2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11   

About the Talk: Personal communication devices have not, so far, been compatible with the experience of operating an automobile. In 2007, Ford tasked an IDEO team with creating a human machine interface that could enable users to have access to all of their gadgets while driving—in a safe manner. This talk reveals some of the thinking and work that went into reimagining the digital and physical aspects of a car’s interior experience.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.01.11

About the Talk: Global and local contexts are intertwining to impact the work designers do in some unusual ways. Through this look as some of the diverse thinking informing built environments around the world, we get a good feel for what the new economy is all about and how designers can effectively engage with it.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: If we hold two things in juxtaposition long enough, we may end up believing them to be different. But does that mean they can’t be cohesive? Do their differences divide them? Or make them complementary to each other? This talk aims to figure those questions out.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: “A-Ha!” and “Oh! Now I Get It!” are two different breakthrough moments. This talk is about how research can be used to seek out problems in order to achieve those breakthroughs in the problem-defining part of the problem-solving process.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: You may have deep knowledge of design. Perhaps even a ocean’s worth of wisdom in a particular design discipline. But what do you know about the design industry? This talk features a number of ideas about the industry, what challenges it faces today and where it could be headed.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: Break out your crystal balls. And then break them. The future just can’t be known. Or can it? In this talk, we get a history lesson that could presage the history of the future—the near-term future—and we get some deep insights into how designers can help shape the world we will be designing for.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.01.11

About the Talk: Responsible design tends to be nebulous—in a good way. The designer’s mind and processes can be used in almost any context to contribute to the greater good. In this talk, we learn how IDSA’s St. Louis chapter has been leveraged as a community collaborator in St. Louis to help bring a number of locally-focused initiatives to life.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: Why is emotional design relevant to the goal of creating products that will be responsible to the environment? For one, the idea of planned obsolescence doesn’t have to mean that consumers will be forced to buy new. It can mean so much more than just building in the need to upgrade. Learn what else it could mean via this talk.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: It's really hard to get a great idea to become a market success. Great design, as much as we’d like it to be, just isn’t enough. This talk offers a blueprint for transforming a brilliant concept into a winning product that earns buy-ins from both companies and consumers.

2011 IDSA Midwest District Conference
St. Louis, MO
04.02.11

About the Talk: We hear a lot about how differently designers are wired—particularly how our thinking can help a business see a problem and work toward a solution in a unique way. As we all know, Design is most effective as an action. Or a process. This talk aims to pull that process apart and redefine it so everyone can understand how we do what we do.