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Transformations in design practice between the Dotcom Crash and the rise of machine intelligence
As technology becomes more complex and opaque, how will we as designers understand its potential, do hands-on work, translate it into forms people can understand and use, and lead meaningful conversations with manufacturers and policymakers about its downstream implications? We are entering a new technology landscape shaped by artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and synthetic biology.
Historically, design has transformed and generated new disciplines during times of fast technological change. Through conversations led by Tellart, this project explores and documents transformations in design between the Dotcom Crash and the rise of machine intelligence. Through reflections on key projects from this period and interviews with a community of today’s top design practitioners, Design Nonfiction explores the future of design practice. It emphasises the timeless need to make the invisible visible and the immaterial tangible, in order to sketch and build with emerging technologies.
Design Nonfiction is funded and produced independently by Tellart. The video media are available for free download and distribution through the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 license. Contact us with ideas for other forms you imagine this content can take!
Interaction20, Milan Italy
In his keynote, Tellart Founder & Chief Design Officer Matt Cottam illustrates how design has evolved with digital technology, and how it will be forced to further adapt in response to a new wave of emerging technology including advanced robotics, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. He shares some highlights from the Design Nonfiction interviews and some of the hopes, concerns and questions that guide us as we imagine the path ahead.
Transformations in design practice between the Dotcom Crash and the rise of machine intelligence Historically, design has transformed and generated new disciplines during times of fast technological change. In the early 2000s the rapid spread of digital technologies challenged designers to respond to a new wave of invisible and intangible materials that promised to revolutionise material culture at every scale. We had to develop new ways of working hands-on with these materials in order to understand their potential. This called for new tools, collaborations and ways of thinking. We now enter a new landscape of possibilities shaped by advanced robotics, machine intelligence and synthetic biology. How will this shift what it means to be human and how we shape our world? At a critical moment for our planet, and as we set our sights beyond Earth to other celestial bodies, the technological landscape is changing much faster than humans can. Is this simply the next technology revolution, or are we now entering uncharted territory for design? In 2016 the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum awarded Tellart the National Design Award for Interaction Design—a discipline that did not yet exist when we founded our studio in 2000. This inspired us to reflect on the recent past and future of our practice. We embarked on a road trip, filming interviews with many top design theorists, practitioners and educators we have had the privilege of working with over these years. This project, which we call Design Nonfiction, explores our recent collective experience and the promise of the coming decades for design. We embarked on this project to chronicle a special moment in design history—to look back, but also ahead. It is dedicated to the new generation of designers who may play a pivotal role in society by giving emerging technologies tangible form and helping people grasp the downstream implications of today’s choices—creating preferable futures for humanity and the planet. In this talk I will share some highlights from these conversations and some of the hopes, concerns and questions that guide us as we imagine the path ahead.
MIT Media Lab
Formerly Assistant Professor and Founder of Playful Systems Group at MIT Media Lab, Founding Chief Science and Technology Officer The Shed, Vice Chairman of Cooper Union Board of Trustees, Co-founder and Chairman of Area/Code, Adjunct Professor at Cooper Union, Adjunct Professor at NYU ITP.
What is the designer’s role in society today?
What does it mean to design with biology as a material?
What happens at the intersection between social media and virtual reality?
What changed with the arrival of mobile and locative media?
How we can we better understand and engage with artificial intelligence?
What is the premise of augmented reality, and can it deliver meaningful experiences?
Compilation Part 1 of 4
Historically, design practice has transformed and generated new disciplines during times of fast technological change. In the early 2000s, the rapid spread of digital technologies drove designers to explore how to adapt 20th-century foundational design methods and tools to a new wave of invisible and intangible materials that promised to revolutionise material culture at every scale.
Compilation Part 1 of 4
Carnegie Mellon University
Senior Associate Dean for Research, College of Fine Arts, Associate Professor in Ethics and Computational Technologies, Associate Professor, School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. Formerly Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Associate Professor at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. Ph.D. from Princeton University in Architecture.
Why were early AI pioneers drawn to collaborating with architects?
What is driving new developments in artificial intelligence?
What fears or creative hopes have computer aids triggered for architects?
How has architecture shaped digital design?
Is there a tension between architecture, information architecture and computational practice?
What is the connection between architecture patterns, software design and physical space?
How does artificial intelligence impact interactivity and ubiquitous computing?
What was the context for the Dotcom Crash?
Compilation Part 2 of 4
The evolution of Web, mobile and social media led to the emergence of new interdisciplinary design fields and communities. Designers sought ways to sketch with hardware and software, infusing interactivity into physical products and spaces. Today’s continuing advances in Physical Computing, Augmented and Virtual Reality promise to further blend the physical and digital while offering new ways for people to experience the world and each other.
Compilation Part 2 of 4
Studio Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Artist, Director of Studio Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Ltd., Design Fellow of Synthetic Aesthetics at University of Edinburgh and Stanford University, Author of Synthetic Aesthetics: Investigating Synthetic Biology’s Designs on Nature. Ph.D. from Royal College of Art in Design Interactions.
What is the power of design?
How do synthetic biologists use speculation to advance their vision?
How does synthetic biology connect with artificial intelligence?
What will design schools look like in 50 years?
Can irony and dystopia be helpful tools in speculative practice?
Are your fictional organisms storytelling devices or concrete proposals for preferable futures?
What unique value can design practitioners bring to collaborations with scientists?
What makes designers different from engineers?
What’s the right visual language for engaging an audience with speculative life forms?
Where is the line between speculative and applied design, when working with biology?
Can critical design make synthetic biology “Better”?
How can design frameworks improve the scientific practice of designing living things?
What is the future of design education?
What is critical design and what is its contribution to the world?
How can architecture and design training prepare us for working with biology?
What roles can designers play in this field and how does biology function as a material?
What is synthetic biology and what does it mean for design?
Compilation Part 3 of 4
We now enter a new technology landscape shaped by advanced robotics, machine intelligence and synthetic biology. As technology becomes even more complex and opaque, how will designers experiment with it hands-on, in order to understand its potential and give it useful and culturally relevant form? Is this simply the next technology revolution, or are we now entering uncharted territory for design?
Compilation Part 3 of 4
Victoria & Albert Museum
Curator of Contemporary Architecture and Urbanism at Victoria & Albert Museum, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, Author of Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture. Ph.D. from RMIT University in Architecture.
How can designers contribute meaningfully to politics, beyond using fiction as critique?
How do we reveal the inner workings of digital products in meaningful and useful ways?
Can patterns and technologies like 3D printing replace the designer?
Do designers have a role to play in the ethics of emerging technologies?
How do digital, or "intelligent", technologies fit into modern architectural practice?
How might architects and designers partner creatively with artificial intelligence?
Should we be optimistic about technology’s potential to solve 21st Century problems?
How can technology be used in the service of building optimism and agency?
What is the most meaningful brief for designers in a world of artificial intelligence?
To what extent might robots and artificial intelligence replace architects?
How does the V&A’s “rapid response collecting” relate to design fiction?
How can designers pull a new wave of “intelligent” materials into their practice?
Is the best user interface an invisible one?
Compilation Part 4 of 4
Design’s traditional role was to create solutions for people using appropriate tools and materials. As our social and environmental challenges grow in urgency and complexity, our tools and materials become increasingly intelligent and autonomous. Today’s designers may play a pivotal role in society by giving emerging technologies tangible form and helping people grasp the downstream implications of today’s choices—creating preferable futures for humanity and the planet.
Compilation Part 4 of 4
Within
Artist, Co-founder and CTO of virtual and augmented reality company Within. Work in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Centre Pompidou. Formerly Director of the Data Arts Team, at the Google Creative Lab, Abramowitz Artist in Residence at MIT.
What are the downstream implications of virtual reality for today’s kids?
Does virtual reality offer a fundamentally new version of “presence”?
Is there a spectrum between data visualization, information design and data arts?
How should designers interface with increasingly complex and autonomous tools?
How do we create a meaningful discourse about the ethics of Big Data?
How is the idea of “interface” evolving and what is its next frontier?
How does virtual reality promise to change interaction and storytelling?
Where does VR borrow from existing media and where is it fundamentally new?
As algorithms advance, how will human authorship evolve?
How is the line shifting between hardware and biology?
Where is virtual reality on the hype curve?
In a world of artificial intelligence, how can data visualization be used for good?
How much agency should we knowingly hand over to machines?
How does data help us be more human?
Google AI
Principal Designer, Google AI, Advisory Board Member at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Formerly Design Director at Google Research & Machine Intelligence, Principal at BERG, Visiting Tutor at Royal College of Art, Co-founder and Lead Designer of Dopplr, Internet Portfolio Executive at BBC, UX director at Nokia.
How can we approach form when designing products with machine intelligence?
Can machine intelligence creatively augment and delight humans?
What does it mean for machines to “dream”?
What is the most promising use of machine learning today?
What do UX designers bring to the design of machine intelligent systems?
Does anyone really understand how machine intelligence works?
What is machine intelligence and what is it good at?
What is the ideal scenario for human-machine collaboration?
Processing
Artist, Co-creator of the Processing programming language for the visual arts, and Professor at University of California, Los Angeles. Work in the collections of the Centre Pompidou, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Formerly Associate Professor at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea.
How will machine intelligence shape culture and creative practice?
What did the early Internet mean for creative practices?
How has Processing provided tools for new generations of designers?
How has coding education for designers evolved, and what works best today?
How has working with software disrupted design practice?
Rhode Island School of Design
President of Rhode Island School of Design. Founder of the Furniture Design department, Co-editor of The Art of Critical Making, and maintains her professional studio practice Rosanne Somerson Furniture. Formerly Professor, Department Head of Furniture Design, Provost at Rhode Island School of Design.
Are these fields merging, or deepening as silos with bridging vocabularies?
How do students develop focus and mastery in a torrent of content and technology?
How does RISD teach idea creation?
How can designers uniquely tackle complex challenges like climate change?
How can technology give designers new lenses for understanding the world?
How are emerging technologies transforming design practice?
Which traditional craft skills should make room for digital media in Foundation studies?
What are the origins of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)?
openFrameworks
Artist, Co-founder of the School for Poetic Computation, Co-creator of the openFrameworks programming language for creative coding. Formerly Assistant Professor of Computational Design at Parsons School of Design, resident at Ars Electronica Futurelab and Eyebeam.
How have the tools evolved around you since you started creating with code?
Is there a natural arc to art and design schools, or can they sustainably grow over time?
What is the future of schools, and what inspired you to start one?
How do you sketch in an abstract medium?
How did your training prepare you for the intersection of design and technology?
How would you characterise different programming languages for designers?
How did you move from printmaking to technology?
How do you experience the triangle between teaching, artistic practice and commercial work?
How do you use historical context to help your students overcome the pressure of being novel?
How did you choose a name for your school?
Bio–hacker
Transdisciplinary artist and educator. Her work is held in public collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the New York Historical Society, among others. Heather is an artist fellow at AI Now, an Artist-in-Residence at the Exploratorium, as well as Science Center, and is an affiliate of Data & Society.
How is the concept of identity shifting and where might this lead us?
What is the best defence against data exploitation?
What are the pros and cons of DNA storage?
Have we already crossed a line in the practice of genetic engineering?
Can there be beauty and hope in a biotechnological future?
How goes fluency with digital technology carry across to biological materials?
How do science, art and digital technology combine into meaningful practice?
What are the political implications of biotechnology research?
Where is the balance between science and art in speculative design?
Is there an ethical responsibility in making art with technology?
Stanford University
Visiting Lecturer at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) and d.school. Formerly Area Chair at Interval Research, Interaction Design and Human Factors at ID2 (now IDEO), Human Factors Researcher at Xerox. Ph.D. from MIT in Mechanical Engineering on man-machine systems.
How did Interaction Design Institute Ivrea originate and was there an explicit reference to the Bauhaus?
How are microcontrollers connected with early interaction design programs?
What fundamental forces were you working with when designing man-machine interfaces for space?
What is your framework for teaching interaction design and is it evolving?
What issues do you see with algorithmic music and automating cultural production?
What role did human intervention play in your early work with vehicle automation?
What was your path into this field of interaction design?
What is Interaction, and how do you design it?
What challenges do designers face when designing automated systems?
How was the term "Interaction Design" first coined?
What is it about tangible, physical interfaces that comforts you?
Are there useful paradigms for framing the future of interaction design?
What are your hopes and fears concerning AI?
Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design
Co-founder and CEO of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design. Formerly Faculty at 180° Academy, Lecturer at Designskolen Kolding, Associate Professor and Researcher at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. Ph.D. from Politecnico di Milano in Industrial Design and Multimedia Communication.
How do you support students in finding a meaningful path in this time of rapid change?
How has design education established itself and evolved?
In the age of automation, what is the role of design in shaping a world that is better for all?
How can we design ethically with increasingly opaque technologies?
How was your pedagogical approach influenced by design traditions from different cultures?
How do you curate design teams for depth and breadth?
What is the key to the marriage of functionality and aesthetics in Italian design?
How are digital technologies shifting the relationship of thinking to making?
What is unique about this moment in history and how should designers prepare for the future?
How do you ensure that design education evolves with the times?
What is the importance of drawing in multidisciplinary design education?
Marshmallow Laser Feast
McNicholas is a Founder and Creative Director at Marshmallow Laser Feast. Ersin is a Partner and Director at Marshmallow Laser Feast. The collective specializes in virtual reality, augmented reality, haptic technology for social good.
How can we develop VR experiences that meaningfully connect people?
Is this new enthusiasm for VR significant or lasting?
How do you see the collaboration between Tellart and Marshmallow Laser Feast?
Which technologies have shaped you and what are you excited about now?
How would you define Machine Learning?
How do you explore the line between virtual and real-world experiences in your practice?
Do new technologies spark an overproduction of tools?
Are you optimistic about the direction of AI?
openFrameworks & Design IO
Watson is an Artist, Co-creator of the openFrameworks programming language for creative coding, Partner and Creative Director at Design I/O, Associate at YesYesNo. Gobeille is an Artist, Partner and Creative Director at Design I/O, and Associate at YesYesNo.
What is the role of the designer today and how do you feel about the pace of new tools being developed?
How do you design for interactive media?
Are you optimistic about young children’s use of digital technology?
How does architecture affect your work?
How do you approach creating interactive media for children?
What were the key technologies that shaped you during your visual arts and design education?
What is machine learning and how do you apply it in your practice?
What are the challenges and opportunities facing AR and VR?
Author
Writer and singer/coauthor of the pop group YACHT. Founding editor of Terraform, VICE's science-fiction vertical. She is the former futures editor of Motherboard, and a contributor to VICE, Rhizome, The Guardian, WIRED, and Aeon. Evans is an advisor to design students at Art Center College of Design and a founding member of the cyberfeminist collective Deep Lab.
Do you think that a different, better Internet could be possible and what would that look like?
Are AI and Synthetic Biology a new development—or a fundamental departure from what came before?
Where has technology had the greatest impact on culture since 2000, and what can this teach us?
Can AI change us for the better?
What is the value of science fiction when working with futures?
What can designers uniquely accomplish in the world?
What role do you see for AI in the future of creativity?
Can you unpack the idea of masculine vs. feminine contributions to computer science?
What were the values and hopes behind the early Internet?
Playdeo
Co-founder of Playdeo. Formerly Co-founder of Ottica, Creative Director at BERG, Visiting Faculty at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Visiting Lecturer at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, and Umeå University. Ph.D. from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO).
Why is it important to make invisible technologies visible, as in your project Immaterials?
How has computation shifted the hands-on practice of design?
How can we visualise invisible systems like AI?
Considering technologies such as 3D printing, do you see design becoming a widespread skill?
How do you design future products and services, what are the tools, methods and challenges?
As a designer, how do you balance utilitarian values with culture and aesthetics?
What can interaction designers learn from game design?
With technology increasingly anticipating our needs, should we still design user interfaces?
Goldsmiths, University of London
Senior Lecturer, Head of the Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London, Co-founder of DWFE. Formerly research affiliate at MIT Media Lab, and Interaction Design at Royal College of Art, Design Researcher at NCR Knowledge Lab.
Do you see a shifting role for design education in creating change in the world?
Why is hand sketching a key tool in the creative process?
How should design education respond to emerging technologies?
How do you bring fun and play into academic design research?
How has design practice changed since the late 80s?
What kind of attitude is necessary for designers today?
How do you frame your design curriculum to foster creativity?
What is the relationship between fiction and design?
How can design fiction be used to generate tangible change?
Superflux
Jain is a Co-founder and Director of Superflux, and Professor of Design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Ardern is a Co-founder and Designer of Superflux. Work exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the National Museum of China, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Does your role as parents impact how you approach futures as a design practice?
What are your ethical and moral considerations when creating future scenarios for the public?
What are the challenges in communicating your design practice to the outside world?
How does interaction design set itself apart from other design practices?
How can critical design lead to positive innovation?
What is the value in designing dystopian future scenarios?
What is the relationship between design and science?
What is ‘futures thinking’ and how is it applied in a creative practice?
Carnegie Mellon University
Artist, Professor of Electronic Art at Carnegie Mellon University, and Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. Formerly Adjunct Faculty at Parsons School of Design, and Interaction Designer and Research Scientist at Interval Research.
Why is supporting open-source initiatives the most impactful way of nurturing the New Media Arts field?
What is the artist’s role at the intersection of emerging technology and culture?
What is at the heart of New Media Arts and how do you nurture new talent?
What is the most unique and radical aspect of interactive media?
How is machine learning changing the conversation in New Media Arts?
How did commercial forces affect New Media artists in their search for tools?
What did New Media Arts have to do with the birth of Internet virality?
How did MIT Media Lab become an epicenter for New Media Arts?
What led to the birth of open-source, creative toolkits such as openFrameworks?
How did you forge your creative path as a New Media Arts pioneer starting in the 80s?
MIT Enchanted Objects
Vice President Vision Technology at Warby Parker, Lecturer and Researcher at MIT Media Lab, Author of Enchanted Objects. Formerly Board Member and Instructor at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Futurist in Residence at IDEO, CEO of Ditto Labs, CEO of Vitality, Founder and CEO of Ambient Devices, Lecturer at Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
How is machine intelligence making us rethink our ‘human uniqueness’?
What is the future of interface design?
If design is not about the object itself, then what is it about?
Why is the social aspect important for new, immersive technologies?
How to design future systems of trust, transparency and user empowerment?
How can data-enabled products help us make better decisions?
What makes us feel secure about our data?
How does thinking of the end-user lead to surprising design decisions?
Why is peripheral vision an important concept in crafting information experiences?
School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University
Futurist and Associate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University School of Design, Director at Situation Lab. Formerly Foresight and Innovation Leader at Arup, Professor in hybrid design-futures approaches at leading design schools around the world. Active actor in the establishment of Experiential Futures. Ph.D. from University of Hawaii at Manoa in Futures Studies.
What are the guiding principles for futures practice?
What is the importance of perceiving time in the context of design?
What are some of the methods to determine forces driving future scenarios?
What are some stereotypes surrounding futures practice?
What is the relationship between ‘futures thinking’ and design fiction?
What challenges and opportunities does futures practice present?
Why should future scenarios be staged as immersive experiences?
What are some methods you use to generate future scenarios?
What is the relationship between futures practice and design?
How can experiential futures projects impact our world today?
Scatter
George is a Co-founder and CEO of Scatter, Co-founder of Depthkit, Adjunct Professor at NYU ITP. Porter is a Co-founder and CPO of Scatter, Co-founder of Depthkit, Adjunct Professor at NYU ITP. Elayat is a Co-founder and CMO of Scatter, Adjunct Professor at NYU ITP.
Do you see emerging technologies leading us to a positive future?
Does VR need to be an isolating experience, or does it introduce new cultural possibilities?
In virtual reality, how do you craft a story to reflect the interconnectedness of real life?
What changes when the viewer is empowered to control the story?
As a medium, what makes photography especially prone to technological innovation?
How can you stake a claim in shaping the future of your chosen medium?
What comes first, medium or the story?
NYU ITP
Igoe is an Arts Professor at NYU ITP, Core Partner at Arduino LLC., Author of Making Things Talk. O'Sullivan is Associate Dean at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and Chair of NYU ITP, Co-author of Physical Computing with Igoe. Formerly Fellow at Interval Research, Eyebeam Artist in Residence, Research Scientist at Intel, Microsoft, Developer of QuickTimeVR at Apple.
What are the principles for working with machine learning?
How do you feel about the current state of digital technologies?
What are the real problems and opportunities in the Internet of Things?
What are some key design principles for physical computing?
How did the evolution of the Internet shape new media?
How do you teach students to be agile thinkers?
At ITP, how do you create a culture of invention?
Experientia
Co-founder and Creative Director of Experientia, and Visiting Professor at Domus Academy. Formerly Visiting Professor at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Visiting Professor at Banff New Media Institute, Senior Associate Professor at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Assistant Professor at Rhode Island School of Design.
Beyond technical innovations, how did the Industrial Revolution transform society?
Why is the Bauhaus considered a cornerstone of modern design history?
What are the foundational skills designers need today?
What can we learn from the practice of Charles & Ray Eames?
How can user-centered design thinking enrich a broader spectrum of design practices?
Why should we embrace new democratic design tools?
How does designing thinking lead to better products?
How will machine learning impact design practice?
How can designers make positive decisions for future generations?
What is the role of the Rhode Island School of Design in the history of design and the arts?
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea & Iuav University of Venice
Crampton Smith, Honorary Professor at University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, was Professor of Computer Related Design at Royal College of Art. Tabor was Director of Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. They taught at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, of which Crampton Smith was Founder-Director, and established Interaction Design masters programmes at Iuav University of Venice and tech accelerator H-Farm.
Should we design by intuition or with intent?
Why should ideation be done away from the screen?
What makes architecture and design contributing elements of culture?
Why should we consider objects beyond their primary purpose?
What makes designers well-positioned to reinvent the world around them?
What does it mean to design the electronic world of the future?
Where is the heritage of the Bauhaus in today’s design?
What is the story behind the Ivrea Institute of Interaction Design?
How is agility a fundamental quality of design practice?
PARC
Head Of Design at PARC, a Xerox Company. Co-founder of design consultancy Adaptive Path and ubiquitous computing device studio ThingM. Author of Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner's Guide to User Research, and Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design.
What makes designers uniquely positioned to tackle technological challenges?
Where is the balance between generalists and specialists in design?
How can we grow our understanding of emerging technologies?
Which major landmarks of digital technology led to the data-mediated world of today?
How can technology become an accessible medium?
Are we missing something in the way we pursue new technology?
What were the key visions that shaped physical computing?
What was the next big shift in digital technology, starting in the early 2000s?
What happened in the Dotcom Crash in the early 2000s?
How did Internet technologies evolve through the late 80s and early 90s?
Arup
Associate Director at Arup, Visiting Professor at Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, and Adjunct Professor at RMIT, Mayor of London's Design Advocate. Formerly Executive Director of Future Cities Catapult, CEO of Fabrica, Strategic Design Lead at Sitra, Head of Interactive Technology and Design at BBC.
What differentiates design practice from “design thinking”?
How do you design for complex and dynamic systems such as cities?
How can we design machine automation in a humane way?
What distinguishes design practice from other disciplines?
How can we make technology more understandable and relatable?
Should designers aim for simplicity and intuitiveness, or complex multipurposeness?
What is the importance of writing in the design process?
What makes design ‘democratic’ in terms of professional and public engagement?
What makes architecture a strategic thinking practice?
How can we transform architecture into a more user-focused and agile practice?
Playdeo
Co-founder and CEO at Playdeo, Visiting Faculty at Copenhagen Institute of Interactive Design. Formerly Co-founder of Ottica, Co-founder of BERG, Co-founder of Schulze & Webb, Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Why should context be considered as a design principle?
What can interaction designers learn from digital games?
Which key challenges should designers focus on when working with emerging technologies?
What does design democratisation bring to society?
Why does curiosity matter?
How do you design user motivation into digital games?
What other design narrative exists beyond functionality?
What predictions can we formulate from current digital design trends?
Bauhaus Dessau Foundation
Head of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Academy. Professor and Developer of postgraduate programs in design, Bauhaus and architectural research. Curator of numerous exhibitions on Bauhaus and the cultural history of modernism. Ph.D. from the Institute for European Ethnology at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin in Cultural Anthropology.
What can kindergartens and Design Masters programs teach one another?
How does systems thinking connect to community-based design projects?
How can designers help address the climate crisis?
What role can designers play in society today?
What defines object culture?
How did the Bauhaus explore form in relation to the future?
How did the design field evolve around technological advancements?
Feltron
Designer translating data into objects and experiences. Author of Feltron Annual Reports credited to have inspired the design of Facebook’s Timeline, Co-founder of Daytum, and Reporter App. Named a top 50 designer in America by Fast Company. Work in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Formerly Product Designer at Facebook, Adjunct Professor NYU.
How can designers make social media more inclusive?
What is the intent behind your 'PhotoViz' project?
Are humans programmed well enough to make it through the crisis ahead?
What differentiates information design from data visualization?
What differentiates information design from data visualization?
How can graphic design help to drive positive change?
LiveWork
Partner and Design Lead at PwC Norway, Board Member of No Isolation, Founding partner of Live|Work, the world’s first service design agency. Co-author of Service Design from Insight to Implementation, and Service Design for Business. Formerly Board Member of DOGA, Visiting Professor at Interaction Design Institute Ivrea.
How did industrial design shape digital technology?
Why is crafting relationships central to design practice?
What is unique about Nordic service design and how can it shape preferable futures?
What does design have to do with behavioral economics?
Is service design a novel approach to solving complex problems?
How do the Bauhaus principles apply to service design today?
What are the principles in service design that enable organizations to change?
Why do we strive to design ‘magical’ experiences?
Line
Co-founder of Line-us. Formerly Designer at SAM Labs, Designer at BERG, Partner at Luckybite, Interaction Designer at IDEO, Co-founder of Itch, Researcher at Royal College of Art, Visiting Researcher at Interval Research, and Designer at Apple Advanced Technology Group. Visiting Faculty at Copenhagen Insititute of Interaction Design.
What are the key principles of interaction design?
How is the digital landscape transforming design language?
How can we make software more tangible?
How can today's makers realise their ideas as market-ready products?
What makes design a unique medium for describing the world?
How can we design lasting products in a rapidly shifting digital landscape?
What skills are needed to design digital products?
What was the driving force for interface design in the late 90s?
Why is prototyping so important in interaction design?
XPLANE
Founder of XPLANE, Founder and CEO at The School of the Possible. Author of Selling to the VP of NO, Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers, The Connected Company, and Liminal Thinking.
Why does narrowing the scope help move faster and further?
Who is a designer, and who is not?
What is the power of visual communication?
What are the dangers of labeling terms in design?
What is the future of visual communication?
How is sketching an active form of prototyping?
Can co-creation be done individually?
What value does drawing bring when sharing ideas?
Can drawing be an educational tool?
Tellart
Design Director at Tellart. Zuilhof works closely with clients, partners and Tellart's internal team, to give form to strategies, installations and exhibitions. She frequently teaches workshops at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.
How can interactive exhibitions help government officials in decision making?
How can experience design help further dialogue around the future?
In what ways can designers broaden their vision?
In what ways do immersive experiences play a role in society?
What defines creative collaboration?
What unique perspective can designers adopt when approaching a new subject?
Near Future Laboratory
Co-founder and Partner of Near Future Laboratory. Formerly Co-CEO at BBVA Data & Analytics, Co-creator of Quadrigram a visual programming environment to sketch with data. Ph.D. from Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Computer Science and Digital Communications.
How might we design for less pervasive digital experiences?
What is a good futures practice built around?
What makes design fiction an effective tool to drive a big business change?
What is the interplay of data science and design?
How does current technology limit our imagination for the future?
How can organisations benefit from future thinking?
What is the link between machine learning and behavioural economics?
What are some ethical principles for designing machine learning systems?
How does machine learning change the way we interact with objects?
What is the starting point for navigating the landscape of digital technologies?
Near Future Laboratory
Co-founder of Near Future Laboratory, and Co-founder and CTO of Omata Inc. Formerly artist-in-residence at Eyebeam, Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Interactive Media Division. Ph.D. from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) in the History of Consciousness.
What is the value of design restraint?
What is the purpose of creating fictional futures based on today’s technologies?
What can we learn from extrapolating today's trends?
How do you go about creating relatable future scenarios?
How did the iPhone disrupt design culture?
What were the precursors of today’s digital technologies?
Why have immersive technologies such as VR become a cultural phenomenon?
How did science fiction become a point of reference for VR pioneers?
How did the Internet intersect with your practice in the mid 90s?
Cornell Tech
Assistant Professor in Information Science at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech in New York City. Formerly Executive Director of Interaction Design at the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, Associate Professor at California College of the Arts. Ph.D. from Stanford University in Design, Mechanical Engineering.
How does fidelity play into design prototypes?
How can technology be designed with cultural sensitivity?
What can we learn by observing people interacting with objects?
What is the potential for multi-modal interactions?
How should ethics be considered in the design process?
What can other industries learn from interaction design?
What are objects designed today communicating?
What are the landmark moments in interaction design history?
Why do people expect machines to behave like humans?
Is interaction design closer to science or craft?
Changeist
Founder and Managing Partner of Changeist. Lead Instructor in Strategic Foresight/Futures at Dubai Future Academy, Visiting Professor in Innovation & Futures Thinking at IED Barcelona. Formerly Visiting Lecturer at School of International Futures, Lead instructor at the Futures Institute at Duke University TIP.
Why is it crucial to enable people to define their own futures?
What is the relationship between practicing futures and being a parent?
Can futures practice meaningfully influence how technology evolves?
How do you navigate personal assumptions as a futurist?
What are the key tools and methods used in futures practice?
What does it mean to practice futures?
How are futurists evolving the field today?
How does futures practice compare to design thinking?
What is the role of emerging technology in shaping future scenarios?
Artist
Artist and writer working across technologies and disciplines. His artworks have been commissioned by galleries and institutions and exhibited worldwide. His writing has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Wired, Domus, the Atlantic, the Guardian and the Observer. He lectures regularly at conferences, universities, and other events.
Why do we need to rethink our relationship with machines?
What is the value of embracing uncertainty?
What are the invisible properties of contemporary technologies?
What is the New Aesthetic?
How can we know increasingly less about the world?
How are contemporary designs abstracting curiosity?
What can we learn from machines?
What does it mean to be comfortable with complexity?
What does taking responsibility mean when creating new technologies?
How does ease of use mean loss of agency?
Kimchi and Chips
Co-founders of South Korea-based experimental art studio Kimchi and Chips and winners of the Award of Distinction at Ars Electronica. Woods is a digital media artist and has extensively contributed to the openFrameworks and VVVV creative coding platforms. Son is an artist and Adjunct Professor at Ewha Womans University, Seoul.
How can art leverage the unpredictability of nature?
How can public art trigger new ways of thinking?
What are the potential implications of augmented reality in our everyday life?
How can embracing different perspectives be creatively rewarding?
How can labor-intensive work enable creative progress?
How do materials guide the creative process?
How did the creative sector evolve with technology?
Near Future Laboratory
Founding partner of Near Future Laboratory, Associate Professor at the Geneva School of Arts and Design (HEAD). Formerly curator of LIFT conferences. Ph.D. from the University of Geneva in Social Sciences, as well as a Ph.D. from the Swiss Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Human-Computer Interaction.
How can curiosity be trained?
How can technology enable positive change for the future?
How are fictional artifacts used in Design Fiction practice?
What type of new behaviours are emerging from interacting with mobile devices?
What impact can Design Fiction have on decision-makers?
How can the future be anticipated?
What can we learn from observing people adapt to technology?
What are the best tools to highlight potential implications of technology?
How does a distributed team maintain creative momentum?
What makes a designer unique?
Google Creative Lab
Creative director of Google Creative Lab in Sydney, after founding Google Creative Lab in London. Her projects include Editions at Play, Hangouts in History, Dream40, Chrome Web Lab, Life in a Day, and the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Board Member at Biennale of Sydney. Formerly Royal Academy of Arts, the Wellcome Trust, Random House, and Christian Aid.
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Co-founder of Voy, Associate Professor and Coordinator of Interaction Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. Organiser and Host of digital urban life conference Digitalt Byliv. Ph.D. from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design in Interaction Design (AHO) on networked cities, social media and design.
Google Creative Lab
Creative Director at Google Creative Lab in New York. His projects explore how music and code is interconnected and include mta.me, baroque.me, Les Paul Doodle, Chrome Music Lab.
Tellart
Cottam is the Co-founder & CDO at Tellart, and Faculty at Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design. Scappaticci is the Co-founder and CEO at Tellart, and Adjunct Faculty at Rhode Island School of Design.
Dynamic Diagrams
Graphic Designer and Information Architect. Co-founder of studio Dynamic Diagrams. Professor of publication design at Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, and of typography and information design at Rhode Island School of Design. IBM Fellow. Honorary Doctorate Degree from The Academy of Fine Art in Katowice, Poland. RIP 2018.
Tellart
Strategy Director at Tellart. Formerly Senior Consultant at XPLANE, Senior UX Consultant at Dynamic Diagrams, Visiting Lecturer at Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design, Visiting Lecturer at Umeå Institute of Design (UID), Adjunct Faculty at Rhode Island School of Design. Ph.D. from University College London in Computer Science on virtual environments.
Naspers Limited
Global Lead Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at Naspers Limited. Founder of Numerico, Co-founder of Data Science for Social Good, Board Member and Advisor at Collective Sensing Research, Professor of Data Science and Geoinformatics at University of Salzburg. Formerly Vice President at Zebra Technologies. Ph.D. from Tinbergen Institute in Economics.
Creative Coding Amsterdam & Tellart
Artist, Technologist at Tellart, and Co-founder of Creative Coding Amsterdam, a monthly meetup for creative coding enthusiasts. Verhage frequently visits and volunteers at media art and technology events throughout Europe.
The Foundation for Public Code
Director, The Foundation for Public Code, Faculty at Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design. Formerly Co-founder and President of TEEM, Design Fellow at Samsung. Formerly, Advisor to Foresight Group at Arup, Board Member Grey Area, Director of Experience Design Lab at Frog Design, Co-founder of Flickr.
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