UXCon Vienna 2025: Imane's experience and takeaways

This year, I had the opportunity to attend UXCon Vienna, one of Europe’s most renowned conferences dedicated to UX, service design, and user research. The event brings together designers, researchers, strategists, product managers, and UX professionals from all over the world.

Why I wanted to attend UXCon Vienna

I wanted to take part in the conference for three main reasons :

• To explore current trends in UX and Research, especially regarding AI, ethical design, and advanced methodologies.
• To learn from international companies through concrete case studies and industry insights.

• To connect with other UX professionals and broaden my design network.
   

  

UXCon Vienna offers an incredibly rich format: inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, practical case studies, and plenty of opportunities for informal discussions. It was the perfect moment to update my knowledge and bring back valuable insights for the company.

Highlights of the event

1. Talks on AI and the future of design 

Several speakers explored the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the design discipline. Discussions covered :

• the automation of certain research or prototyping tasks,
• the ethical challenges of generative AI,

• the evolving role of designers as guardians of meaning, coherence, and humanity in digital products.

   

2. Research-focused case studies

Speakers presented how their teams implemented :

• continuous research programs,
• centralized Research Repositories,

• insight-sharing systems that increase strategic impact across the organization.

   

3. Hands-on workshops

Workshops offered opportunities to test new tools and methods :

• advanced ecosystem mapping,
• AI-augmented qualitative analysis techniques,

• co-creation approaches with non-design stakeholders.

   

It was also the opportunity for me to connect with the design community. Spontaneous conversations about product alignment, UX impact, and UX debt were just as enriching as the official program.

Returning with a suitcase full of insights

UX is evolving rapidly as AI reshapes the designer’s role, making strategic user research more essential than ever. Mature companies are increasingly focused on not just gathering insights but sharing and operationalizing them across teams to drive meaningful impact. 

At the same time, the European UX community continues to stand out as a vibrant, collaborative, and highly supportive space where designers actively learn from and elevate one another.

Key lessons for other companies

I'm returning home with many key takeaways to apply to other companies, such as exploring Research Ops tools and processes, experimenting with the responsible use of AI, and strengthening internal practices for sharing insights across teams. 

The workshops introduced me to new methodologies, and I see strong potential in applying these approaches within companies by embedding them into existing research and cross-team collaboration processes.