point of view. With experience spanning major festivals, television, corporate events, cinemas, Pride celebrations, and club stages, including NRK, Bergen Kino, Oslo Drag Festival, and Pride events across Norway.
Miss Beehives has built a strong reputation for engaging performances, sharp creative direction, and high audience connection. In addition to performing, Aleksander also develops and produces shows and stage concepts that bring together entertainment, storytelling, and immersive audience experiences.
Raff Di MeoSenior Product Design Manager @ OptimizelyBeyond the Metrics: designing for consequences
Designing something that works isn't the same as designing something that's right. You can hit every metric — but are those metrics right?
Through a real-world example from building an e-commerce returns portal, we'll explore how chasing the wrong metrics can damage businesses, people, and the planet — and why sustainable design starts with asking better questions.
We'll challenge core UX assumptions about friction and conversion, learn to apply ethical techniques to the design process, and explore how to apply those same principles when shaping AI products responsibly.
Raff Di Meo
Raff Di Meo has spent over 10 years designing products across agencies, startups, and enterprise SaaS, including a startup acquisition. Today, he leads the Experience Creation team at Optimizely, where he shapes how marketing teams build content experiences across the web with AI. He writes Some Designers on Substack and speaks regularly at UX events, championing inclusivity.
Laura DalrympleLead User Researcher @ Tangity/NTT DATAAre we there yet?: keeping the human in the loop
Government projects integrating AI decision making into their user journeys have taken off.
But have we done enough work to understand what AI automation really looks like in high risk government spaces and if, when and where we should keep humans in the loop?
We need to do more with less, now more than ever. In the context of lower UK economic output, but the higher demand for public services (with larger populations) we need to make sure we use AI to get our decision making right, keep costs down, reduce mistakes and stop the potential public scandals caused by AI inaccuracies/a lack of human oversight.
Laura will share learnings from working in an exclusively AI-orientated team in government, playing back the practical challenges of integrating AI decision making in previously human-led spaces (internal to the organisation) and what potholes we need to avoid.
The session will include recommendations on appropriate uses and considerations for the audience to take away and apply in their own work places.
Laura Dalrymple
Laura is a Lead User Researcher at NTT Data/Tangity specialising in Government clients. Prior to this she supported large scale transformation projects at the Bank of England as their first permanent senior user researcher; winning a central Banking award in 2025 for the UCD work she and her team carried out. Laura has also worked consultancy side with SPARCK/CGI delivering NHS digital COVID initiatives.
With a background in Psychology and Mental Health Nursing, Laura’s experience covers research in variety of areas such as: biotech, psychoeducation (teaching mental health management), pharmaceuticals, complex data sets and financial regulation.
Laura has gained a wealth of experience working across the public sector and has been at the forefront of building Tangity's/ NTT Datas User Research approach to AI to realise real sustainable change.
Kent EisenhuthStaff Product Designer @ Waymo, GoogleData Visualization & Generative AI: Principles for Building Human-Centered Data Experiences
Working with AI can often feel intimidating and opaque, but thoughtful UX can change that. This talk highlights how Kent’s team used timeless design methods to create more intuitive, informative, and engaging consumer AI experiences with data visualization. Drawing on his work with Google Health’s (formerly Fitbit) Personal Health Coach, Kent will walk through the process of integrating visual data into a chatbot environment. He will share guiding principles and practical takeaways for anyone building human-centered AI data experiences, created by humans, for humans.
What you’ll learn:
- A behind-the-scenes look at integrating co-design and UX research into AI workflows.
- Key lessons learned when applying data visualization to generative AI products.
- Why design craft, attention to detail and originality matter now more than ever.
Kent Eisenhuth
As a design lead at Waymo, Google, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Kent has two decades of experience in developing visual languages that improve collaboration, comprehension, and decision-making across a wide array of products, including Google Cloud, Fitbit, Search, Alphabet’s Loon, and Waymo.
Kent led Fitbit’s Generative AI Charting program and co-founded Google’s Data Accessibility program. He previously and co-authored the data visualization specs for Material Design.Kent’s work and ideas have appeared in many publications, including The Guardian, UXmatters, ACM journals, and Smashing Magazine. His book, Drawing Product Ideas, delivers a new and exciting guide to effectively communicating product ideas by drawing simple shapes.
Kent has presented talks and ideas at many conferences, such as IxDA’s Interaction, SXSW, UXDX, and the World Usability Congress, and he is a frequent guest lecturer at several universities in the United States of America.
Sophie AlbrechtConsultant for anything data-related @ Just DataTest Like You’re Wrong
Too many teams treat user research and A/B testing as competing methodologies — one for the qualitative believers, one for the data people. But conviction and evidence aren’t opposites. Good research earns you the confidence to make a strong design call, and strong hypotheses make for better tests. In this session, we’ll explore how user research and A/B testing work best as a loop — not a debate — and why the teams that ship the best products aren’t the ones who test everything to death, but the ones who know when to back their instincts and when to let the data speak.
Key takeaways
- Why designing with conviction produces better tests — and better outcomes
- How to use research to build hypotheses, not just validate assumptions
- Where A/B testing alone goes wrong — and what research catches that data can’t
- How to run the research → design → test → learn loop in practice
- When to trust your instincts, and when to let the numbers win
Sophie Albrecht
Sophie is a Data & Insights leader with a background in psychology and experience spanning product, gaming, user research, experimentation and analytics. She has spent her career helping teams make better decisions by combining qualitative and quantitative evidence, working at the intersection of design, research and data. Sophie consults with product and game teams, currently at Mojang, and is passionate about building products that balance strong conviction with a willingness to learn from users and data.
Ida Håkonsson & Rebekka Valdmanis MørkenProduct Design LeadDesign for Delight
How do you make a digital experience feel alive and human, moving beyond the screen to spark a real connection with the user?
In this talk, we take you through our journey of designing for our most honest and demanding audience: children. When we built the login experience for NRK Super, we couldn't rely on text or standard conventions. Instead, we used gamification, nudging, and storytelling, turning it into a login flow that children actually want to complete again and again.
We’ll share our lessons in extreme accessibility and inclusive design that apply to all users, demonstrating how sometimes adding in extra steps and intentional friction can actually drive higher completion. It is a reminder that the most impactful products are those that still know how to spark wonder.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated throughout the design process, this talk focuses on the deep, intentional, and strategic craft that AI cannot replicate. We believe that by utilising play, mischief and wonder, we can reclaim the sense that technology is still magic.
Ida Håkonsson & Rebekka Valdmanis Mørken
Ida and Rebekka have worked together for a decade and share a passion for fun and delight in digital product design. In recent years, they have been working on NRK Super, Norway’s award-winning streaming service for children. Drawing on their extensive experience designing for young users who cannot yet read or write, they advocate for bringing the joy of children’s products into the adult world. This approach allows them to craft user experiences that are both intuitive and impactful.
Workshops
Ally WaringAssociate Psychosexual Therapist & CX Consultant @ Allied StrategyWe Can All Ask Better Questions
A brief lands on your desk, and states a presenting issue. But it is almost always wrong about what the problem is. In sex therapy, it is the same: erectile dysfunction, low desire or vulvodynia, the real issue lies deeper.
My session shares a three-part diagnostic framework inspired by psychosexual assessment to change how we challenge client briefs, ditch lazy templates and over-automated solutions, in exchange for rigorous, human-centred diagnosis.
You'll come away from this session with at least one brave question you can ask when you're next briefed on a project.
Ally Waring
Ally is an independent CX strategy consultant with experience shaping some of the world's biggest brands, including Formula 1, PayPal, and Coca-Cola.
Following a life-changing chronic illness diagnosis, she discovered an unexpected parallel between sex therapy and customer strategy.
Today, alongside teaching at University of the Arts London, she is completing aCOSRT-accredited qualifying diploma in psychosexual therapy.
Ally writes her Substack, 'Vulgar Thoughts', on the intersections between creativity, discomfort, curiosity, pleasure, and the beautiful friction they can bring to human-centered design.
Kalina TyrkielSenior Content DesignerDesigning around AI: the psychology of new design patterns
Traditional design patterns assume a predictable system – but while generative AI is built on predictions, it is anything but predictable. As a psychologist and a designer working in Zendesk, an AI-first company and one of OpenAI’s top 30 customers, I’ll walk you through some of the most important new design patterns around AI. We’ll cover disclosing AI outputs to users, optimal levels of AI anthropomorphism, managing expectations, as well as ethical and psychological aspects, including common biases. Expect real-life use cases and fresh points of view.
Kalina Tyrkiel
UX writer by trade and psychologist by training, now Senior Content Designer working on AI experiences at Zendesk. Experienced trainer, lecturer, and consultant in UX writing; creator of Poland's first AI in UX writing course. After hours: Instagram foodie, local culinary evangelist, fueled by hot sauce and filter coffee.
Jennifer ChadwickProgram DirectorTask Planning for Accessibility and Inclusive Design
We know that users with disabilities are simply end users too. Some use hardware and software every day to interact with your designs (think screen reader, keyboard, zoom magnification, etc.). Once you learn about how diverse human experience is, it becomes an exciting opportunity to innovate and grow your skills. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) as can be overwhelming, where you don't know where to start, or you feel you might get it wrong! I'm a former UX Designer turned inclusive design advocate for 15+ years. In this workshop, I'll share:
- real user stories of what people with disabilities need
- examples of beautiful and elegant designs that are also accessible and meet global standards (WCAG, EN 301 549, etc.)
- a fun, easy framework to apply when you're designing products (W3C Accessibility Roles and Responsibilities Mapping (ARRM))
- a team exercise called the "Decision Tree" for identifying the shared responsibility for each WCAG requirement (UX or Visual Designers, Developers, Content Authors).
Jennifer Chadwick
Jennifer Chadwick, CPACC was a UX Design Lead for 10 years before usability testing with people with disabilities turned her into an Accessibility and Inclusive Design advocate. Since 2012 she's collaborated with UX and Visual Designers through co-design sessions, assistive technology demos and prototype reviews (Figma, Claude code) to design products that are both beautiful and accessible for everyone. Jennifer co-created the W3C Accessibility Roles and Responsibilities Mapping (ARRM) resource for WCAG 2.2.
Sophie AlbrechtConsultant for anything data-related @ Just DataTest Like You’re Wrong
Too many teams treat user research and A/B testing as competing methodologies — one for the qualitative believers, one for the data people. But conviction and evidence aren’t opposites. Good research earns you the confidence to make a strong design call, and strong hypotheses make for better tests. In this session, we’ll explore how user research and A/B testing work best as a loop — not a debate — and why the teams that ship the best products aren’t the ones who test everything to death, but the ones who know when to back their instincts and when to let the data speak.
Key takeaways
- Why designing with conviction produces better tests — and better outcomes
- How to use research to build hypotheses, not just validate assumptions
- Where A/B testing alone goes wrong — and what research catches that data can’t
- How to run the research → design → test → learn loop in practice
- When to trust your instincts, and when to let the numbers win
Sophie Albrecht
Sophie is a Data & Insights leader with a background in psychology and experience spanning product, gaming, user research, experimentation and analytics. She has spent her career helping teams make better decisions by combining qualitative and quantitative evidence, working at the intersection of design, research and data. Sophie consults with product and game teams, currently at Mojang, and is passionate about building products that balance strong conviction with a willingness to learn from users and data.
Lorraine Omari-Asor & Laura DalrympleUX Research Manager & Lead User ResearcherFrom "Busy Work" to Influential Strategy: Practical Strategies for UX Professionals
Today’s UX researchers are expected to wear more hats than ever before. Beyond conducting research, they are often asked to influence strategy, manage stakeholders, mentor others, adopt AI tools, and deliver impact at increasing speed.
In this interactive masterclass, two experienced UX research leaders share practical lessons from their careers across government, finance, healthcare and digital transformation. Participants will explore the hidden cost of context switching, experience first-hand how multitasking affects performance, and reflect on the skills that help researchers create influence and impact in complex organisations.
Through facilitated discussion, reflection exercises and peer learning activities, attendees will leave with practical approaches for protecting focus, navigating organisational dynamics, leveraging AI effectively, building confidence, and increasing the strategic value of research.
Key Takeaways
- Understand the impact of multitasking and context switching on research quality and effectiveness
- Learn practical strategies for increasing influence and stakeholder engagement• Explore how AI can support research workflows while preserving human judgement and empathy
- Reflect on approaches to mentoring, career growth and building confidence as a senior practitioner
- Develop a personal action plan to improve effectiveness and impact within their organisation
Lorraine Omari-Asor & Laura Dalrymple
Lorraine is a Lead UX Researcher and strategic problem solver with over a decade of experience helping organisations design better services and products through evidence-based decision making. She specialises in uncovering user needs, translating complex insights into clear storytelling, and helping teams make smarter product and policy decisions.Lorraine has led research across government, healthcare, and technology sectors, working on large-scale digital transformation programmes that improve services for millions of users. She currently manages a team of UX researchers while leading research within government exploring how AI capabilities can be introduced responsibly to improve efficiencies in ways of working and support complex workflows.Alongside her research work, Lorraine is passionate about mentoring and empowering women in tech, supporting professionals to grow their confidence, communication skills, and career direction.
Laura is a Lead User Researcher at NTT Data/Tangity specialising in Government clients. Prior to this she supported large scale transformation projects at the Bank of England as their first permanent senior user researcher; winning a central Banking award in 2025 for the UCD work she and her team carried out. Laura has also worked consultancy side with SPARCK/CGI delivering NHS digital COVID initiatives.
With a background in Psychology and Mental Health Nursing, Laura’s experience covers research in variety of areas such as: biotech, psychoeducation (teaching mental health management), pharmaceuticals, complex data sets and financial regulation.
Laura has gained a wealth of experience working across the public sector and has been at the forefront of building Tangity's/ NTT Datas User Research approach to AI to realise real sustainable change.
Venue
SXC2026 takes place at 7A Posthuset, right in the heart of Stockholm.
The venue is located inside the historic Central Post Office building, just a few steps from Stockholm Central Station. Which means you can step off the train, grab a coffee and walk straight into a full day of design, tech and thoughtful conversations.
7A Posthuset combines modern conference spaces with beautiful architecture, great acoustics and room to breathe. It’s a place made for ideas, discussions and the occasional quiet moment when your brain needs to catch up.
Address
7A Posthuset
Vasagatan 28
Stockholm, Sweden
