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conferencesTuesday Oct 28, 2008
At AIGA's Gain Conference, Tough Crowd for 'Girl-Approved Design Methodology'
The 3iying team claimed that design professionals can sometimes settle into an "I Am God" mentality, according to which design skills alone are enough to create a genuine connection with an audience. Dangelmaier's view, however, is that "there are some things you just can't fake." Without the ability actually to see the world through another person's (in this case, a young woman's) eyes, all the technique and hard work in the world won't help you get through."I could have made them laugh for an hour, but my talk was about business," Dangelmeier told Kessler yesterday. "I think biases got in the way. Maybe they didn't want business from a girl." You haven't heard the last of 3iying. The company's sassy-bordering-on-obnoxious website promises "More Cool Sh*t Coming Soon!" Thursday Oct 09, 2008
Talking Both Kinds of Green at Reuters' Global Environment Summit
Speaking of lousy finances (we know, you thought you'd be safe here from all this sad talk, but we have a job to do), we talk a lot about the what-ifs of the museums' money or analyze the troubles and/or good days architects are having, but heading over to check out the reports from this week's Reuters Global Environment Summit, a conference featuring the heads of companies and all with a financial tint to it, there's some interesting pieces of info to digest. Actually, too many to talk about here, and maybe a little more heavily 'green' focused than what fits into the scope of our little blog, but well worth checking out the whole rundown of speakers thus far (the event concludes today, so there's likely more to come). But related more to us, we found this discussion with Bill Valentine of the mega-firm HOK really interesting, particularly that he sees that big growth is right around the corner for architecture, once everyone starts building with more emphasis on environmental concerns. Something along the lines of that 'green collar' term we've been hearing about (which, incidentally, we've always thought sounded kind of lame), that new buildings will always need to be built, or old ones redesigned, and with more concern for greening things up, such will result in more people working on it, new job requirements being made, and an overall increase in business as the transition becomes the norm. He also seems to hint at the old 'early bird gets the worm' idea, which is why he's been pushing HOK for years to get heavily wrapped up in all things green. We shall see how it all pans out. Back to the Summit real quick, we also recommend that you check out their blog, detailing some of the more recent events and speakers. Wednesday Sep 17, 2008
Frog Design's Honest Account of IDSA 2008
We love Frog Design, but not just because we dig their work. We also like them because they don't mind being honest on their miscellaneous blogs. Such is the case in a report from the field by Jon Kolko about a trip to the recent Industrial Design Society of America conference in Phoenix. While Kolko was speaking there with another Frog member, he also took in a slew of the other lectures and events, and while his report isn't all that negatives (actually, he was pleasantly surprised at how decent it all was, despite his tendency toward being "critical of the content at the conference," and was happy with their decision to move into less self-congratulation and more practical information), he also isn't afraid to call out some of the more absurd elements, such as the oblivious green-ness and things like this talk by a GM designer: Perhaps the most obtuse talk I attended was by Bryan Nesbitt, from General Motors; Nesbitt, who claims responsibility for the design of the PT Cruiser, made an obviously artificial and self-defeating attempt to spin GM as a green and progressive company. His comment that "consumers aren't ready for a green car, so we tried to figure out what percentage of green they would be ready for" was met with a dull and blunt silence. We heard a lot of this same talk from GM, particularly when we got to talk with the company's chairman, Robert Lutz. Though, when Lutz explained it, the position was made a little more clearly, because who really did care about gas prices and environmental concerns, at least in a big way, back in the mid to late-90s? Still, we concede how foolish it all sounds now, in hindsight. Thursday Sep 11, 2008
Full Recap of the Pictoplasma Festival
Our anonymous tips box has been exploding with great stuff this week sent in and we're hoping this keeps up so we never ever have to do any more work again ever (you'll find it over there on the right). One such tip pointed our way to design:related's great coverage of the recent Pictoplasma NYC 2008 Festival, which just concluded this past weekend. It's a treasure trove of all the speakers and conferences held during this massive turnout of designers from all walks, including character artists, animators, and illustrators. The individual posts are short, sweet, loaded with photos, and you'll want to spend some time catching up, saying all the while, "Man, I have to go next year." Oh, and they've also posted a few videos from the event. So, go! Go now! Wednesday Sep 03, 2008
UnBeige 3.0's Alissa Walker's Advice on Saving Design Conferences
Our beloved former co-worker, Alissa Walker, has just put together a great piece over at her occasional stomping grounds, Core 77, offering up some advice: "Conventional Wisdom: Eight Ways to Save Design Conferences." If there's one thing Alissa knows, it's design conferences. In her two years here at UnBeige, she always seemed to be coming or going to one somewhere in the world, and would offer up top secret feedback to we co-editors like "Wow, did that ever suck!" or "Wow, did that ever totally rule!" (little known fact: she also begins every sentence with "wow"). So if you're a planner person for any of the bazillion conferences that go on each month, or you've come from one wondering what exactly was the problem or why it worked so well, trust in this piece to provide great clarity. So go forth and read. And if you happen to see Alissa at that next conference (and you will), make sure you remind her that she still owes us $10 for that sno-cone in Aspen. Wednesday Aug 13, 2008
At Pop!Tech '08: Scarcity, Abundance, and Malcolm Gladwell
Between scarcity and abundance, there comes—you guessed it—a tipping point, and so who better to headline this year's "Scarcity and Abundance"-themed Pop!Tech conference than Malcolm Gladwell? The pop sociologist will be on hand at the twelfth annual ideas summit (October 22-25 in Camden, Maine) to preview and discuss the themes in his forthcoming book The Outliers, which isn't the sequel to Chip Kidd's The Learners but an examination of what separates extraordinary and average people (hint: it involves memorable hair). Other speakers in the just-announced line-up include social media guru Clay Shirky, MIT media lab researcher and huggable robot creator Kelly Dobson, and New York Times fragrance critic Chandler Burr, who earlier this year opined that an eau de Lever House would be "an angular blend of black currant, verbena, and grapefruit." For those who can't make it to Maine, Pop!Tech tells us that Yahoo! will again be live streaming the event in its entirety, free of charge, from October 23-25. Unfortunately for Burr fans, Yahoo! has yet to perfect Smell-o-vision. Monday Aug 11, 2008
Scenes from the Sahre Victore Wilker WorkshopSome quick snapshots and info from out in the field. These are from our pals who ran the recently concluded, six day Sahre Victore Wilker Workshop at the Art Director's Club in New York. Here are photos from the project and a bit of info:
Created by Paul Sahre, James Victore, and Jan Wilker, the workshop exists as an annual gathering, freed of any commercial restraints or institutional ties, where experimentation and creative thought rule. This year, 40 participants from 8 countries gathered at the Art Directors Club gallery to spend 6 days. Each day was packed with design challenges, exhibitions, guest speakers, surprise trips, and one-on-one meetings. From the opening party Sunday night to the goodbye dinner on Saturday, the participants brought the energy and made the week an immersive and inspirational experience for everyone involved. Thursday Jul 10, 2008
Revisiting Cameron Sinclair and CNN's Design for Good
In case you missed CNN's Principle Voices: Design for Good debate last night, you can catch up a little in this post on their site, to see what was talked about and who all participated. We'll be keeping an eye out for clips to post, too. Also, to get you up to speed a little, CNN also interviewed Mr. Design Like You Give a Damn, Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity, who talks quite about about the subject of using design to help people. Here's from the intro to that: CNN caught up with Cameron Sinclair in Biloxi and started by asking him what the difference is between design and design for good? Thursday May 22, 2008
MB Circus: Design Roundup
Oh what a Circus, oh what a show. There were animal crackers, Panton chairs, a lime green-and-orange color scheme that extended to the M&Ms, and, oh yes, much discussion about what's working, what's not, and what's next in a media landscape that changes by the day, and often faster. Besides the event's aesthetics, we focused on the design-relevant presentations, from how it's done at Google and economist.com to a photo magazine with a worldwide staff of thousands and a robot that eats slugs! Read all about it: For more on the Mediabistro Circus, check out the official Circus blog and FishbowlNY. MB Circus: Moving Design out of Gift Shop, Art out of Gallery
Writer Regine Debatty (pictured above, at left) tapped a key on her fluorescent pink laptop computer and the screens of the Mediabistro Circus were filled with the image of a metallic pod creature, its body an inverted teardrop of ribbed aluminum propped upon a trio of spindly legs. Design fans in the crowd immediately recognized the object as the iconic Juicy Salif citrus squeezer designed by Philippe Starck for Alessi and yours, gift-boxed, for approximately $75 ($200 for the limited edition gold version). Debatty asked the audience, "Have you ever tried to use Philippe Starck's juicer?" While Starck has defended his creation, which he says he designed to get people talking rather than effectively eviscerating lemons, he more recently declared that design in general "is absolutely void of usefulness," a claim that was addressed in different ways by the second two speakers in yesterday's Circus session on user experience design: Debatty of we-make-money-not-art.com and Tjeerd Hoek (above, at right), executive creative director of frog design and a veteran of Microsoft. In a talk that Circus host Manoush Zomorodi called "the trippiest presentation of the last few days...that only someone with a charming French accent could pull off," Debatty clicked from a youtube video of the nonsense machines of Nobumichi Tosa to Toshio Iwai's Tenori-On electronic music player for Yamaha to the shiny, happy, and ultra-slick world of Takashi Murakami, who she compared to Marcel Duchamp in reverse, "bringing artistic experience out of the gallery." PreviouslyMB Circus: Designing for Speed, Simplicity Armed with 'Lots of Little Ideas' MB Circus: At Economist.com, Redesign Is 'Rolling' Grab Your UnBeige Discount for 'Dwell on Design' MB Circus: Paul Cloutier Lets Images Do the Talking Mediabistro Circus Welcomes One, All with Animal Crackers, New Media Strategies Taking Care of Business: AIGA/NY's Smart/Models Conference Help Debbie Millman Interview Michael Bierut mediabistro.com Under the Big Top Green Opportunity Knocks in Los Angeles Rick Poynor Points Out the Rights and Wrongs of Design Conferences Seed Conference Moves to Mies' "Cathedral of Modernism" 'Ideas' at AIGA's Y Conference To Interiors, and Beyond!: Parsons to Host Design Symposium Laurel Touby Cracks the Whip at Press Conference Come One, Come All to the Mediabistro Circus Drawn to Scale: Conference To Explore "A World in a Grain of Sand" Greener Gadgets: Mary Lou Jepsen on the XO Laptop, Why Being Green Is Easier Than You Think Greener Gadgets Conference Highlights Scope of Consumption, Creative Solutions Visiting Miami for the International Conference on Design Principles & Practices Tomorrow We're Live From Compostmodern Serious Play and Seeds of Change in SoCal This Spring Continuum Posts Entire 'Green Design' Conference More Highlights and Reflections From Cause/Effect Chris Hacker: Sustainability Expert, Smooth Operator Nicholas Blechman's Nozone Is Still All Too Resonant Marc Alt Introduces the Center for Sustainable Design Scott Stowell Does Some Very Good Design Phil Patton and the Case of the Red Cross Frank Baseman Spreads the Love, Or, What Happens When People Hate On Your Pro Bono Project Bobby Martin's Religious Design Experience Carin Goldberg Tells the Truth Complete Design Talks Transcripts, Now Yours for the Reading (or turning into a staged reenactment) Back from Cuba with Icograda Tales to Tell 'Connecting '07' Recap-Fest-A-Polooza IDSA, Part 2: Seoul Is Your New Design Home Catching Up with the IDSA Winners Through Photographic Evidence We've Got Friends in High Places (like San Francisco and Camden, Maine) Visiting Rhode Island and Living to Tell the Tale: A BIF-3 Recap Need Someplace to Stay at IDSA? Airbed & Breakfast Has You Covered Core77 Gets Ideas, Reports Back In Full The Coudal, Fried and Segura Trio The 2008 Art Center Conference Is Just Playin', Y'all Four or Five Things You Need to Know About the AIGA NEXT Conference Packing Up the Wagon for Dwell on Design QBN Session #1: Live and In Concert Dwell's Serving Up Hot Architects, Home Tours, and a Big Helping of Hockenberry @media Opens Up Their (Very Recent) Audio Archives Sweet Swiss Synergy at Seattle's TypeCon Making Serif S'mores and Singing Kerning Songs Around the Campfire Two Shots of Post-'Interesting 2007' First Word on Post-Aspen: Index and AIGA's Grand Plan Linda Tischler Does Dubai, Zaha Doesn't Aspen, No More: The Int'l. Design Conference Shuts Down Gates and Jobs, Together Again and Madly In Love The Interesting Foundations of Interesting2007 AIGA's NEXT Conference Promises Big Names, Beer and Drama The Return of Hockenberry, One More Time Creative Economy Conference Features No Creatives (Don't Even Get Us Started About the Women Thing) Paola Antonelli's Not-So-Humble Masterpiece Curators, Critics and Historians Pack Lazor's FlatPak Pad C6 Symposium: Mau & Company Promote Sustainability in Our Own Backyard @issue Conference Almost Sold out Decoding AIGA NY's Body/Language Design Institute Coordinates Stellar Design Conference Graphic Design Is the New Porn! Sweet! Allan Chochinov and Peter Lunenfeld--From the Future! Jens Gehlhaar and Somi Kim Dish On Graphic Design Back to School With Peter Turchi Coincidence? Synergy? Luck? Or the Greatest Design Conference In History? GM's Design Cries Echo Throughout All of Detroit Yes, the New Yorker's Having an Innovation Conference, and Yes, the Irony Is Killing Us Khoi Hits FOWA (and the notes to prove it) Greenbuild Expo Moves From Brown LA to Green Chicago Mizrahi and Millman Are Speaking Our Body/Language Dwell'ing It Up in Palm Springs Drenttel, Helfand, Gehlhaar Headline Schools of Thoughts Gain Conference Still an Industry Leader Dudes-Only Creativity Conference Has Girls Gone Wild A Massive Day at the Chicago MCA Leaving Early and Why You Just Have to Sometimes And To Think, One of Them Writes About Simplicity November in Hong Kong, Oh the Sweet Memories And You Thought This Conference Couldn't Get Any More Interactive |
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