Can technology make us more human?

Mike is a designer, vice president and executive creative director, working with Google, Nike, Beats By Dre and a bunch of startups. He leads Business Transformation: a capability that invents or reinvents businesses by fusing together consulting, brand design, user interface and technology. Mike believes that design is a transformational force; one that drives business, changes lives, and ultimately makes the world a better place.

Mike began his career at one of Britain’s most respected and awarded design agencies — The Chase Creative Consultants. Later working for Pentagram London, True North, Landor, and Interbrand Australia. Mike is a former chairman of the Australian Graphic Design Association. He has been personally honored with ‘The Bill Bernbach Award’ — DDB’s highest accolade. One that recognises him as the most creative individual within DDB group. Mike has been fortunate to win countless international awards for brand identity, animation, packaging, direct mail, advertising, writing, marketing and design effectiveness.

https://www.rga.com/news/articles/design-matters-with-debbie-millman-mike-rigby

As the head of Digital Strategy & Innovation at Havas Australia, Bohdi is working with a range of forward-thinking organisations including the Australian Defence Force, Microsoft, Moet Hennessy, Bupa and GSK to create the next wave of brand experiences that augment the way we as humans interact with the world around us.

As the intricacies of the digital environment deepen and become vastly more complex, we must bridge the gap between brand strategy, design, data and technology to shift the paradigm from trying to make people want things, to making things people actually want. And in doing so must shake off our constant desire to invent technologies that change the way we behave, to replace these with those that help us behave the way we as humans were designed to behave for thousands of years.

It's through this lens of humanity that ideas are developed at Havas alongside new technologies like virtual reality, cognitive computing and voice control that facilitate more natural and instinctive interactions with brands and the worlds that surrounds them. Outside of Bohdi's core role at Havas, he has also helped to launch the Havas Experience Design offering within Australia and is a member of the newly launched Havas Ventures division of Havas Group, providing strategic consultancy for growth stage startups.

Ash is director of Tobias & Tobias, a design and innovation studio on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. He has spent the past couple of decades studying and practising all aspects of human-centred design — from human factors and user experience to behavioural economics. Ash is passionate about understanding how people perceive, process and recall information, and using that knowledge to predictably affect their behaviour. 

Ash started his career in aviation, where design is the difference between life and death, and decided that human-centred design should be applied more broadly. During his career, he has worked on many interesting projects, from the early research and design of Wotif.com to designing the experience of visiting a GP for Bupa.

Ash has also acted as Australia’s first federal court expert witness in human-computer interaction; The Australian human-centred design representative to ISO; and chair of the Australian human-computer interaction conference, OZCHI.

Jai Mitchell is a product designer and strategist at Josephmark. Jai is involved in every stage of a project — from developing high-level strategies and seamless user experiences to obsessing over micro-interactions and typography. Outside of JM, this self-proclaimed generalising specialist is the founder and organiser of digital product design community ‘Product of BNE’, which along with its spin-off in Sydney is evolving into an international network of product nerds.

Tarra is a true intraprener, advising business leaders how to embed innovation in their business. She has more than a decade of experience advising companies on their transformation journey, playing in the unique intersection between design, technology and strategy.

She has worked on a range of engagements from large scale digital transformation programs, enterprise-wide design thinking capability rollout, and innovation lab set-up. Her capabilities include managing diverse and creative teams, thought leadership, product and service development, project delivery, C-suite advisory and adult learning.

Tarra holds a double bachelor of business administration, in entrepreneurship and international business, and Executive Education Diplomas in Design Thinking and Experimentation from the University of Technology in Sydney. Twice an expat, Tarra has worked on complex projects bridging regional and cultural divides across North America, Europe and Australia.