By
Nickelle Sletteland
Blink is uniquely positioned to serve our clients and UX colleagues locally, nationally, and even globally. Many of our clients operate all over the world, but like Blink, they have roots in specific cities. San Diego is home to some of our key clients at HP, Amazon AWS, Google, Marcom, ServiceNow, XIFIN, GreatCall, and NewBlue. We pride ourselves on the value we can bring to any organization at any level.
With five studios across the United States, Blink is proud of the cities in which we are fortunate enough to live and work. As part of the UX workforce in these regions, we prioritize actively participating in our surrounding communities to help them flourish as we grow. Though not quite as large as our Seattle and San Francisco counterparts, San Diego is a blossoming location for innovation, from startups to maturing enterprise companies. The city offers us unique opportunities through its proximity to an international border, a history of innovation, and many university connections. For example, we are excited about San Diego-Tijuana's pursuit of the World Design Capital (WDC) designation from the World Design Organization (WDO).
Working in our beautiful San Diego studio is like walking through art. The space inspires us to create, innovate, and collaborate. Prior to COVID-19, we welcomed opportunities to host and promote our partners, such as SD Design Trek, SDXD, General Assembly, a11ySD, and UX Speakeasy. We love talking, thinking, and brainstorming with like-minded professionals, and we often think about how we can put our collective experiences together for the greater good. Though we cannot currently do that in our studios, we were thrilled to find a way to support virtual events by and for the San Diego UX community.
This year, we are once again partnering with SD Design Trek, which is taking its week of programming online. We are excited to flex our creative muscles and participate virtually. In many ways, the online event creates opportunities to introduce even more of the Blink community. During San Diego Design Trek, you will meet Blinkers from San Diego and beyond, as our colleagues in Austin, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle will be joining the livestreamed events from all over. We look forward to sharing our team’s passions and experiences with the San Diego design community and connecting with other future-thinking tech professionals.
See you this week at San Diego Design Trek!
We will be taking over the SD Design Trek Instagram from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific on Friday, March 12. At noon, join Head of Design Scott Lambridis as he discusses equitably growing and managing design teams. Register via SD Design Trek.
Agenda
Friday, March 12
9 a.m.-Noon
SD Design Trek 2021 + Blink Instagram Takeover
- 9-10 a.m. - Defining Blink: Who is Blink? What is Blink? What sets Blink apart? An inside look at our SD studio and our involvement in the community
- 10-11 a.m. - An opportunity to meet a few of our Blinkers from different departments and gain insight into what their work life is like
- 11 a.m.-noon - Our culture here at Blink — hear from our chief culture officer, Flashback video of our previous Blink events, Job opportunities, announcements, and where to learn more
Noon-1 p.m.
SD Design Trek 2021 + Blink Virtual Session
Speaker: Scott Lambridis
Topic: Scott’s session will focus on equitably growing and managing design teams.
What is the path to the next step in your career? Scott will share a behind-the-scenes look at how we used evidence-driven design to create a better way for Blink designers to grow their skills, understand their strengths, and level up within Blink.
San Diego UX community organizations we love
“SD Design Trek is coming to YOU, March 8-12. Join us virtually as you trek through Instagram and Zooms to get a view into 10 different design-driven companies' teams, products, and culture. The trek is open to students, early-career UX professionals (new grad or transitioning), and senior UX practitioners looking to advance their careers. Virtual sessions include ‘Ask-Me-Anything’ panels, Meet the Team, workshops, and more. Follow us on Instagram @sddesigntrek to catch takeovers from each company and be sure to grab your tickets on Eventbrite for the virtual sessions. You won't want to miss this free event!”
“SDXD (San Diego Experience Design Professionals Network) is here to enrich the San Diego experience design community. Most members are UX research and design practitioners, but we have a broad perspective. We want to bring together anyone who works in, or is simply interested by, the various experience design disciplines and techniques (UX, IxD, usability, prototyping, HCI, service design, industrial design, etc.).”
“Discuss design, get feedback, land jobs, find tools, hire designers, commiserate, celebrate… Introvert- and extrovert-friendly. Conversation, not networking. We are the low-maintenance hum of connection and energy between the big fancy-pants industry events. We’re here for lone rangers who miss humanity and big-teamers who need to connect beyond their clan. C’mon in (as long as you are, in fact, a digital designer in San Diego).”
“Since 2011, General Assembly has transformed tens of thousands of careers through pioneering, experiential education in today’s most in-demand skills.”
“An accessibility meetup! Come hang out and talk accessibility. This meetup is for anyone interested in anything related to accessibility and inclusive design. We usually have lightning talks by accessibility experts and plenty of time to chat with speakers and fellow attendees.”
“UX Speakeasy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and the official San Diego chapter of IxDA, working to elevate the role and impact of design in San Diego and the world. We do that by fostering a sense of camaraderie in the San Diego design community.”
Thank you!