
FRIDAY, March 31RISD Auditorium |
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10:00 – 12:00 | Pre-conference Tours |
1:15 – 1:45 | Welcome | Ayse Birsel, IDSA, Birsel+Seck LLC, Northeast District VP
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1:45 – 3:00 | SECTION 1 – Unexpected Experience | Moderator – Charlie Cannon, RISD |
1:45 – 1:55 |
Jumping to the End Matt Wade will discuss super fast techniques for discovery and idea validation by imagining future responses to the things we make. Speaker: Matt Wade, Google |
1:55 – 2:05 |
The Emerging Silver Economy Mark Huang, economic director of Providence, RI, will share a case study on how design thinking can apply to economic development. Speaker: Mark Huang, Director of Economic Development, City of Providence |
2:05 – 2:15 |
Design: A State of the Union The world is changing. Global supply chains and telecommunications are forcing businesses to see themselves as planetary enterprises. Digital technologies are creating more intimate connections between our physical and virtual experiences. Small organizations and individuals now have access to the means of production, the funding and the publics that were once the province of large enterprises. In Design: A State of the Union Charlie Cannon, of the Industrial Design Department at RISD, will reflect on how these changes are shifting the ways we think about—and practice—design. Speaker: Charlie Cannon, RISD |
2:15 – 2:25 |
Envisioning a Healthier Future: How Design Rewrites the Playbook Mark Guarraia, director of design at Ximedica, will discuss design’s role as the competitive advantage in healthcare, and explore emerging technologies that signal what we could and should expect in the future. Speaker: Mark Guarraia, Ximedica |
2:25 – 3:00 | Q&A |
3:00 – 3:30 | Coffee Break
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3:30 – 5:00 | Student Merit Awards Presentations
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5:30 – 7:00 |
Opening Reception | RISD Museum, 20 N Main St. |
SATURDAY April 1Workshops- Industrial Design Building, 161 South Main St |
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9:00 – 11:00 |
Workshops (choice of 5) Play + Science Workshop: Sesame and Ximedica Speakers: Theresa Fitzgerald, Sesame Workshop and Mark Guarraia, Ximedica
Agile Design Visualization and Prototyping through the Cloud: Hands-on Workshop by Autodesk Inc. (Please bring laptop, loaded with Fusion360 and a mouse. Click here to download Fusion360; free for students, educators and institutions. This workshop will begin promptly at 9am; come a few minutes earlier to meet your team and grab a good spot!) Experience agile visualization techniques using the breakthrough, end-to-end, collaborative design and development tool, Fusion360. Sunand Bhattacharya, IDSA, of Autodesk shows you how to iterate quickly on design ideas with digital sculpting to explore form and modeling tools and create finishing features. You’ll collaborate with teammates to help conceptualize, visualize, iterate and prototype free flowing design forms using cutting edge processes and emerging digital tools. Learn three, key concepts: agile visualization; design thinking; and radical collaboration. Speaker: Sunand Bhattacharya, IDSA, Autodesk Sensor-Driven Design Workshop Looking beyond the “thingness” of IoT, we ask, what does it mean to be connected to the data-driven aspects of our world? What kinds of questions can be answered through sensor-driven design? Tellart—an experience design firm focused on Interactive products, installations and exhibitions that explore novel ways for engaging with the world—teams up with Herelab—an IoT products and services company helping people know, measure and manage environments through remote sensors—to lead this workshop exploring civic impact through sensor-driven design. Speakers: Nick Scappaticci, Tellart and Patrick Philips, HereLab Socially Responsible Workshop: J&J and Brown University Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative (HCRI) Speaker: Cordy Swope, Johnson & Johnson and Peter Haas, Brown Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative Useless Objects Workshop: Google Creative Lab Speaker: Matt Wade, Google |
11:00 – 11:30 | Break (walk back over to RISD Auditorium)
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11:30 – 12:30 | SECTION 2 – Unexpected Stories | Moderator – Ayse Birsel, IDSA – Birsel + Seck LLC |
11:30 – 11:40 |
Unexpected! Harnessing her own early influences, Theresa Fitzgerald will share her journey and insights into design with purpose to entertain and to educate. Fitzgerald is a creative leader who has built a career designing for some of the world's greatest brands for kids. She has consistently approached projects and campaigns with strategies intended to successfully traverse a variety of platforms for both children and families. Fitzgerald strives to create work that celebrates brand recognition through design that evokes authentic emotional connections and humor. Speaker: Theresa Fitzgerald, Sesame Street |
11:40 – 11:50 |
The Industry of the Unexpected Cordy Swope’s talk might focus on how what we believe to be true about the future—is too often a mediocre, alternative version of the present. But then again, it might not… Our grandparents once were convinced that motorized appliances would offer more leisure time. Our parents once believed sincerely that rock and roll would save the world. Many people recently believed that social media algorithms would deliver the most accurate predictions ever for anything—like elections, for instance. And if it is true that 60 percent of current grade school children will do jobs that have not yet been invented, then maybe we should engage differently with the future than we do today. Or then again, maybe we shouldn’t… According to Swope, the only expectation you should have of this talk is that (if it happens) it will last about 10 minutes. Stay tuned… Speaker: Cordy Swope, Johnson & Johnson |
11:50 – 12:00 | How I Became A Mama Bear Hannah Chung never thought she would start her own company after college—nor did she imagine becoming a "mama bear" to a robotic teddy bear with Type 1 diabetes. In this talk, Chung will share how unexpected moments in the design process led her from one insight to another, ultimately creating a comforting best friend—Jerry the Bear—that reached more than 25 percent of children newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the United States. Speaker: Hannah Chung, Sproutel |
12:00 – 12:10 |
The Power of Blissful Thinking Blissful thinking can play an important role in developing a life of purpose. Kelly Ramirez will share stories of success and failure from her own entrepreneurial journey, as well as those from many of the social entrepreneurs who have inspired her life. Speaker: Kelly Ramirez, Social Enterprise Greenhouse |
12:10 – 12:30 | Q&A
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12:30 – 1:30 | Lunch
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1:30 – 3:30 | Portfolio Review |
3:30 – 4:00 | Coffee Break
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4:00 – 5:00 | SECTION 3 – Unexpected Disciplines | Moderator: Claudia Rebola |
4:00 – 4:10 | What The Food? We came to Parsons hungry for design. Last fall, Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA, and Steph Mantis co-taught a product design class based on the foods they love. The studio began with the designer’s favorite dishes. They replaced arbitrary project briefs with menus of guiding principles derived from the culinary delights. Analysis of a dish’s physical attributes, history and personal meaning became the foundations for each project. They avoided literal transposition and the projects emerged in many physical forms—from furniture, housewares and interiors to culinary arts—or even material explorations. What was once chewed on, is now visualized; essence captured. Taste the designers’ commitment that this process brought to each project. After all, we are what we eat. Speaker: Tucker Viemeister, FIDSA - Viemeister Industries and Steph Mantis, Steph Mantis, Inc. |
4:10 – 4:20 |
Lenses For Inspiration Brown Assistant Professor, Composer Eric Nathan, speaks about searching for the unexpected in his musical compositional process – from channeling inspiration from other disciplines and rethinking the mechanics of instruments, to the creative dialogue between the conscious and unconscious mind in finding a path for a piece of music. Speaker: Eric Nathan, Musician |
4:20 – 4:30 |
Design and the Retooling of College Prep School Moses Brown, a 232-year-old Quaker school in Providence, RI, has turned explicitly to the principles of design to energize its leadership, curriculum and campus. Head of School Matt Glendinning describes the school’s journey, including partnerships with the local design and entrepreneurial community. Speaker: Matt Glendinning PhD, Moses Brown School |
4:30 – 4:40 | Unexpected Futures Founder and CEO Nick Scappaticci shows how Tellart:
Speaker: Nick Scappaticci, Tellart |
4:40 – 5:00 | Q&A |
5:00 – 5:15 | Closing Remarks | Ayse Birsel, IDSA, Birsel+Seck, Northeast District VP |