Core77

Only one more week for the earlybird price! Core77 presents a half-day panel discussion that will provoke and delight: Design, Wit & the Creative Act. Moderated by the supersensational Ze Frank, and featuring an all-star panel of Paul Budnitz, Steven Heller, Kelly Dobson and Tobias Wong, the event will take place on Friday, November 9th, a the Art Directors Club in NYC. Here's the pitch:

Business and design leaders are increasingly aware that some of the most successful goods and services are those that elicit emotion. Trading in this spectrum poses some unique challenges to the designer, however, since the creative process of generating this kind of work presumes a shared set of cultural experiences and some deft leaps of faith, especially when it comes to humor.

How do designers employ wit, irony—even subversion—in the service of making a connection with their audience, and how can they replicate these connections across a body of work? Are there limits to commercializing this kind of design, or are we seeing new opportunities for the provocateur in an ever-commoditized world? What is the role of the brand in this context, and to what degree does a sly exchange between designer and user create a new kind of brand experience?

This panel will discuss ways of leveraging the droll parts of the emotional spectrum to provide impactful products and experiences to users. Did we say users? We meant people. Smiling ones.

Cocktail reception afterwards, and hey, it's a Friday afternoon--great way to end the week.
All info and tickets at the site: http://www.core77.com/offsite/
Earlybird price of $125 ends Friday!