In early 2013, Fresh Tilled Soil moved its headquarters to Riverworks, a converted cotton mill overlooking the Charles River. A cornerstone of the beautiful brick-and-beam office was its expansive event space. After hosting a successful series of intimate evening events, we knew we were ready for something big.
UX Fest 2013
I worked with our Marketing & Events Manager, Alex Stetson, to collaboratively conceive of and organize UX Fest 2013, Fresh Tilled Soil’s first full-day conference. The festival brought together Boston’s technology community with outstanding sessions across three tracks: Design and Behavior, Development and Optimization, and Business and Branding.
In addition to my organizational efforts, I led a session: a one-on-one interview with Matias Corea, the Co-Founder and Chief of Design of Behance. We discussed the company’s origin and growth, its role in the creative community, and the implications of its 2012 acquisition by Adobe.
UX Fest 2013’s success helped build Fresh Tilled Soil’s role at the center of Boston’s UX community, and laid the groundwork for a follow-up event in 2014.
UX Fest 2014
After my deep involvement organizing our inaugural UX Fest, I stepped back a bit for the sequel. Though I once again helped in small ways across the board, my primary contributions to UX Fest 2014 were creative.
I created the marquee illustration that was featured on the event’s website, as well as across our marketing collateral and signage. The work sought to capture the spirit of UX Fest 2014, a celebration of the extraordinary digital products that transcend their markets through exceptional user experience design. In addition, I updated the mural on our big chalkboard wall, incorporating elements from the illustration.
Once again, I participated in one of the day’s sessions. I was joined by my colleagues Steve Hickey and Tim Wright to perform our first-ever live episode of The Dirt, the Fresh Tilled Soil podcast. We discussed the value—and misuse—of “Minimal Viable Product” in product design, and answered questions from our live studio audience. You can listen to that episode on our website, or subscribe to The Dirt on Apple Podcasts.
