Designing Services for and by the LGBTQ+ Community

After a postponement earlier this year, the Queer Experience Alliance and SDN UK welcome you to the first of a series of QX (Queer Experience) events, designed with and for allies of the queer community of Service Designers and Customer Experience practitioners.

The Queer Experience Alliance (QXA) in collaboration with the SDN and Second Home, is proud to announce its inaugural event focused predominantly on designing for the transgendered and non-binary lived experiences.

🍭✨The QXA had its soft launch in 2022, when Andreas Pattichis (Design Director, Partner at Hellon UK) coined the term QX at a virtual keynote. The immensely positive response made it evident that a platform for queer practitioners and allies was needed, which led to the concept of the QXA followed by a newly established series of events.

The transgender community has been facing significant backlash over the last few years. Notably, in the US, Donald Trump, upon his return to the White House, has signed orders declaring there to be only two sexes and scrapped all DEI initiatives. Closer to home, in April 2025 the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that “that a woman is [only] defined by biological sex under equalities law.” This ruling allows organisations to ban transgender women from single-sex spaces and implications to their lived experience are vast.

According to YouGov UK (2024) “scepticism towards trans rights has grown” across all age groups in the UK, defined by a consistent trend of the public opinion thinking that individuals should not be able to identify of being a different gender or change their legal gender which would have severe implications to their rights and care they can receive.

Under these dire circumstances, this event wishes to provide a platform for practitioners in our industry to speak about pockets of good practice around designing for the queer and transgendered lived experience. Join us to learn how to navigate these treacherous times and provide hope and inspiration on how we can all influence positive change through our practice as designers.

🌈 The event will also act as a fundraiser. All proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Not a Phase, a ‘trans-led, nationwide charity committed to uplifting and improving the lives of trans+ adults’.

Info: ‘Queer Experience Alliance: What is Queer Experience?’ By Andreas Pattichis, ‘What can we learn from an ecosystem of queer initiatives?’ by Serhat Bilge, and a talk by Becks Butler

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