Camp Digital 2016, run by digital UX specialists Sigma, is back for its 5th year. And this time it has launched its very own Rising Stars Fund to give students from universities in the North West the chance to attend for free.
Camp Digital will gather together 500 people from the digital, design, and user experience (UX) community next month for two full days of workshops, seminars, and discussions. So if you’re keen to get into a career in digital, it’s the place to be. And this year the Co-Op Digital team are kindly sponsoring tickets for students at universities in the North West to attend, with 20 places reserved for University of Salford.
What is user experience?
User experience (or UX) is a collective term for the perceptions, emotions, and behaviours that a person experiences when using a website, app, or product interface. There are a number of elements to consider in the design and build of a website or digital product that will contribute to it delivering a good user experience. From the Information Architecture (the structure and navigation), or the user journeys, to how accessible the product is for disabled users, as well as how it looks and feels.
Events such as Camp Digital 2016 are brilliant for showcasing the talents of the digital community and reflecting the importance of putting users at the heart of the design. For anyone that’s interested in pursuing, or widening their knowledge of UX, it’s well worth attending.
What Camp Digital 2016 sets out to achieve
The North West, and Manchester in particular, is at the heart of the creative economy that has been attracting attention not just from Tech City in London, but from across Europe over the past decade. Total employment in the creative economy in the North West has increased by 11.2% in the past 5 years. As a result, it makes it the perfect home for Camp Digital, a well-established and respected event where digital professionals come together to share knowledge and network with like-minded peers.
Next month, speakers will once more be running workshops and talks on varying topics. From communication and design, to lean UX, and the psychology of service design. The talks will spark new ideas and conversations about what’s next for digital.
Confirmed speakers include Barry Briggs, Senior UX architect at the BBC, Clive Grinyer, customer experience director at Barclays, and Dan Donald, front end and interaction lead at McCann Manchester – amongst other brilliant experts that work in a variety of different roles within the digital sector.
Who are Sigma?
Established in 2007, Sigma is a leading digital User Experience (UX) agency, which designs, develops and supports information-rich web sites, intranets, mobile solutions and applications. By putting users at the heart of its solutions, Sigma helps to add genuine business value and bring people together.
Sigma works with companies large and small, in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, nationally and internationally. The team believes strongly in developing long term, mutually beneficial strategic partnerships such as this one with Salford Business School, its customers and with key clients including AstraZeneca, Sport England and Citizens Advice.
In addition, Sigma also runs the North’s leading digital UX event – Camp Digital. Now in its fifth year, Camp Digital attracts world-class speakers who discuss the most important topics and trends in the UX and digital community.
Sigma is part of Sigma IT Consulting – a Swedish IT Services firm with over 2,000 staff throughout the world.
How can students benefit from Camp Digital 2016?
Not only will 20 students hear from some of the most influential people in the thriving digital sector, but they will also get the opportunity to mix with businesses and professionals that can advise on getting your foot onto the career ladder.
The digital industry is crying out for talent, so to attend this event is a fantastic opportunity for students to scout potential internship opportunities, and to gain information about some of the skills needed to kick-start a career in digital.
How can students win tickets to Camp Digital 2016?
We are running a photo competition – don’t worry you don’t need an expensive camera – just a little creativity, inspiration and a good UX idea. We want you to submit a photo that shows “UX in action’.
Submit a digital photo with an interesting caption to the comments section of this blog post by March 1st, the photo has to portray your interpretation of UX in action and will be judged by a small panel of Sigma and Salford Business School staff.
Judging criteria will include: creativity and usability of the idea.
Winners will be notified by Friday 4th March via an update on this blog post. So don’t forget to keep checking this page to see if you have won.
University of Salford students should contact me M.Griffiths@salford.ac.uk to inquire about the competition and tickets.
For more information, please visit http://campdigital.wearesigma.com
Your blogs are very interesting and I would love to hear more from you. Would you be interested in starting a joint project (maybe even similar camp) with Finnish students and lecturers? Please check our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/digitalbusinesslaurea/ and our blog http://digitalbusinessautumn2015laurea.blogspot.fi/
…meanwhile at a public car park in Denton…poor user experience