Making Sense of Enterprise UX
Summary
Is there such a thing as enterprise UX? If so, is it a new challenge? Is it different than consumer-facing UX? And where might enterprise UX be heading? Interesting questions for interesting times. John Maeda has been around the block a bit. Long enough to have almost forgotten that he started off, many years ago, in… enterprise UX. Since then, he’s bounced around many corners of the design world, from higher education to venture-backed startups. In his closing keynote, John will view enterprise UX through the lens of his varied career to help us make sense of where it’s been–and where it might go.
Key Insights
-
•
Enterprise UX requires aligning diverse stakeholder perspectives, especially when leadership might not initially value design.
-
•
Design can sometimes create desire for unneeded products, a concern raised by a startup VP's CFO.
-
•
Listening to what is unsaid in research can unlock more profound innovation, as Amal insightfully noted.
-
•
Leaders like eBay’s John Donahoe show that CEO care for design is key to truly integrating it in organizations.
-
•
Followership holds enormous untapped power, enabling leaders to amplify impact by those who choose to follow.
-
•
Designers are often 'mutants' who straddle engineering and artistic mindsets, a unique hybrid not taught in traditional schools.
-
•
Creative professionals benefit by letting go of the stigma around money and embracing financial literacy and business education.
-
•
The history of computing and design often overlooks women pioneers who shaped today’s technology landscape.
-
•
Change management in creative institutions often involves brutal mistakes but rewards persistence and listening to key constituencies.
-
•
Future design leadership means more designers founding companies, joining boards, and speaking the language of business and tech.
Notable Quotes
"I really don’t like when we design our systems so well, because it makes the consumer think they might want it, and so they take too long to decide they actually didn’t want it."
"It’s the innovators who can listen to what is unsaid where research has the biggest impact."
"Followers believe they don’t have power, but actually hold enormous power to enable leadership."
"Design is a poorly designed word. It’s tough because it’s noun and verb and everything in between."
"Money is not an evil thing. Creative people should accept that money is okay."
"The best leaders lead so quietly they barely exist. When their work is done people say we did it ourselves."
"You’re all mutants, straddling engineering and design schools and feeling like the island of misfit toys."
"If you could tell students: you can do the thing your parents want and do what you want, that’s powerful."
"When Jack Dorsey launched Square, people hated it at RISD. Two years later, it was everywhere on campus."
"Graphic design profession wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for laws requiring public companies to publish annual reports."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Building trust in the user is fundamental, especially in digital products like our doggy daycare app example."
Yunyan Li Anna Le Jen KimUX Best Practices
June 11, 2021
"Developers are protective of their code, so AI coding tools naturally landed with them first."
Allan LowsonRehashing the Double Diamond: Collaborating across functions with AI-assisted prototyping
June 9, 2026
"Silence is complicity. Inaction is support."
Denise Jacobs Nancy Douyon Renee Reid Lisa WelchmanInteractive Keynote: Social Change by Design
January 8, 2024
"The sum is greater than the parts—how qualitative and quantitative research play together."
Renee BouwensLanding Product Impact: Aligning Research as a Foundational Driver for Delivering the World’s Best Products
December 15, 2023
"You have to say no sometimes. You have the power to put guardrails in place and enforce them."
Jemma Ahmed Steve Carrod Chris Geison Dr. Shadi Janansefat Christopher NashDemocratization: Working with it, not against it [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
July 24, 2024
"When you mix trends together, you will see where change is likely to occur."
Sam LadnerHow Research Can Drive Strategic Foresight
March 9, 2022
"Knowing in action is the intuition practiced by competent designers, a core of artistry."
Yoel SumitroActions and Reflections: Bridging the Skills Gap among Researchers
March 9, 2022
"Working with complexity requires maintaining ambiguity as long as possible before converging on action."
Dave HoraResearch in the Face of Complexity: New Sensibility for New Situations
August 27, 2025
"The marketplace is going to decide if it’s close enough in cost-benefit tradeoff."
Daniel J. RosenbergDesigning with and for Artificial Intelligence
August 11, 2022
