Niall O’Kelly

Niall O’Kelly — Director Experience Design at adidas. Talks and sessions delivered at UXDX.

Niall O’Kelly

Director Experience Design

Niall is part of the global experience design leadership for adidas. Originally from Limerick, Ireland, he has worked for some 19 years across agencies in Dublin, his own design practice in New York, and now in-house in Amsterdam. He is a passionate advocate for the power of consumer- and design-based thinking to lead an organisation, help shape the business, and create the future of (retail) experiences. Niall also mentors designers both within adidas & externally through ADPList & The BiG Idea to help people with both their career development & finding their purpose & joy through design!

Past talks

2 talks · 2 events

2025

UXDX EMEAMay 2025

Impact without the Despair: Navigating Complexity with Intent

Big ambitions create big chaos. In fast-moving teams, complexity is a feature not a bug. This talk shares how to stay effective, earn trust, and influence decisions when the ground keeps shifting.You’ll learn how to design clarity in the mess, deliver consistent value without burning out, and work with — not against — the chaos around you. Whether you’re leading teams, building products, or designing experiences, the real skill isn’t avoiding complexity — it’s navigating it with intent. Key Takeaways - Why chaos happens (and developing resilience within it) - Building credibility and influence beyond your immediate team - Balancing effort on short-term delivery and long-term impact - Protecting your focus and energy, without losing momentum

Niall O’Kelly

2022

UXDX EMEAOct 2022

Beyond Conversion: Creating Delightful Experiences that Align your Brand with Customer Goals

In this session, Niall will discuss how to develop a deep understanding of different audiences goals, needs, behaviours and then designing/building products toward addressing those. Niall will talk through the complexities of getting internal alignment across a large complex organisation for shared goals + opportunity spaces using the discovery framework. Topics to discuss include; - Bringing clarity on your company goals, strategy, and purpose creates the necessary space to focus on your consumer - Consumer expectations & behaviours with brands has evolved; have we? - Understanding how people behave in the physical world to shape the ecommerce experience - Prioritisation: Aligning a complex global organisation around the most relevant opportunities

Niall O’Kelly