Women in Design Deep Dive 2024 Schedule
June 26-27
Philadelphia, PA
In-Person & Virtual Event
Thank you to our sponsors
Tuesday, June 25
(all times in Eastern Standard Time)
Happy Hour - Creative Connect at Frankford Hall, Hosted by the IDSA Women in Design Committee
7:00-9:00pm
Frankford Hall: 1210 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Join us for a special gathering the night before the Women in Design Deep Dive! Creative women, non-binary individuals, and allies in the design field are invited to network and discover shared experiences in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Join us at Frankford Hall for German fare and connecting. Note that you can attend this event even if you are not attending the Women in Design Deep Dive. All food and beverage will be pay your own way. This all-ages venue has non-alcoholic options, is ADA accessible, and has indoor and outdoor areas for mingling. Look for Women in Design Committee event signage upon arrival to find the group!
Wednesday, June 26 (Day 1)
(all times in Eastern Standard Time)
Welcome Address & Kickoff
9:50-10:35am
Donté P. Shannon, FASAE, CAE | IDSA
Caterina Rizzoni, IDSA | IDSA Board of Directors
Nancy Perkins, FIDSA | Perkins Design Ltd.
Jeanette Numbers, IDSA | Nova Design
Diona Murray | Diona Nicole Design Studio/Jefferson University
Design for Equity, Shaping Futures
This talk will summarize a major research and writing project that culminated in the book Designing for Sex and Gender Equity, published in the Routledge Design Research for Change series in December 2023. Drawing on dozens of original designer interviews, this project explored how design interventions can and do support sex, gender, and intersectional equity and what barriers stand in the way. The project included case studies on a wide range of topics: personal protective equipment, toy design, design interventions for mental health, design and sexuality, modest sportswear, virtual assistants, design and beauty, and design between and beyond the binaries. This Women in Design Deep Dive talk will bring attention to sex, gender, and intersectional issues related to design artifacts and provide examples of creative design responses to these issues based on the work of contemporary designers practicing in the case study areas.
The Audience Will Learn:
- The role of design artifacts in shaping and perpetuating sex, gender, and intersectional equity and inequities
- How designers can challenge norms and contribute to a more equitable future
- Positive and negative design examples from areas of design, including PPE, toys, mental health apps, athletic apparel, and virtual assistants.
Design for Life
In light of the many contemporary “unknowns” we are facing, organizations and societies need a shift in attitude, and build new capacities and narratives: an opportunity for women to help change the rules of the game, the conditions in which design and designers engage.
As we need to transition from a production economy to a “generative” economy, a “good ancestor” approach is required, shifting from short to long term propositions, bringing new knowledge and know-how to corporations, offering alternative propositions to collectively imagine and build a better world.
With the relentless rise of technological advances, we see an urgency in humanizing tech, in designing for humanity, for care, for circularity, for Nature. Let’s seize the moment to usher in an era of responsible innovation, sustainable and circular, embracing birth, life, death… and regeneration.
Anne Asensio will draw from her experience in automotive & tech, in academia and global design institutions, to stir us into action.
The Audience Will Learn:
- Anne Asensio’s analysis of the many metamorphoses we are going through.
- How it requires a shift in mindset, innovation regimes, capabilities, imaginaries and referentials.
- What we should be looking forward, new alliance to Nature, new values for generative societies.
Lunch
12:00-1:00pm
Enhancing your ID Process with GenAI: A Mini-Workshop
In the rapidly evolving Generative AI landscape, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of where to start, especially when crunched for time. This interactive session will expose participants to a few Generative AI design tools and how we are using them to enhance our industrial design process. We will dive into how, why, and where these AI design tools fit, and things to keep in mind while using them. This mini workshop will provide a look into the tools to start working with Generative AI to design products, while keeping key design considerations in mind.
The participants will gain valuable insights into a variety of Generative AI design tools (such as Midjourney, Vizcom, and Krea, TBD as things change) and learn how to strategically integrate them into their design processes. The session will include a live demonstration of how we work with Generative AI tools with the option to follow along, leaving participants with an understanding of when and where these tools shine and empowering them to make informed decisions about their use.
The Audience Will Learn:
- How we use certain Generative AI tools to enhance our industrial design process, through examples of our (current) AI workflows.
- Where and how these Generative AI tools can add value in the industrial design process.
- Methods for continuous learning in the rapidly-changing Generative AI landscape.
Light at the End of the Tunnel?
Alecia’s journey from novice lighting designer to a potential vision loss due to diabetic retinopathy is a testament to her resilience. Amidst designing lighting, furniture, and jewelry, she used her projects to contribute to diabetes research, intertwining her passion for design with a cause. Having faced a health crisis, she paid-it-forward by actively participating in diabetes clinical trials, sharing her unique perspective as both a participant and a designer in the medical space. Navigating the changes in the décor design industry, Alecia’s dedication to health advocacy led her to host the Healthy By Design Podcast, showcasing stories of industrial designers pursuing “health benefits” through their work. This platform became a conduit for her evolving perspective, inspiring her current focus on enhancing user health through innovative lighting designs in areas such as circadian rhythms. Alecia’s narrative encapsulates a journey of overcoming obstacles and utilizing design as a force for positive change in health and lifestyle.
The Audience Will Learn:
- Insights into the value of empathy in design.
- Taking a perceived weakness and utilizing it as a strength.
- Evolving one’s own design mantras by seeking external experience.
- Finding professional and personal growth through life challenges.
That Hat Can Fit Me, Too!
We are in a time of nearly perpetual change, with all the benefits and challenges that come along with that. This session is all about making transitions work: supporting yourself and others to reduce the friction inherent to role changes, team changes, and workforce changes. Attendees will hear about transition successes and stumbles, lessons learned, and bright hopes for the future from someone who has made hops between: small start-ups and large well-established companies, domestic and international teams, industry and consulting sectors, as well as technical work, project management and people management.
The Audience Will Learn:
- How to smoothly swap “hats” as you move to a new role.
- How to ease transitions for new folks joining your team.
- The importance of putting on a new hat to change your perspective.
Inventive Intersections: A Place for Designers to Find Opportunity
Throughout their lives, individuals experience various seasons, both literally and figuratively. Everyone encounters moments of feeling stuck; it’s an unavoidable aspect of life. Designers face distinct challenges and opportunities in navigating their career paths: they bring creativity and innovative thinking to their work, continuously iterating and creating something new where nothing existed before. This approach, coupled with their ability to visualize, can be challenging to articulate, often conflicting with how the workplace works today and be tough to put into the search bar of a job search website. This workshop is designed to share a set of mindsets and tools to help participants move through the hard parts of figuring out what’s next and create ideas and options for the future. When designers find themselves stuck, they may need to add tools to their toolbox, as existing strategies and approaches may require updating.
The Audience Will Learn:
Participants in this workshop will explore their creative career direction as it aims to empower individuals to leverage their design talents effectively while aligning with their personal values and aspirations. The workshop is structured around two main themes:
- Understanding Current Creative State:
- Participants will assess their current creative process, examining whether it is fulfilling or leading to frustration.
- They will explore both extrinsic and intrinsic sources of frustration, including analysis of their mastery level, potential burnout, and reflection on their sources of inspiration and creative practice.
- Career pattern identification will be emphasized to help participants recognize recurring themes and patterns in their creative journey.
- Determining Future Directions:
- Participants will delve into their values, skills, and personal constraints to clarify their potential options.
- External exploration techniques will be shared: engaging in experiments, forming a personal board of directors for guidance, and developing a portfolio strategy that reflects their unique blend of skills and interests.
- Various strategies will be discussed, including finding novelty in old ideas, embracing mashups of different concepts, and adopting a “slashers” approach where multiple roles or skills are integrated.
Designing Space for Black Girls: Embodied Learning in a Transdisciplinary Community
Black women make up less than 0.5% of the field of industrial design and 3% of the tech industry. The purpose of Black Girls STEAMing through Dance is to leverage transdisciplinary research collaboration to develop methods and frameworks for Black girls to develop STEAM literacies, STEAM identities, and positive self-concept through their participation in dance, coding, and design-based educational experiences. For 7 years, BGSD is testing the hypothesis that early culturally sustaining interdisciplinary STEAM experiences will improve self-efficacy for Black women around STEM and STEAM and lead to greater diversity in the design, tech, and computing workforces.
BGSD employs Critical Dance Pedagogy, Critically Conscience Computing, and participatory Community Action frameworks to encourage Black Girls to embrace technical and hands-on learning. BGSD participants learn through movement and activities that teach e-textiles, block coding, AR/VR, and augmented reality.
The Audience Will Learn:
In this interactive BGSD workshop, presenters will share the conceptual framework behind BGSD as well as the program’s history and structure and model hands-on lessons that engage creativity, making, block-coding, and movement through the creation and programming of an e-textile cuff.
Designing Joy
This interactive presentation will guide the audience through a transition from a workaholic mindset to embracing happiness as the more powerful engine of creativity. Explore practical strategies that have shaped design leadership and teamwork at Fitbit and Google. Discover how to harness the transformative power of joy to enhance resilience, productivity, and creative output, both for yourself and your design team.
The Audience Will Learn:
- Concrete steps to cultivating a positive psychological mindset and leveraging it to boost divergent thinking in a sustainable way.
- Techniques for building and leading teams that thrive on positivity, resilience, and mutual support, enhancing their creative output.
- Strategies for spreading a culture of joy and collaboration within the workplace, improving relationships with partners and driving successful innovative outcomes.
Day 1 Closing Remarks
5:00pm
Jeanette Numbers, IDSA | Nova Design
Diona Murray | Diona Nicole Design Studio/Jefferson University
Delve Studio Tour & Networking
5:00-7:00pm
Thursday, June 27 (Day 2)
(all times in Eastern Standard Time)
Light Breakfast
8:30-9:00am
Day 2 Kick-off
9:00-9:15am
Jeanette Numbers, IDSA | Nova Design
Diona Murray | Diona Nicole Design Studio/Jefferson University
“Feel Good” Design: The Power of Emotions
In this session, we’ll explore the unique strength of the often underspoken demographic in the design community—emotional intelligence. Not every designer is a natural speaker. For those who aren’t, sensitivity to details and emotions becomes a powerful alternative. Discover how emotions, when skillfully embedded in a product through colors and materials, can transform into compelling design outcomes that emotionally resonate with users. And, when artfully united with science like color data, these emotions can articulate a powerful statement that speaks to all stakeholders at the table.
The Audience Will Learn:
- How emotional connections, facilitated by the use of color, material, and finish (CMF), can influence user experience and shape perceptions of products.
- Experience demos illustrating how these tangible design elements directly influence perceptions and emotions towards both products and brands.
- Discover actionable strategies for harnessing the power of emotions into design narratives that speak to the heart.
Negotiate Like a Designer: Identify Your Unique Value & Leverage It
In a world where negotiation is not just a skill but an art form, mastering the art of negotiation requires a mindset akin to that of a designer. Join for an engaging keynote session where we delve into the principles of negotiation through the lens of design thinking. In this dynamic presentation, we will explore how to apply design principles and strategies to negotiation scenarios, unlocking creative solutions and fostering win-win outcomes. Drawing parallels between the iterative process of design and the fluid nature of negotiation, we will uncover practical techniques and innovative approaches to navigate complex negotiations with confidence and agility.
The Audience Will Learn:
- An overview of negotiation principles through a designers lens.
- Discover how to reframe negotiation challenges as design problems, identifying opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and value creation.
- How to build leverage through your unique skills & relate them to business metrics.
Informed Design
Join us for an engaging discussion where we’ll dive into the role of research in informing design across disciplines. This session will offer insights into practical discovery methods, equipping designers with the knowledge and tools to create impactful, user-centric solutions, covering everything from discovery through ideation.
The Audience Will Learn:
- A comprehensive understanding of popular research methodologies used in design.
- Insights into the practical application of key methodologies.
- An informative demonstration of gathering and synthesizing insights using AI technology.
Closing Remarks
11:45am-12:10pm
Donté P. Shannon, FASAE, CAE | IDSA
Caterina Rizzoni, IDSA | IDSA Board of Directors
Jeanette Numbers, IDSA | Nova Design
Diona Murray | Diona Nicole Design Studio/Jefferson University