Speaking
I speak about the intersection between design and technology, building design teams, growing as a leader, creativity and many more.
One thing I love about the world of technology is that you have to be continually learning new things. More and more, a big part of my career is sharing with others my process designing experiences used by millions of people. My talks range from inspirational (diving into what motivates us to make things) to more practical (filled with real-world examples and tips that people can apply into their own work). My goal is to give people a good time while hopefully teaching them a thing or two.
What people say about my talks
Great talk by @vernalkick about Dark Patterns. They happen. Sometimes unintentional. Often they backfire.
“Dark patterns can happen, even if you have the best intentions.” — @vernalkick
Past Talks
Antifragile Design
As designers, we often seek certainty and control. When designing at scale, this is simply not possible. We must learn to thrive in unpredictability. Antifragile Design is about embracing constraints and using them to our advantage in order to create interfaces that adapt to a wide variety of different users, contexts and situations. It’s about managing complexity, so that the users of our products don’t have to.
View slides on Speaker Deck →
Defense Against The Dark Patterns
What do you do when you realize you’ve accidentally created a Dark Pattern? This talk is my attempt to understand the systemic causes that lead the world’s most well intentioned teams to design interfaces that trick people. In order to do that, we learn to recognize the different types of dark patterns, understand why they were used and explore strategic ways to avoid them.
View slides on Speaker Deck →Past events
Montreal Design Club
A monthly event series highlighting some of the best designers of Montreal.
2019UXDX Conference
The conference that bridges the gap between UX, UI, Dev and Product. I'll be talking about unconventional ideas I've learned on my quest for excellence.
2019Shopify Summit
Shopify's yearly internal conference, livestreamed across the world. This conference sets the tone for the direction of the company.
2019MOBX Mobile UX Summit
MOBX is Europe's premier annual conference for mobile User Experience, modern Interaction Design, usable interfaces and successful Product Design.
2017GIANT Conf
GIANT Conference is a gathering for people who do rad work. Their unique venues and diverse speaker lineups set the tone for GIANT.
2016Great Wide Open
Great Wide Open is a technical conference exploring open tech and the open web. Attendees can gain knowledge about a variety of topics including UI/UX design, front-end development and more.
2016MacTech Conference
MacTech Conference is a 3-day conference all about Apple. I'll be talking about the challenges of designing at scale and how being antifragile can help us deliver better experiences for people.
2015CocoaHeads MTL
CocoaHeads Montréal brings together iOS and Mac developers every month for drinks and talks about anything Apple-related.
2015Shopify UX Summit 2015
Shopify UX Summit is a design conference for shopifiers by shopifiers. I had the chance to talk about a subject that is very near and dear to my heart, Antifragile Design.
2015Behance Portfolio Reviews
As a mentor for the Montreal Behance Portfolio Reviews, I decided to talk about what makes, in my eyes, a good portfolio and the pitfalls to look out for when designing one.
2013