Alasdair Stuart-Bell on Designing for the World’s Most Critical UX Users

About the Talk

Designing for UX professionals, the most opinionated and detail-oriented audience you’ll ever meet comes with its own unique set of challenges. But it also offers some of the most valuable lessons.

In this session, Alasdair will explore the “messy middle” of early-stage product development:

• Moving from dozens of interviews to distilled insights

• Wrestling with scope creep while keeping projects on track

• Clustering complex themes into actionable focus areas

He’ll also share how real-world business realities, feasibility constraints, and shifting policy contexts reshaped what was possible and what wasn’t.

Attendees will leave with practical strategies for:

• Making sense of large volumes of qualitative data

• Balancing idealism with pragmatism

• Finding clarity in overwhelming problem spaces

While the talk is framed around designing for UX professionals, these lessons apply to any project where the audience is highly engaged, deeply knowledgeable, and unafraid to critique.

About Alasdair

Alasdair Stuart-Bell is the Co-founder, Partner & HCI Lead at Jumping Elephants, where he helps organizations create exceptional user experiences that drive real business results. Over the course of more than 300 projects, he has developed a reputation for bridging the gap between user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility.

Beyond his work, Alasdair is a proud father of two, a volunteer, and an avid cook with a fondness for bow ties.

You can follow him on LinkedIn for more insights on UX research and design.

We’ll see you at CanUX

We’re proud to see Alasdair take the stage at Canada’s premier UX conference and look forward to connecting with friends, peers, and fellow practitioners in Ottawa.

If you’ll be at CanUX 2025, don’t miss this chance to hear Alasdair’s perspective on navigating the toughest UX challenges.