Canvas Conference 2017 Review

29 Oct 2017, by Calum Shepherd

Last week, I attended a conference for product enthusiasts in Birmingham. Canvas Conference was packed with incredible stories from people working in the product space. This year, it featured speakers from companies such as Thriva, Microsoft Research, Starling Bank, and Monzo.

However, I wasn’t quite prepared for one of the presentations—and it seems many others felt the same way.

Emotionally, it was a rollercoaster.

Haiyan Zhang, an Innovation Director at Microsoft Research, shared her work on leveraging technology to improve and enrich lives, particularly for individuals whose daily lives are affected by medical conditions.

Haiyan discussed several projects, including a new platform for participants and the critical need to ensure solutions are financially viable in the long term.

Parkinson’s disease affects 10 million people worldwide, causing a loss of motor control.
There is currently no cure.

I know firsthand how devastating this disease can be. It has been close to me since I was a child and has the power to strip away the things you cherish most.

The most striking part of Haiyan’s presentation for me was Project Emma. Its ambition was to help Emma, a woman diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, regain the ability to write and draw—giving her back a small piece of what the disease had taken away.

Haiyan and her team dedicated countless hours to understanding Emma’s challenges, including the central role that drawing played in her life. They worked tirelessly for months, exploring solutions that could help Emma overcome some of the barriers Parkinson’s had imposed on her.

Remarkable, isn’t it?

This story reminded me of the important role we all play. While many of us design solutions aimed at the majority, we must not forget that people—and their needs—are incredibly diverse and complex.

We have a responsibility to consider those with different abilities and to ensure that the things we create provide meaningful benefits for everyone.

That’s why research, analytics, and the way we build solutions are so crucial. To truly do right by our users—whoever they are—we must put care and effort into understanding and meeting their needs.

C