Core77

[hitch]

IDSA Western Regional in Portland just wrapped, and in an attempt to get as wide an array of coverage and opinions as possible, we're looking to get observations and feedback from anyone and everyone who attended.

Standard blog coverage of the presentations, panels and events is ongoing at Core's front page, and IDSA has Flickr page up for open uploading of photos from conference attendees. In addition to all that, though, we'd love to hear what people thought of the conference.

There was an awful lot presented by the likes of Ziba, Intel, Foose Design, T-Mobile, and plenty of others, but something interesting always falls through the cracks. So speak up, Western attendees -- what did you see?

[davidwhetstone]

Hello all.

This was a great weekend, and my first trip to Portland. I was really blown away by the city. Great place.

As far as the conference goes, for me it started off great with a visit to Ziba. I was really impressed with their influence on creating an "authentic experience." I was also interested in the idea of you cant just cookie cutter parts of one solution and place them into another...sounds simple, but good to hear. Finally, I appreciated how visible the multi-disciplinary approach was in the projects presented.

Max Burton's talk reinforced many of the things that were reviewed at Ziba. Create an experience. I was interested that even the name of the department was changed from timing to TechLab as to not limit the group. Finally, I will remember the object is a vehicle between us and the experience.

Tjeerd Hoek's idea of paying attention to detail on usage flows made me remember to really think about a situation or experience when designing something.

Finally, Wendy March's comments on the ordinary made me realize that when talking to people for design research it is important to talk about more than just the category of the product to be designed. People will say valuable things when talking about other "stuff."

But I'm just a student.
David

[hitch]

Actually, as far as being just a student goes: I thought the student Merit presentations were some of the high points. Solid work from CCA, ArtCenter, BYU, Western Washington, U of Washington (how's a program that young put out kids so good?), ASU and several others. Gabriel did some great work, but I can definitely say the jury had to do some hard thinking...

[drofhiphopology]

U of Washington (how's a program that young put out kids so good?)

Thanks from a UW student.
The first graduating class is walking this June, and from seeing the Junior class it's only getting better. Still lots of rebuilding to do too.