I took some notes. Really, these arent just pages of lame doodles. Actually, I think I listen better if my pen is touching a piece of paper.
I should summarize…
My conference began with Michael’s talk on trends. There were two things that were particularly interesting to me.
- Reverse Osmosis…We tend to believe trends start on the coast and move to the middle. The argument was made that trends actually start by people who arent trying to be cool. For example, the grunge kids couldnt afford “whats hot” so made up their own thing and began “asking dad for his old flannel shirts.” And Wam, here comes flannel.
- This was not a particular trend, but I was reminded that ultimately, we are designers. We have to be aware of what is around us and do our best to speculate what will be cool and what will be the trend.
Next I went to see Freddy Allen Azures’ talk. I think the most important thing I was reminded from him was that we should not worry about the lines of different types of design. We should strive to create experiences using all disciplines of design.
Bill Zahner’s speech on architecture was interesting. I am not exactly an art critic, but was certainly wowed by the imagery.
I was not exactly sure about what to expect from the BLU DOT speech as I was not very familiar with the company. One thing Michael and I talked about later at the airport was that it was really cool they were willing to take risks and make bold statements with their advertising. I will try to find some cool ads and post later.
Kirk Martin’s humble, team attitude was exciting in that he always gave credit to those he worked with. Pretty refreshing. I would have gotten up there and said, “See that furniture system, I DID THAT.”
The conference ended with two great talks. Both talks were really fluid and there was a nice mix of imagery and breaks throughout the presentation.
I had been familiar with the work done by Johan Liden from his time at fuseproject, but did not understand the name Aruliden. Rinat Aruh was an awesome speaker and it was so cool how the two combined their strengths. The imagery was so compelling and the forms were so beautiful. It was really awesome to see such an interesting take on branding and product design.
Finally, Valerie Casey of IDEO and the Designer’s Accord really made us think. As a student, I have just completed a sustainability course. Although I am sometimes a bit discouraged by sustainability, this was a positive speech and I really felt design can make a difference.
Overall, the conference was AWESOME.
http://www.idsa-midwest.org/schedule.html
That link will help you find names/companies/check out their websites.
Thanks for reading,
David