User Experience and Design Thinking Panel

Readysalted were invited to Newcastle University Business School to be a part of their expert panel on User Experience and Design Thinking. The aim of the pilot co-creative workshop was to get together with other UX and digital industry experts and brainstorm ideas for new assessments on their ‘New Product and Service Development’ module for undergraduate marketing students.

The subject matter centred all around digital marketing, and we got to discuss the importance of including UX and user-centred digital design in their university course. The business school have already decided to implement many of the ideas we discussed into their current academic year and in future years to come, and it feels amazing to know our 20+ years of digital marketing experience is going to benefit future generations.

We are UX thought leaders at Readysalted, and truly believe in the importance of user-experience-centred marketing for businesses, generating software that is easy to use, clear and concise, visually appealing, consistent, and helpful for users. It was fantastic to hear the eagerness of the business school to include more UX-centred content and therefore make student assessments more industry-relevant.

On a personal note, industry-relevant assessments and course content are something that we wish we could have had more experience with back in our time at university. We are sure everyone is familiar with the often incessant cycle that can come after leaving university:

“You can’t get a job without experience… but you can’t get experience without a job.”

So these new steps being taken by institutions such as Newcastle Business School to include assessments that are not only relevant but applicable in the ‘real world’ of digital marketing is invaluable, as it ensures students don’t leave their time at university feeling unprepared for their first post-graduate job in the digital design and marketing industry.

To be considered industry experts in our field is one thing, but to have the opportunity to inject our knowledge and expertise into a course that is not only shaping the future of digital marketing but the future of marketing students at a university in the city where Readysalted was born; we could not feel more lucky to have had the opportunity to take part.

We always have and always will consider Newcastle to be a forerunner in terms of the creativity, innovation, and bold business ideas that come out of our city on a daily basis, actively challenging the digital marketing sphere of the likes of Manchester and even London. We are a small team in what is classed as a small city compared to the ‘big dogs’ – but just look at the huge differences we are lucky enough to be making in the digital marketing world.

A huge thank you to Newcastle University Business School for allowing us to be a part of such an important, future-focused workshop. We also wanted to thank the other industry professionals in attendance from the likes of Zesty Marketing, Urban Foresight, Edge Innovation, North East BIC, and Hedgehod Lab, who filled the day with countless interesting ideas and thought-provoking input and left us returning to the Readysalted office with lots to talk about.

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving, so it’s great to see that the way our field is taught in classrooms is evolving too. We truly look forward to seeing how some of the ideas and concepts the workshop proposed will be implemented in future university courses.

The future of digital marketing is now, and we are thrilled to have a front-row seat.