Bilgi Karan

How to design meaningful smart home experiences beyond ideal conditions on a shiny screen. Real tales of inclusive design. Tried and true principles for designing for the real needs of real people and the planet from the world of smart homes from IKEA.

Main takeaway:
Every pixel we design has a physical consequence in real life – sometimes personal, societal or environmental. Take a long view. We all have to look beyond the screens, beyond ideal conditions and typical personas when designing experiences. The meaning of “It sucks before it rocks”. 

Bilgi is the UX Manager for IKEA Home smart, responsible for physical and digital experiences. He loves crafting meaningful products that serve people and planet. He is cautiously optimistic that technology will blend into people’s lives seamlessly.

The last 4 years, he has worked at IKEA and started the UX Team at IKEA Home smart. He is still promoting for the value of UX within IKEA.

He was born in Turkey and studied at Umeå Institute of Design. He values respect for the end users and planet earth above all else. He likes making music, animation and reading extensively.

He previously worked with companies like Sony, Spotify, Toyota, Jabra, Pandora, Dell and Boeing in transformative projects that aligned culture and people around a common goal.