There are approximately 1.2 billion people learning a new language, and the majority are doing so in pursuit of a better life. As part of our mission to make education free for everyone, we studied millions of people spanning every country on the planet... until we made a shocking research discovery that led us on a journey around the world, throughout the Middle East and eventually inside one of the world's largest refugee camps in Azraq, Jordan - where even more unexpected discoveries awaited. The footage was later turned into an eye-opening documentary called Something Like Home, which has been seen by over 1 million people and promoted by the United Nations.
Relevance
The stakes have never been higher. A timely lesson for designers, engineers and founders amidst Big Tech Controversy, political polarity and an (ongoing, yet often unnoticed) refugee crisis. This powerful short talk provides the audience with three key takeaways: 1. What refugees can teach us about our responsibility as designers 2. How as more of us got connected, we've become more disconnected 3. Why we need to start with People and work our way back to Technology - not the other way around, and how this can radically improve our products and our approach.
Jack Morgan
Jack Morgan is a British Designer with a focus on solving large-scale problems. He was the Lead Designer for Google’s Digital Education arm, where he designed the Google Digital Academy and Google Squared, resulting in the creation of the Google Academy Space in London - a 40,000 sqft building dedicated to helping people improve their tech skills. Recently, he produced an acclaimed documentary about Syrian refugees and designed a revolutionary adaptive AI Testing platform.
His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, CNN, The Post Gazette, Forbes, Campaign Magazine, The Drum, AdWeek, IGN, NPR, PSFK, TechCrunch, MacRumors, Wired, CNET, Adobe and Smashing Magazine. His work has been referenced in university textbooks and profiled by industry leading critics like Brand New and brandchannel, and was nominated for an international design award by Brandemia.