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SXSW 2018: What's In Store?

Earlier this year at SXSW 2017, we were thrilled and honored to take the stage with our friends at Google and Facebook for a panel discussion around the future of virtual reality and its inevitable effect on human behavior. Beyond our conversation, SXSW was teeming with incredible technologies being demoed, folks doing amazing things, and good times to be had.

This year, we’re spreading our wings across a diverse array of submissions: From an agile workshop, to the future of live video and AR, to a rare and exclusive presentation from our fearless leaders and co-founders, Mills and Sinx, we’re excited to partner with Facebook, Google, SSENSE and more to once again share our perspective with the SXSW community.

Check out our submission line-up for this year, and if you’re so inclined, upvote and help us spread the word on social media. We’ll see you in Austin!

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Growing An Independent Agency: An Unabashed Tale

Best known for the mobile game series Monument Valley, global digital product studio ustwo has come a long way since their humble beginnings as “just us two”. But growing a staunchly independent agency is never without its challenges. Join ustwo cofounders Mills & Sinx for a brazen, holds-no-barred tale of lessons learned from starting an agency with your friends, growing up, diversifying, and evolving your business model, and how no matter the ebbs and flows, you can’t change a tiger’s stripes.

SPEAKERS

John Sinclair (aka Sinx), Co-Founder & CEO, ustwoMatthew Miller (aka Mills), Co-Founder, ustwo

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Engagement, Evolved: AR & The Future Of Live Video

A decade ago, social media revolutionized how brands interacted with consumers. As we enter 2018 however, it’s all but white noise. What’s next for digital community building and brand engagement? The answer lies in giving brands the power to intimately and rawly connect with consumers like never before. Facebook & ustwo dive into the evolution of Facebook Live, the challenge of designing for a platform of 2 billion people, and how to truly connect with users in an age of instant gratification.

SPEAKERS

Chris Marotta, Senior Product Designer, ustwoTory Hargro, Product Design Manager, Facebook

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Gaining The Competitive Edge: Is Content King?

“Digital” means network TV is almost irrelevant. Apps replaced channels and TVs are cell phones.

Traditional competes with digital for big budget content. Social networks are racing to establish themselves as entertainment platforms, creating even more required behaviors. Even celebrities can go direct to audiences by developing their own platforms.

Do audiences really need want all the noise? How can new products compete? Is it content or products that give companies a cutting edge?

SPEAKERS

Lee Simpson, Head of TV & Entertainment, ustwoAdam Neuhaus, Director of Development, ESPN Films and Original Content, ESPNJared Heinke, Head of Digital, Whalerock IndustriesJocelyn Johnson, Founder/Edtori-in-Chief, VideoInk

VOTE FOR THIS TALK

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Balancing Form & Function: The Why of Wearables

Wearables have struggled to strike the balance between offering real utility while seamlessly adapting to a customer's style and preferences. How do we enhance a person’s life with wearables? How can research help avoid costly gimmicks? What companies are striking the balance and how are they integrating into their customer's daily routine? Our panel of experts explore these topics and dive deep into the use cases and the current state of technologies behind what’s on the wearable market today.

SPEAKERS

Erin LeForce, Senior Designer, ustwoAlexandra Wood, Chief Operating Officer, Wearable XQuinn Fenlon, Creative Director, Doppler LabsSara Chipps, CEO, Jewelbots

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Agile Simulations for Delivering Digital Products

A fun, interactive workshop for people interested in how modern digital studies deploy adaptive problem solving patterns to test, learn and eventually deploy market ready digital products.

The workshop takes a framework and principles originally presented in a game format developed by Vera Peeters and Pascal Van Cauwenberghe and re-invents it away that is meaningful for anyone at any experience level interested in Agile ways of working.

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Jason Lewis, Director of Projects, ustwo

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3 Days to 20 Minutes: Pushing Fashion Faster

Redefining the client vs. agency dynamic - This is the story of how SSENSE and ustwo built a design system integrated with the Wordpress API that ripped away the restrictions of traditional CMS and reduced content's "time to live" from 3 days to 20 minutes.

Building a bespoke editorial design system is hard so let’s get into the weeds of moving from sketch to HTML, complex UX systems, vue.js, Docker, Chakram (and others) and the testing to launch.

SPEAKERS

Jim VaNest, QA Lead, ustwoEric Hu, Director Of Design, SSENSE

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Experiments: A Peek Inside ustwo’s Creative DNA

Embrace curiosity. Eschew comfort. Accept you might be wrong. This is an in-depth look at how experimentation keeps ustwo ahead of technology and the market, even before the emergence of user needs.

Our product design experts will share the behind the scenes of 2 experiments ran at ustwo’s NY studio that illustrate this way of life and willingness to continuously step into yet unexplored territories.

SPEAKERS

Cesar Corral-Castilla, Product Designer, ustwoJose-Manuel Villanueva, Senior Product Designer, ustwo

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Join The Ride: From Mobile to Android Wear 2.0

With Android Wear 2.0, the platform was finally ready for the Uber app. Teaming up with ustwo, the work began to bring the Uber experience to your wrist.

Using the actual implementation, we’ll show how we overcame challenges and created a wearable-specific experience, keeping the features and functionality of the mobile app while optimizing it for the new platform.

Presenting this story, we hope others will be inspired and confident to take on projects of this shape and size.

SPEAKERS

Christoffer Jakobsen, Senior Software Engineer, ustwoYohan Hartanto, Senior Software Engineer, Uber

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