Public masterclass on digital design

Dave Duarte, co-developer and co-author of the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy (ODMA)

A discipline of design already entrenched in US and UK markets. It focuses on ensuring a user's optimal experience and ease of use within a website. Successfully implemented, it can be the unseen bridge between a user's intent and the realisation of this intent, which, for business, can translate directly into sales and other key performance objectives. Van der Merwe will unpack UX, which requires an understanding of how the brain naturally responds and adapts to new technologies.

On the nascence of UX in the South African market, van der Merwe says, "Design does not end at graphic design - it this type of thinking that limits us and prevents many ideas and products from seeing real success."

"Designers as a strategic resource"

He has years of experience at eBay's User Experience Design group and from an educational background including a degree in engineering and information science as well as PhD in Internet marketing.

"We need to take a lesson from the developed markets which have been through this cycle and start seeing designers as a strategic resource to be involved from the beginning. UX designers solve problems by uncovering user needs and by helping create sites and products that meet these needs."

The open course is an unusual offering for an industry, which typically holds its cards tightly. Offered as part of the Open ODMA - a branch of the ODMA, which is open to the public - the course, is part of the agency's move toward offering open education as far as possible.

"Open education forces us to be at the top of our game. By sharing what we know, we are continually pushed to keep learning more and to keep exploring the innovative edges of digital," comments Gavin Levinsohn, MD of Ogilvy Cape Town.

For more, go to www.ogilvydma.com/ux-masterclass/