Key Highlights from the 2018 AWWWARDS Digital Thinkers Conference in San Francisco

I recently had the chance to attend the 2018 AWWWARDS Conference, which was held at San Francisco’s beautiful Palace of Fine Arts from May 10th to 11th, 2018. The conference focused on trends in design, with input from various keynote speakers who have been essential to the success of award-winning products. Nearly a thousand attendees gathered from all over the world to learn from experts of well-established digital companies like Adobe, Facebook, Invision, Dropbox, Slack, Airbnb among others. I’d like to highlight key lessons learned that I hope to incorporate into the work we do at Velir.

Chemistry Over Culture

Carmen Moll, design manager for Facebook Events and Facebook Local App walked through his background as a musician and his decision to switch and pursue design. He talked extensively on the culture and people in tech, notably emphasizing “chemistry over culture,” or the idea that we should foster collaboration with our peers.

Chemistry enables us to be different, whereas culture encourages us to be similar. He argues that chemistry doesn’t mean a lack of ideals, goals, mission, etc. but more of a blending of new elements with existing systems which can lead to a powerful outcome.

While this idea exposes the importance of chemistry to achieve success, I’d like to argue that we strive to achieve greater chemistry through culture. The idea what we de-prioritize culture for chemistry feels admittedly unnatural to me. When speaking of project success, talent, action, and outcomes tend to be top of mind. However, at Velir, we bring out the magic of culture and chemistry through a highly-collaborative engagement, that focuses on team values, principles, and positive actions. This magic of chemistry and culture happens when they are performed as a unit, paving the way to team success.

Read about how you can foster greater chemistry through cultural values in the full article on Medium.