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What economics teaches UXers about shaping impactful real-world experiences

Avinash Mair at UX Brighton 2025

About this talk

What happens when economics and UX collide - who truly benefits, and what hidden forces shape the products and services we use every day?

Avinash will delve into this intersection, inviting attendees to reconsider the influence of perception, value, and decision-making in designing for real-world impact.

In this talk, Avinash will challenge attendees to expand their perspective beyond traditional UX strategy, exploring how the wider economic system shapes our design choices and responsibilities.

Join this session to discover a fresh perspective on how UX and economics are actually two sides of the same coin, helping us to shape meaningful and lasting change in an evolving world.

About Avinash

Avinash is Lead UX Designer at the Natural History Museum. He has an unconventional background, studying Actuarial Science (the economics of risk) at university, first working as a business analyst and in business development. Discovering his love for designing meaningful and well-researched products, he moved internally to build a user research team and consulted for fintechs before taking the UX helm at the Natural History Museum.

Along the way, he’s picked up many lessons at the intersection of UX and business, the blind spots of both and the firm belief that whilst technology and methods will change, UX is still about creatively solving problems by understanding the complete system and finding under-leveraged opportunities to make the world a better place, just like economics.

Related reading

Books, research, ideas and people referenced in this talk.

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Concepts

  • Supply and demand05:00The transcript uses supply and demand to explain how choices and prices shape experiences.
  • Price elasticity of demand09:59The transcript introduces price elasticity as a way to understand how demand changes when price changes.
  • Externalities13:02The transcript uses externalities to describe effects that fall on people beyond the immediate exchange.
  • Prospect theory21:02The transcript connects prospect theory with the different ways people respond to gains and losses.

Projects and resources

  • System map16:39The transcript recommends system mapping to make connected actors and relationships visible.