Barbara Alisber
The Design Conference
End-to-End Experience Audit
Designing a Timeless Home for Creativity, Learning & Belonging
2023 - 2025
Client:
The Design Conference (TDC), Australia
Type:
Product & UX Design · Platform Strategy
Role:
Product & UX Lead (with Multipasss)
Focus:
VOD platform, careers, community, and membership model
Stage:
Strategic design + product architecture (pre-build)
The Design Conference is a cultural anchor for the creative community — a place where designers gather for connection, inspiration, identity, and belonging.
Every year, hundreds of creatives come to Brisbane for something unforgettable:
brave talks, soulful storytelling, raw vulnerability, and a room full of open-hearted people. TDC is truly one of a kind.
At the centre of it is founder Matt Haynes, whose vision has always been simple and powerful: create a space where creativity feels human, honest, and deeply shared.
For twelve months after each event, designers can revisit the full talks online. But once that window closes, the long-form conversations fade from reach, leaving only short 10-minute highlights on YouTube. The deeper stories — the ones people want to return to — become hard to access.
Not because anything is broken.
But because the existing system wasn’t built for the scale, legacy, and emotional weight TDC carries.
Designers kept asking for a way to stay connected — to the talks, the ideas, the people, and the feeling.
We were invited to imagine what TDC could become beyond the stage:
a timeless digital home that preserves its culture, honours its vision, and keeps the magic alive all year long.
The challenge
TDC’s live experience was world-class.
Its digital experience wasn’t carrying that same weight.
The founder’s vision was always bigger than three days in a room.
He wanted:
Continuity
Accessibility
A long-term cultural footprint
A space where learning, creativity, and community could live all year
But the digital ecosystem lacked structure.
There was no unified journey.
And the archive — TDC’s most valuable asset — was scattered and losing relevance.
The Opportunity
Capture and preserve timeless content with the same quality as the IRL experience
Give global audiences all-year access
Turn scattered assets into one connected, navigable journey
Bridge designers and the businesses who need them
Create continuity between the emotion of the stage and the digital world
This required a holistic experience audit
What We Did
We redesigned TDC’s digital ecosystem from the ground up — creating the foundation for a year-round platform that preserves its legacy and supports global growth.
Our work focused on four core areas:
1. End-to-End Experience Audit
We attended the conference, observed the emotional arc of the audience, and analysed where the experience dropped off once the event ended.
2. Mixed-Methods Discovery
We spoke with stakeholders, partners, speakers, and attendees, and reviewed how designers consume talks online to understand what continuity truly means for TDC.
3. Audience & Journey Definition
We identified key audience groups and mapped their journeys — from discovery to tickets, livestream, VOD, and post-event engagement — revealing where TDC could expand beyond the stage.
4. Ecosystem & Platform Design
We designed a modular, scalable system that brings the whole TDC universe together:
Conference Engine
Timeless VOD Library
Careers Platform
Community & Culture Layer
This became the blueprint for a premium, unified TDC experience — one that can evolve into new offerings, markets, and formats.
Key Insights
Through the audit and discovery work, several insights shaped the platform direction:
Continuity Is Currency
One Identity, One Journey
YouTube Is the Funnel, Not the Home
Tiered Access Enables Inclusion
The value of TDC’s talks grows over time — but only if the full archive remains accessible, organised, and easy to revisit.
Designers needed a single, unified experience across tickets, VOD, membership, careers, and community — not separate systems.
Short-form clips can drive discovery, but the long-form archive deserves its own premium, branded platform.
Flexible membership tiers support students, professionals, studios, and global audiences while building predictable year-round revenue.
These insights became the backbone of the new TDC ecosystem — a platform designed for longevity, accessibility, and cultural impact.
Expected Impact
For Designers
- Timeless access to full-length talks
A premium digital experience aligned with the emotional quality of the live event
Clear pathways for learning, connection, and career growth
For the Business
- Predictable, year-round subscription revenue
Stronger partner and sponsor opportunities across VOD, careers, and editorial
A scalable membership system that supports future growth and new offerings
For Culture
- TDC evolves from a once-a-year event into a long-term cultural platform
Creative knowledge is preserved, not fragmented
A global community can form around shared practice and continuous learning