Core77

This is the provocative title of an upcoming conference in February 2006 in Doha, Qatar - it's in the Middle East. Seems to me, design as an engine of growth is quickly becoming globally important. Here's the newsreport - Bruce Mau and Stefan Sagmeister are listed as speakers.

...conveys a symbiosis between the designer and those he/she designs for and suggests that it is imperative to understand the roles of all the collaborators and participants in the design process.

"We have speakers coming from places as diverse as Cuba, Zimbabwe, Cairo, Oman, New York, and Paris," explained Reuer who pointed out that the premise of the conference is that fresh, original, appropriate design stems from a process that is based in investigative, analytical exchange and observation.

The importance of user observation and ethnographic research cannot be understated, it seems.