2012MideastDDCtopics


		Session Title: A Bold Story JOSEPH HOFER and IAN MURCHISON A glimpse into the design process at Research In Motion. The design story behind the company's flagship communications device, its ecosystem and the bold thinking that made it possible.
		Session Title: An Outsider's View From Inside MARK WEST and MARIA LUISA ROSSI Seeking to find creative ways in which Detroit residents can live more sustainably by strengthening and multiplying the many grassroots activities that exist within local neighborhoods.
		Session Title: Customer Led Innovation TIM YERDON and JIM COUCH Visteon Corp., a leading global supplier of automotive climate, interior, electronic and lighting solutions, is exploring and developing new ways to innovate and drive design. By focusing on defining consumer's desired experiences and translating these insights into actionable design inputs, Visteon is re-architecting their design and innovation process. Along with their design research partner Lextant, Visteon will share a case study to illustrate this new experiential way of thinking. Success is not based on what you make—it's based on how you make people feel.
		Session Title: Dart—Global Collaborative Creation JEFF GALE The presentation will be an overview of the design process behind the all-new 2013 Dodge Dart that made its world debut at the 2012 North American International Auto Show. The Dodge Dart blends Alfa Romeo DNA and Dodge's passion for performance, resulting in a groundbreaking car with the ultimate blend of power, fuel economy, handling and style.
		Session Title: Design and Innovation History of this Region BRIAN BAKER As the profession of industrial design evolved around manufacturing in the early 20th century, the Great Lakes region provided easy transport with water, rail and then the interstate highway system. This fertile environment gave birth to the greatest design names of the twentieth century, spread from Wisconsin to Cleveland and down to the Ohio River. Frank Lloyd Wright, Lowey, Earl and others worked and were inspired by the natural beauty of our region. There are dozens of little known stories about the designs and occasional serendipity that caused these design giants to create their master works. We will review the legends and myths surrounding some well know designs. We will debunk some of the myths about them as well. Education that’s light-hearted and entertaining in the style of Baker who has gathered this lore over three decades for his history of design courses that he teaches across the Great Lakes’ premiere design colleges.
		Session Title: Design in a Complicated World: It's Time to Put Up or Shut Up THOMAS PAVLAK If you're a seasoned designer, you know the frustrations that can be encountered while getting your vision to market. If you haven't said at least a dozen times during your career "Those F'ing (insert job title here)s are killing my project!" then you probably haven't been stretching the envelope. Or your skill set. Or theirs. Good designers typically overcome the "killing my project" obstacle better than anybody else does by blending their empathy with their design skills. Pretty straightforward when it comes to toasters, but will it be enough as the world of design becomes part of an increasingly complicated ecosystem?
		Session Title: Design Literacy: Helping Topple the World DAVID BISHOP If we are to build the next generation of citizens, we need to help them leapfrog over the basics and build creative, agile, critical, collaborative and resilient thinkers. Society has been concerned recently with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), calling STEM the new three Rs. We can radically innovate education to include design as a way of thinking. We can use human-centered design techniques as powerful organizing principles to bring the science of creativity and collaboration to the classic elements of literacy. Human-centered design fosters social activities like building empathy by asking designers to look carefully at how people actually think and work. Design, the systematic attempt to change the future, can be taught, can be learned, and will improve a person’s ability to solve problems. It is a critical aspect of literacy today.
		Session Title: Global Industrial Design Then and Now: Designing Women at General Motors TECKLA RHOADS and SUSAN SKARSGARD This presentation shares the largely untold, surprising story that highlights the critical role women have played in automotive design at General Motors. Beginning with the trailblazing women in the 50s up through GM's current team of women designers, the presentation highlights the great opportunities existing today for aspiring young women designers in the field of industrial design. Guest designers will include Teckla Rhoads, director, GM Global Industrial Design and Susan Skarsgard, manager, Design Archive and Special Collections, GM Global Industrial Design.
		Session Title: Inspiring Innovation: Beyond the Obvious JEFF DeBOER In this session, Jeff DeBoer will challenge the audience to re-think how they go about innovating new products and experiences. He will speak about inspiring innovation and the need to look beyond the obvious with examples from recently completed work. His approach and attitude toward innovation is to challenge everything that has come before and to look for inspiration in places that create an emotional response. This is critical for the future of design. Innovative products drive consumer desire, sales and a robust bottom line. The danger in a weak economic climate is in hunkering down and maintaining the status quo. Corporate survivors will be the ones with the foresight to shake up the status quo and lead with innovative products.
		Session Title: The Impact of Space on Innovation JEFF BLOCK There are a large number of factors that drive successful innovation within organizations. Communication, collaboration, technology, process and the culture of the organization are all key. What is often ignored is the role that space plays in innovation. With today’s mobile technology, where work happens is changing and will continue to change. This presentation focuses on how to think about space differently and how it can be used as a lever within your organization.