X
Agents vs. Interfaces
When agents can act on our behalf, what are we actually designing for?
AI agents are starting to look, compare, decide, and act for us. That shift raises a bigger question for design: who are we actually designing for?
Two practitioners take opposing sides. A leadership panel follows, bringing the debate into the realities of what teams are building today.
Seattle, WA 98104
**This event may qualify for professional development or L&D reimbursement.
Gary Tondini
Gary has had the privilege of working on the introduction of several leading edge digital products over his long career. Working at Microsoft, T-Mobile and Cisco as well as co-founding a technology startup and consulting to Boston Consulting Group has exposed him to many successes and a few "learning experiences."
Formerly Sr Dir Customer Experiences at Cisco
Vs.
Adjunct Professor
University of Washington Department of
Interaction Design
Jim Dantzler
Jim Dantzler spent 25 years leading design, creative, and product teams, including 20 at Amazon across Alexa, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Design Excellence, with more than a dozen patents to show for it. An Amazon Bar Raiser who has hired and developed hundreds of designers, he now teaches in the University of Washington's Master of Human Computer Interaction and Design program and advises organizations on design leadership in the age of AI.
Expanding the conversation.
After the duel, we bring together a panel to discuss what actually gets built.
Leaders across design, product, and technology will unpack what Agents vs. Interfaces means in practice: how we build, where we place trust, what belongs on the roadmap, and how much control people actually want to hand over.
CONVERSATION
Brandon Knapp
Senior Manager of Technical Product Management
Amazon
Brandon Knapp is a product leader with 15+ years of experience, including 12+ at Amazon across Retail, Operations, and AI. He leads Rufus, Amazon's generative AI shopping assistant, scaling it to hundreds of millions of monthly interactions and more than $1B in annualized revenue.
Linnea Hagen
Consumer Insights Manager
Netflix
Linnea Hagen spent over a decade at Amazon leading UX research across Shopping, Advertising, and Prime Video, most recently as Senior Manager of UX Research for Prime Video. At Netflix, she focuses on Core Member Experience, building research teams that blend qualitative and quantitative methods to shape product vision and customer experience.
Rohan Thakkar is the Founder of FamilyCall, whose AI companion Asha calls aging parents in their own language, checks in on their wellbeing, and shares updates and voice memories with their families. A seasoned product leader, he previously built products in search, messaging AI, and developer platforms at Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, and Expedia.
Founder, FamilyCall
Rohan Thakkar
Lad Decker
Vice President of UX Research
Blink UX
Lad Decker is VP of Research at Blink UX, an artist, researcher, and observer of humans fascinated by the endlessly complex human experience. For 30 years, she has collaborated with teams and individuals to understand people, examine complexity, and design things that empower curiosity and creativity, a lens she also brings to her work as a painter.
Moderated By:
Vice President of Design
Blink UX
Laura Blanchard
Laura is an enthusiastic, passionate and opinionated design leader who has been working in design and technology since the late 80s. She has a bias for action and loves energizing teams around difficult problems and opportunities for improvement. She is devoted to human centered, evidence-based product strategy and brings that point of view to every conversation.
Laura's strengths include facilitating alignment workshops with product and leadership teams, and working with teams to develop a user centered product development strategy and release plan. She also looks at the big picture, where technology and experiences are headed, opening minds to new possibilities. Her client partners include Qualcomm, Microsoft, HP, Pfizer, Exact Sciences, Amazon, and Sonos.
Laura also heads up our Content Strategy and Design Systems practice, which are critical to building experiences powered by artificial intelligence
Start with the argument.
See where it leads.
Creative Duel brings opposing perspectives into the same room and gives each one a real chance to make its case.
The Duel
Two practitioners take opposing sides of the question and make the strongest case they can.
The Vote
The room weighs in before and after. See which arguments hold up and which ones actually change minds.
The Leadership Panel
Leaders across design and technology explore what the debate means for their teams, products, and decisions.
The Conversation
Questions, drinks, introductions, and plenty more to argue about.
Meet Blink UX
Creative Duel Seattle is hosted in partnership with Blink.
Blink UX is a product design consulting firm that partners with ambitious companies to turn insight into action—creating breakthrough products and experiences.
From insights that drive decision confidence to AI, product strategy, and design that enables growth and innovation, Blink has over two decades of experience partnering with global industry leaders like Amazon, JPMorganChase, Qualcomm, Google, and NASA.
Learn more about Blink
Here’s how it unfolds.
Doors Open
Drinks + conversation
Welcome
Creative Duel
Agents vs. Interfaces
Leadership Panel
Audience Questions
+ closing vote
Drinks
+ conversation
Close
Where the conversation happens.
1011 Western Ave, Suite 600 · Seattle 98104
Located on Seattle’s waterfront and just blocks from Pike Place Market,
Blink UX Seattle
sets the stage for an evening of thoughtful debate and conversation.
