Design Assembly Winter 2009

Conversations on June 24th 2009

From need to want and back: Designing for tough times – Raul Sarrot
The rules are changing. Opportunities and risks are being redefined. 
What is the best way out?  “Survival of the fittest” or innovation?
This is an opportunity to analyse and debate current challenges and explore how we – designers – plan to work through it.

On the edge of interactive and intelligent design – Ralph Matthews
Bringing a young designer’s perspective, Ralph will speak on what
he believes is currently cutting edge in the field of interactive and
intelligent design, and will talk about the artists that inspire him,
such as Eness and the creators of ‘we feel fine’, Jonathan Harris and
Sep Kamvar. With the advent of new technology, designers are
increasingly employing novel ways to engage their audience. Interactive
design continues to search for new ways to communicate ideas,
encouraging people to explore and learn. Intelligent design or design
drawn from nature has proven its power to communicate and worth over
millennia. There is currently a move in some quarters of the design
world to utilise this significant resource for use in a contemporary
context. “10-30 million species have designed or created well-adapted
solutions. It’s taking the design principles, the genius of the natural
world and learning something from it.” Janine Benyus, The Biomimicry
Institute.

Websites without compromise and with client expectations – Scott Bell
Having been through the dot.com crash and out the other side,
Scott’s approach to managing projects and client expectations is down
to earth without compromising the delivery of a professional, leading
edge offering. He will be delivering key tips on dealing with client
expectations throughout the website delivery model while still
providing a compelling end result.