This is an archive page for 2015.
The theme for 2015 was Golden Age or Mid-life Crisis: Creating context in a world that is focused on the small screen. Symposiarch Cameron Campbell and a fascinating group of creative leaders led discussions that involved everyone in the room. At Re:Design, we keep things small to encourage conversations and connections, and create a setting where Creative Directors from across the country (and beyond) can talk shop and recharge their creative batteries.
Golden Age or Mid-life Crisis: Creating context in a world that is focused on the small screen
The media states this is the golden age of design. But is it a mid-life crisis? This era of design sees the global population with heads bent, focused on the screens in their hand and oblivious to others or the objects sharing the space around them. It begs to question–where is depth, meaning and significance in a world that is focused on the small screen? Or the power of language in a world communicating via snippets?
How do we as creative directors and strategist view our future and establish an optimistic platform? How do we design to break through the socio-environmental and contextual disengagement that comes from technology today? How do we move beyond the online and social media to understand context? How do we design and create to involve people in their present surroundings and the context of what is designed for them, staying curious ourselves even as those for whom we design are disconnecting? We’ll discuss this and more at Re:Design/Creative Directors 2015.
Below were the session leaders for 2015. Like our Facebook page for updates.
Learn about the 2015 event which took place in New York
Learn about the 2014 event which took place in Palm Springs
Learn about the 2013 event in Brooklyn
To get periodic updates about the future Creative Director events, send us a note at cdlist@redesignconference.com.
Registration
Registration for 2015 is closed
- Now through October 23: $645
Sponsorship
If you are interested in sponsoring, contact sponsor@redesignconference.com.
Cameron Campbell
2015 Symposiarch
Director of Strategy, Digital Kitchen
[ Show bio ]
As Director of Strategy at Digital Kitchen, Cameron works closely with clients and colleagues to create strategies that engage consumers, establish employee culture, build brand awareness and drive business growth. In 17 years of building brand and product strategies, she has worked with such notable clients as the Boeing Company, Herman Miller, Apple, Nike and BMW/MINI, and she prefers to take a collaborative approach to her work, knowing that breakthroughs are born of multiple perspectives. She is adept at creating an integrated whole from many individual parts and is passionate about defining interdisciplinary teams, identifying user needs and envisioning ideas for new behaviors, products and services. Cameron also believes it’s important to be involved in the community whether teaching a strategy class at the local design school, jurying a design competition or applying her experience and skills to nonprofit organizations to help create better places to work, learn and live.
Jeanette Abbink
Founder and Creative Director, Rational Beauty
[ Show bio ]
“Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love,” Louis Kahn once said. Rational Beauty—a Brooklyn-based design firm, blog floating in the ether, and aesthetic philosophy—embraces this ideology. Founded in 2009 by Jeanette Abbink, Rational Beauty works with clients to create editorial and identity projects that are both intelligent and refined. We believe that skilled craftsmanship, dialogue, and hard work are key to making powerful design. Our philosophy is reflected on our blog, where you will find stories that inspire our practice. While beauty may appear chaotic—or even random—it is supported by a scaffolding of rigor, training, and discipline.
In almost three decades as an award-winning Graphic Designer and Creative Director, Jeanette has left her mark on a curio cabinet of diverse projects. These include a multitude of restaurant identities; designs for fashion companies such as Kate Spade, Esprit, Flora and Henri, and Carters; and editorial projects ranging from American Craft and Martha Stewart Living to the NY Times sports magazine Play.
Her work on the redesign of USA Today with Wolff Olins won the the 2013 Fast Company Design Innovation By Design Award. As the founding Creative Director of Dwell , Jeanette established the publication’s look and photographic style, for which she earned an ASME award. Fourteen years later the magazine turned to her once again to provide it with a fresh new look.
Jeanette’s passion for design is boundless and she studies weaving and machine knitting at the Textile Art Center, exploring techniques such at double weave, overshot patterns, and painting on the warp. Jeanette is an adjunct professor at Parsons The New School and has lectured in numerous classes, symposia, and design programs.
Slow Design
Let’s ponder the “slow design” movement. It happened to food. Why not design? How do we get everyone – designers and clients alike – to pause and enjoy the engagement of thinking about quality of work and design? Is it possible to design a foundation of sustainable visual systems? The slow movement is not about doing things at a leisurely pace. It’s about valuing quality over quantity, long-term benefits over short-term gains and well being of the many over the few. How can we make decisions and act more thoughtfully? What do we imagine?
Rinat Aruh
Co-Founder & Principal, Brand Vision, aruliden
[ Show bio ]
Rinat Aruh is co-founder of the progressive product design and brand development agency, aruliden, where her nontraditional approach blends design, marketing and brand strategy to create powerful brand experiences to clients including Staples, Microsoft, Google, LG, Newell Rubbermaid and more.
Prior to co-founding aruliden, Rinat was VP of Marketing at the GAP and Global Strategy Manager for MINI Lifestyle Marketing at BMW Group in Munich, where she spearheaded a number of initiatives during the launch of MINI USA, propelling the brand to the forefront of the design world.
The Value of Producting™
Lawrence Azerrad
LADdesign
[ Show bio ]
Camera Obscura: Using an Old Lens to See Anew
Lawrence Azerrad founded the independent graphic design studio LADdesign in 2001. Creating graphic design and comprehensive visual identity systems for clients such as The Clinton Foundation, The Beach Boys, UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Heal The Bay, and over a Sixteen-year client relationship, spanning seven album packages for award-winning American alternative rock band, Wilco. Prior to opening LADdesign, he worked as an art director at Warner Bros Records, creating packaging and artwork for artists such as Miles Davis, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has taught Graphic Design at Art Center College of Design, The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, He is the author of a personal project, a design history of the supersonic luxury airliner, Concorde.
Camera Obscura: Using an Old Lens to See Anew
In this workshop, we are literally going to be flipping our perspective. To say the very least, we live in technologically remarkable times. In this era of Slack, Skype, Periscope, hyper sharing, our language attenuated to half words and emoji icons, we are in contact with colleagues, family and friends, near, far, and more frequently. So much so, that the perspective and lens through which we see the world is often through the electronic device. Without any judgment as to technology being inherently good or bad, we’ll examine how looking at the world though a different kind of lens can change and refresh our perspective. Workshop participants will be making their own camera obscura. We’ll talk about seeing things differently when we unplug. And through the “technology” of this ancient device, using light, space, and a box, we’ll examine how we can refresh the way we see and our rethink perspective creatively.
Jason Baer
Principal, SYPartners
[ Show bio ]
Today’s Best Leaders are Designers
Jason’s passion for partnering with clients in pursuit of bolder, more ambitious definitions of success led him to SYPartners, where he joined in 2013. As a Principal, he combines his experience in strategy, communications and creative direction to help great leaders and their organizations realize their true potential.
He began his career in a variety of roles at the D. E. Shaw Group, an overachieving global investment and technology development firm. He then spent several years as a Director and two-time winner of the Best Work award at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy, and most recently built and managed a thriving content strategy business at the simplicity and communications firm Siegel+Gale. Over this time Jason has led transformative engagements for some of the world’s leading organizations, including P&G, Hulu, NASA, Citi, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, SAP, Subaru, Comcast, and American Express.
Jason lives in New York with his wife, two undersized children and two oversized cats, and studied English and Creative Writing at Emory University.
Today’s Best Leaders are Designers
Nearly every modern organization is at an inflection point: transform rapidly and radically, or die. And yet, many leaders are relying on an obsolete approach and an outdated set of skills to drive this transformation. This is creating a vacuum of relevant, 21st-century leadership, and it’s also creating a tremendous opportunity for the designers who are willing to step up.
In this session, we’ll explore the ways that creative people can begin to lead into this new age of growth and uncertainty. If you’re a creative who believes you can and should be doing more—for your company or your clients, for your teams, and for society—this discussion was designed with you in mind.
Layne Braunstein
Co-founder, Fake Love
[ Show bio ]
Layne is a co-founder of the pioneering experiential design agency Fake Love. He is an award-winning creative known for his focus on experimental motion design and post-digital storytelling. Layne has led award winning global projects for brands such as Google, Levi’s, Microsoft, Tiffany’s, Virgin, Amex, MAC, Air Force, Marc Jacobs, Bacardi, Lexus, Coke, MTV, Samsung, Heineken, Sonos, Universal, Acura, VICE, Def Jam, Twitter and Nike.
Through Fake Love, he has recently collaborated with many artists including Doug Aitken, Chris Milk, Shen Wei, and Aerosyn-Lex for Station to Station, the Creators Project, the Park Ave. Armory and Scope Arts. He has been featured in zines like Wired, NYT, Comm. Arts, WSJ, Creators Project, Fast Co., Creativity, PSFK and Adweek. Layne has spoken about experiential design at Cannes Lions, Hyper Island, Future of Storytelling, SHOOT Directors Forum, CreateTech at M.I.T., NYU, Columbia and the award-winning Design Matters.
Designing Emotions – The Game
In creating experiences for brands, it’s not as simple as saying brand X wants people to love their product and we should do something to make people love it. Emotions are complex personal things, and they change daily for everyone. How do we get people on the street to stop staring at their phones and to engage with a brand instead? It better be way more interesting than Snapchat. In our session, we devised a simple and fun group game, on approaching this modern design challenge.
Ian Burns
Group Creative Director, Huge
[ Show bio ]
Design’s Awkward Teenage Phase
Ian joins Huge with over a decade of experience, and is responsible for the creative direction and execution of major client initiatives. Prior to working at Huge, Ian was an Associate Creative Director at Fantasy Interactive and Genex where he led creative teams, while working on clients including LG, USA Today, EA Sports, Fidelity, Google, Wells Fargo, ING and Ford. Previously, he was a Creative Director at Blitz, where he led client initiatives for Microsoft, GE, Sony Pictures and Electronic Arts among others.
Design’s Awkward Teenage Phase
In recent years, design has focused on creating functional experiences that work across an expanding world of screens and devices. But has the emphasis shifted from beauty too heavily towards functionality? In this session, we’ll discuss how design has developed over time, where we are now, and whether or not it can deliver on looks and brains simultaneously.
Geoff Cook
Partner, Base Design
[ Show bio ]
Brand Personality in the Technological World
Geoff Cook is a founding partner at Base Design, an international network of strategic branding and design studios with offices in New York, Brussels and Geneva. As founder of the New York office in 1998, he has since headed up business development, and has shaped Base’s distinctive and conceptual style of design, marketing and brand strategy to build one of the most sought-after studios in New York.
Having lived and worked in Europe and Asia, Geoff is proficient in four languages. He brings a global perspective on culture and commerce to an eclectic, international slate of projects that span the worlds of art, education, fashion, beauty and beyond. Recent clients include MoMA, Miami Art Museum, L’Oréal, Le Pain Quotidien, Spin, Gagosian Gallery, Neuehouse, Milk, Puma, Fred Segal Beauty, Infiniti, JFK Terminal 4, Kiki de Montparnasse, The Met and Wellesley College.
Under Geoff’s leadership, Base built their brand of ingeniously simple yet flexible design and branding solutions that transcend and adapt to today’s ever-evolving consumer landscape. Their work has earned them top awards from D&AD, AIGA, LAUS, PRINT, The Art Directors Club and they were listed as a finalist for the Cooper Hewitt Communications Design Agency of the Year.
Geoff is also active in leadership and mentor roles in the tech world, acting as a mentor-in-residence at the renowned tech accelerator program TechStars, and serving on the boards of advisors for start-ups Placemeter, Social Sign-In and Crest & Co. He combines his passion for education and the arts as a member of the Board of Directors for New York’s Children’s Museum of the Arts. He regularly speaks about creative marketing and entrepreneurialism at top business schools and industry conferences and is a contributor to Fast Co. Design and PSFK.
Prior to his tenure at Base, Geoff held senior positions at DKNY and at the fragrance firm Firmenich, establishing a solid foundation in the fashion and beauty sectors. As head of DKNY’s International Menswear Division, Geoff led a team of 10, and grew the business from $980K to $56 million in 6 years. Hailing from Philadelphia, Geoff is an avid art and furniture collector. You can often find him riding his Brompton bike around Brooklyn, where he lives with his wife and five year old son.
Brand Personality in the Technological World
In an increasingly wired world, Base partner Min Lew examines the importance of brand personality across digital platforms, social media, and artificial intelligence.
Siobhan Harris
Creative Director, W.P. Carey Inc. and Partner, Monozorro Designs
[ Show bio ]
Siobhan is an award-winning, versatile Creative Director with global experience. By day, she is Creative Director fo W.P. Carey Inc., a leading global net-lease REIT that provides long-term sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing solutions for companies worldwide; by night, she puts the “Zorro” in the design partnership of Monozorro Designs, known for their collaborations with the New York Village Halloween Parade and immersive movie titans BBQ Films.
When not defending brands and making complicated information beautiful, Siobhan can be found painting, singing with her band, or dancing in parades (not to mention on the pages of a comic book, if you know where to look).
Her website is www.bellwetherstudio.com. You can also see her work at www.monozorro.com
David Heasty
Co-founder, Triboro
[ Show bio ]
Triboro is the Brooklyn based design duo of David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler. Natives of Texas and Germany, David and Stefanie attract a global client base ranging from innovative start-ups to respected international brands. Recent projects include a Nike logo for New York City, branding the fashion labels Everlane and BLK DNM, restaurant identities for The Standard, collaborations with artists like the Beastie Boys and Ai Weiwei, and publications for MoMA and GQ. In addition to client work, they both teach and pursue self-initiated experiments such as their One-Color Subway Map and Triboro Leftovers. Triboro’s partners have received numerous industry awards including being named ADC Young Guns. Their work has been featured in publications and exhibitions around the world.
Back to the Future
Immersed in a world of virtual connectivity, are we neglecting our physical reality? Can we look to our past to inspire our future? Should design offer speed bumps to slow the dizzying pace of modern life?
Josh Horowitz
Co-founder, Fake Love
[ Show bio ]
Josh Horowitz is an award-winning creative, and co-founder of the experiential design agency Fake Love. He excels in bridging gaps between people and brands by creating emotional connections through the use of art and technology. With Fake Love, Josh has led numerous award winning global experiential activations for brands such as Coke, Levis, Virgin, Tiffanys, Lexus, and Nike and collaborated with artists such as Shen Wei, Doug Aiken, Aerosyn Lex, and Chris Milk. Josh draws from his background in interactive projections and experience on the entertainment side working with MTV Networks overseeing promotions, live performances, music videos, and art installations. He found a deeper passion for the latter and began to focus his time on creative installations and environmental design that focused on bringing music together with technology to create unique experiences. As a leader in Experiential, Josh has guest lectured at numerous Universities and Conferences including NYU, Parsons, SVA, Hyper Island, Event Marketing Summit, Future Of Storytelling, and others. He has been featured in Creativity, Wired, Creators Projects, Fast Company, Agency Post, PSFK among others.
Designing Emotions – The Game
In creating experiences for brands, it’s not as simple as saying brand X wants people to love their product and we should do something to make people love it. Emotions are complex personal things, and they change daily for everyone. How do we get people on the street to stop staring at their phones and to engage with a brand instead? It better be way more interesting than Snapchat. In our session, we devised a simple and fun group game, on approaching this modern design challenge.
Min Lew
Creative Director & Partner, Base Design
[ Show bio ]
Brand Personality in the Technological World
As the Creative Director and Partner of Base New York, Min spans the spectrum between design, brand strategy, and management. She has lead the New York studio through work with such clients as MoMA, Infiniti, Neuehouse, Terminal 4 at JFK, Le Pain Quotidian, Milk, NYCxDESIGN, Kiki de Montparnasse and Gagosian Gallery. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in Seoul, Korea, Min received an MFA from Yale University and worked with B.I.G. at Ogilvy & Mather, Pentagram, and Simon & Schuster prior to joining Base. Next to passionately building brands and building Base, she served as a board member of the AIGA/NY and currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts. Min also serves on the steering committee of NYCxDESIGN and is a regular speaker at design conferences.
Brand Personality in the Technological World
In an increasingly wired world, Base partner Min Lew examines the importance of brand personality across digital platforms, social media, and artificial intelligence.
Johan Liden
Co-Founder & Principal, Industrial Design, aruliden
[ Show bio ]
As co-founder of the progressive product design and brand development agency, aruliden, Johan Liden actively interprets design through the lens of both a product and brand cycle to develop products that speak for themselves with a cohesive language at every touch point.
Originally from Sweden, Johan began his career in the US working with brands such as Nike, BMW, Herman Miller, Microsoft, and Toshiba at fuseproject. His design work has been widely recognized by museums, design competitions and media, including work in the permanent collection of the San Francisco MoMA and TIME magazine recognition of the ‘Best Inventions of 2001’ for a hydrogen powered scooter. He has contributed to more than 50 patents across multiple industries, continuously driving product innovation no matter the product category.
The Value of Producting™
Fernando Music
Managing Director, Partners & Spade
[ Show bio ]
That’s so 2015: Why Big Ideas, Content and Authenticity Prevail
Fernando Music is a brand and marketing veteran working in NYC. Past and current clients include: The Highline, Sonos, Google, Etsy, Whole Foods Market and The Next Big Small Brand Contest.
Schooled as an architect, experienced as a designer, Fernando built a career with a strong conviction that starting with a good brief, taking big swings, and stretching the conventional bounds of what can be achieved are almost always rewarded.
Fernando lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two sons.
That’s so 2015: Why Big Ideas, Content and Authenticity Prevail
If history is any indication, the platforms and technologies we’re so glued to today won’t be as important tomorrow. We’re constantly adapting and adopting to the changing times, and so is our definition of good design.
In this discussion we will talk through the evolving role of the designer and why creativity is more important that ever.
Mary Nittolo
President and CCO, the STUDIO
[ Show bio ]
In 1988, Mary founded the STUDIO, after working at a boutique design company and as Director of The Publications/ Marketing Department of The Brooklyn Museum. the STUDIO is a digital production and animation company that unites the talents of directors, designers, artists, animators, programmers and visual effects artisans to interpret projects in a variety of media, creating the images that brands and marketers need to reach their audiences.
She has judged the AICP creative awards for 4 consecutive years. In 2014 and 2015 she judged the ADCOLOR, Ad of the Year awards and presented the Creative Awards at ADCOLOR.
She has lectured on several Diversity Panels and represented the New York Digital Arts Community in an Eyes on New York Segment at FMX Animation Festival, Stuttgart, Germany. She has participated in 2 webinars for the American Advertising Federation as a thought leader in the supplier diversity community.
In 2012, she received National Minority Business Council’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
In 2013, she received the Presidents’ Award from The WPO (Women’s Presidents’ Organization
In 2014, she received Smart CEO BRAVA Award for woman entrepreneurs.
In 2015, she received the first ever Women in Animation Award from ASIFA
The Oracle of Design
This is an extraordinary time to be a creative artist in our business — only artists can decode and bring meaning the prolific data we are amassing. Our tools are concepts, images and words — symbols that reflect a truth without actually being the truth themselves. There is no borrowing from a previous time – we need to make our own symbolic language. And yet, there’s a strong possibility that designers as decoders will not actually be accepted by their times – prophets rarely are. Come discuss how we as designers can interpret our times and nudge society as a whole towards the future.
Evan Ratliff
CEO and Co-founder, Atavist
[ Show bio ]
The Life and Death of Digital Magazines
Evan Ratliff is the co-founder and CEO of Atavist, the media and software company behind the Atavist digital storytelling platform and the award-winning The Atavist Magazine. The Atavist platform is home to some of the web’s most innovative publications, beautiful stories, and cutting-edge design. The Atavist Magazine, which produces one blockbuster longform story each month, in 2015 became the first digital publication to win the National Magazine Award for feature writing, one of eight nominations in its four-year history.
As a writer, Evan is a two-time National Magazine Award finalist, a two-time Livingston Award finalist, and his feature writing appears in The New Yorker, National Geographic, and Wired, where he is a contributing editor. On the side, he is a story editor of Pop-Up Magazine, one of the most successful live literary events in America, and the co-host of the Longform Podcast.
The Life and Death of Digital Magazines
Few forms of media have been as durable over the last century as the magazine, but few have been left as adrift by digital change. How do you design a magazine whose parts are stripped for social media and read on phones? Does the concept of a magazine even exist in the current world of web media? Conversely, are so many web media efforts like magazines that the category has lost its meaning? We’ll look at how the conceptual ideas behind magazines translate, morph, or die in the current landscape.
Neil Sadler
Global Creative Director, Johnson & Johnson
[ Show bio ]
Neil Sadler’s currently is Senior Director, 360 Brand at the Johnson & Johnson Global Strategic Design Office in New York. Since joining in 2007 at J&J, he has been the Global Creative Director across Consumer Healthcare, Nutritional and OTC brands on the business leadership team defining breakthrough brand experiences but also leading the in-store and retail strategy team. The Global Strategic Design Office brings to life many people-centered touch points across digital, packaging or retail for a portfolio of brands such as Acuvue, DePuy, LISTERINE, Splenda and TYLENOL.
Prior to joining J&J, he cofounded the award-winning design studio at LA Metro – one of the nation’s largest transportation agencies to move millions, everyday. Their projects, ranging from wayfinding systems, schedules, maps to vehicle identity graphics and advertising campaigns that promote ridership, have been honored with more than 80 awards. This mix of consistent design standards, commonsense approaches to complex information, and engaging communications strategies has made LA Metro a standout in the public sector for embracing design and the capabilities of in-house teams. This rebrand resulted in a dramatic increase in ridership and an impact on street culture which The New York Times calls “sleek-with curb [and sex] appeal”.
Neil began his career at the multi-disciplinary firm, Imagination in London before moving to San Francisco to develop global systems for identity, print and wayfinding for both institutional and corporate clients at Landor and MetaDesign.
People First
People are commuters, consumers, shoppers or patients (and even designers). We create experiences for people that can fundamentally improve lives. Let’s consider design as the catalyst to make things people want (given the basic nature that people do want things). Through creating this desire – we also have become crucial for business. But only through not just considering aesthetics, but every touchpoint (emotional, physical and functional) that we can change a city or improve an outcome.
By making good design, this equates to good business and so the value of design grows. This drives our ability to create good design.
Let’s consider and discuss. What is the right starting point? What is right problem to solve? Do we see design to use? Is there some design that moves? At the core – it’s for people first.
David Schwarz
Partner, HUSH
[ Show bio ]
David Schwarz is an award-winning creative leader and founding partner of HUSH, a design agency. He’s spent his career designing brand experiences that integrate content, interactivity, architecture and technology. After graduating from Art Center College of Design, he worked for notable creative studios, interactive agencies and design firms in Los Angeles and New York. Since founding HUSH, he has developed numerous projects across sport, luxury, beauty, technology and entertainment categories, most notably: Nike, Sonos, Equinox, Estee Lauder, Google, Ted Baker, Esquire, among others.
Schwarz has been featured in numerous publications like Creativity, AdWeek, Fast Company, Inc. Magazine, FWA, The Hub and IdN. He’s spoken at conferences and panels for AIGA, The One Show, SEGD, SXSW, AdWeek, Cannes Lions, FITC, Seattle Interactive Conference, New, Inc., Event Design Summit, Columbia School of Architecture, Digital Dumbo, as well as judged numerous competitions.
The Small and The Big
Things are getting smaller. Today, designers are often confronted with pixel-level decisions that make or break an experience. Some might say that the pixel is even too big — that good design means moving towards a kind of design “invisibility.”
On the other hand, the “real” world keeps getting bigger. Design still happens at the grandest scale, with amazing architectural and urban complexity, technological feats of digital display, data representation and engineering.
As designers, how do we integrate the Small and the Big? The invisible and the visible? The digital and the physical? How do our processes and methodologies change in doing so? Looking at a few of HUSH’s design projects (and some other inspiration) as a starting point, we’ll challenge our existing design methodologies for everything from products and interfaces, to brand identity and real-life spaces.
Jacob Silverman
Author and Freelance Journalist
[ Show bio ]
Jacob Silverman is the author of Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The New Republic, and many other publications. He is a contributing editor for The Baffler, and he is also on the board of Deep Vellum, a new publisher of international literature. He lives in New York.
The Walls Come Down
With the collapsing distinctions between editorial and advertising, the unbundling of content and traditional distribution channels, the rise of massive platforms filtering information for everyone, how do we distinguish between a newspaper article about an oil spill and the sponsored content paid to appear next to it? How can designers and users add context and meaning when algorithms are the ultimate decision makers?
Christopher Simmons
Principal/Creative Director, MINE™
[ Show bio ]
Christopher Simmons is a designer, writer, educator, design advocate and principal of the noted San Francisco design office, MINE™. He is the author of four books, including the recently released Just Design, which focuses on designing for social good. Christopher’s work has been exhibited at museums ranging from the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), to the Smithsonian Institution. He is an adjunct professor of design at the California College of the Arts (CCA) and a past president of AIGA San Francisco. On completion of his tenure in that role, then Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an official proclamation declaring San Francisco to be a city “where design makes a difference.”
This Is Progress
The things we make (and how we make tem) are a philosophy about ourselves. This session looks at how technology, invention and design shape the way we make art, war, coffee, connections, and sweet, sweet love.
James Trump
Creative Director, Moving Brands
[ Show Bio ]
Should the next US President be a Designer?
James Trump is a multi-disciplinary, award winning Creative Director at Moving Brands. He oversees numerous brand and experience design projects. James leads the San Francisco studio, combining strategy, creativity and crafted design across all media to create cohesive brand stories for companies like Google, Facebook, Samsung, Honda, Netflix, ASICS and DeviantArt.
Prior to this, James was the Creative Director of branding and design at Sony. When he isn’t leading design initiatives for iconic brands, James enjoys helping his wife with her brand Fells / Andes, a textile startup based in San Francisco.
Should the next US President be a Designer?
Design thinking can help companies and organizations innovate, grow and transform. Can we apply this same thinking to move America forward? Join James Trump (no relation to the other Mr. Trump…) to discuss how we might create a new narrative for America that captures what is authentic, different and compelling about the nation, and explore what a rebranded America might look like. James will also question the role designers might play by applying the same creative tools to solve pertinent issues in America today.
Marieke van der Poel
Chief Executive Trend Forecaster and Founder, Proef
[ Show bio ]
Marieke van der Poel is the Chief Executive Trend Forecaster and founder of Proef. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco and a wide client base across industries, Proef makes trends work by helping their clients create holistic strategies for the future. Marieke holds masters in both Humanities (Ancient Philosophy, Leiden/Bologna) and Fashion Editing (Milan). She has over ten years of experience as a trend forecaster, working with some of the world’s largest agencies and is respected within the industry for her ability to translate high level long term emotions to actionable inspirations and directions across R&D-, marketing-, advertising-, brand- and design teams. Marieke does not believe in gurus or ready-made trends, but she does believe in the 40+ people that enable Proef to create long term custom directions with their clients..
Trend Mixer
Stefanie Weigler
Creative Director, Triboro
[ Show bio ]
Triboro is the Brooklyn based design duo of David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler. Natives of Texas and Germany, David and Stefanie attract a global client base ranging from innovative start-ups to respected international brands. Recent projects include a Nike logo for New York City, branding the fashion labels Everlane and BLK DNM, restaurant identities for The Standard, collaborations with artists like the Beastie Boys and Ai Weiwei, and publications for MoMA and GQ. In addition to client work, they both teach and pursue self-initiated experiments such as their One-Color Subway Map and Triboro Leftovers. Triboro’s partners have received numerous industry awards including being named ADC Young Guns. Their work has been featured in publications and exhibitions around the world.
Back to the Future
Immersed in a world of virtual connectivity, are we neglecting our physical reality? Can we look to our past to inspire our future? Should design offer speed bumps to slow the dizzying pace of modern life?
Laetitia Wolff
design consultant/cultural engineer, www.laetitiawolff.com
[ Show bio ]
Laetitia Wolff is a design curator, creative strategist and author, a cultural producer interested in building bridges between design and the city. Her work focuses on creating community-centered projects that generate new discourses and experiences around design’s potential as a tool for change and investigation. She joined the NY chapter of AIGA to direct Design/Relief, a creative placemaking program and now leads other civic initiatives, such as Identity Design Action: East New York. She headed the nonprofit startup desigNYC as its first executive director following her 2010 launch of expoTENtial, an urban intervention platform that investigated design’s strategies to address pressing environmental issues. In 2013 she co-curated “EmpathiCITY, Making our City Together” for the 8th edition of the Saint-Etienne International Design Biennale which activated the UNESCO Creative Cities network. In 2014 she produced for the City of Montreal “Unsitely!,” an international colloquium that explored design’s potential in addressing the negative impact of construction sites. She is an instructor in the SVA’s Impact! Design for Social Change summer program. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Surface and Graphis magazines, and a frequent contributor to design titles, Wolff is the author of the award-winning monograph on French graphic master Massin and of the seminal Real Photo Postcards.
Designing for Communities
What are the challenges and benefits of designing for communities – not just online communities – but real people, on the ground, perhaps in underserved communities unfamiliar with the design process and whose needs are pressing and often unaddressed.
The small print stuff: All speakers and times subject to change. Note RE:DESIGN is focused on small scale discussions and some rooms do fill up, so please be open to checking out other sessions. Cancellation policy: Up to 90 days before event: we will refund total amount paid less $50 processing fee. Up to 60 days before event: 50% refundable or we can transfer your registration to another person or future event (equal to the amount paid). Within 60 days of the event: no refunds, but we can transfer your registration to another person or event (equal to the amount paid) if you are unable to attend.
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