This morning got started much as it did yesterday with Part II of the portfolio review, yes 7:30am again. Having all of last evening free to explore the famous Jazz and Blues clubs of Chicago, as well as some of the festivities sponsored by local design companies, there were remarkably fewer conference attendees present at breakfast. Alas the frenetic conference pace has finally gotten the best of some (or perhaps they are still out?). Anyway, more made their way in to hear the morning's first speaker, the always provocative and intelligent (I say that because of his English accent), John Thackara.



John is director of The Netherlands Design Institute in Amsterdam and a consultant on design, innovation and new media. He spoke first specifically on tenets of design that he feels are appropriate for our community's and the world's current stage of development. They are: Understanding Value (what we really should deliver), Use vs. Usability (something may have a use but may not actually be usable), Designing For- vs. Designing With- (which speaks to an integrative process with substantial input from the probable end user), Know How vs. Know What (which would you rather have a data base or a knowledge base?), and (unfortunately I do not have the title of his fifth tenet ) the fact that there is "nothing good per se about speed and acceleration." This final tenet called into question the present velocity of product propagation--it is actually hurting us, the whole haste makes waste gig when you don't have "reflection, pauses of thought."


- IDEA Winner's Showcase -

He then began to describe a fascinating project sponsored by the European Commission which allotted many, many millions of dollars to design research. The Europeans (if I may lump together the Portuguese with the Norwegians) apparently have learned that you can't just throw tons of money at the latest technology and bank on a significant, usable, socially valuable end product. Having specifically written in design as a crucial factor for their development as a union, the EC sponsored an Intelligent Information Investigation to look at the connection between people and technology. This project that John headed (or was a big part of) looked specifically at new services for the elderly--yes they have a little demographic foresight over there. This was a radical look beyond just "big buttons on phones and oversized door handles" and instead was a venture of 3-7 years with no, I said 'no', commercial goal. It was important that this was research and that there were no preconceived notions of what people 'wanted' from us designers or definite intentions to make stuff. So, several European countries were working together with elderly citizens of the Netherlands, Italy, and I think England (I am sure there were more) to see how different people live and communicate. John believes that "disagreement, arguments, and bloody confrontation are the marks of a good process." It seems as if that is what he got.


- IDEA Winner's Showcase -

One result of this investigation that seems pretty exciting (a humanizing of technology, if you will) and that is being developed for production is the "Nonogotchi" which is modeled after those hideous virtual pet (but actual landfill) things. Their idea is based on the research that elderly have to take an increasing amount of medication at different times of the day (which understandably they often forget), and that they wish to have greater communication with their grandchildren and families. What happens is a grandchild will have a Nonogotchi communicator that lets them know their grandparents' pill schedule and when and if they have taken the medication. If they fail to do so, or if the grandchild wants to send a friendly reminder beforehand, the child may use their device to communicate with the grandparents. The virtues of children learning responsibility (espoused by the virtual pet marketers) are shifted toward a relationship of caring (and one of health and longevity) between family members. Pretty neat idea that most likely wouldn't have come about without a 'blind' research approach.


- IDEA Winner's Showcase -

Perhaps my favorite speaker of the whole event was Bruce Sterling, author, journalist, editor, and critic. He has written six science fiction novels and also edited the anthology Mirrorshades, the definitive document of the cyberpunk movement. Quite frankly, and I am a little ashamed and embarrassed (but not too much if I am sharing it with you all), when I met Bruce at a very small break-out session the first full day of the conference--I thought he was some goofball idiot. I had no idea who he was and evaluated 'him' by the few comments that he made during our discussion (perhaps he did the same of me). It just goes to show you that you can get burned if you are too quick to judge. Anyhow, apologies aside, Bruce had a deeply important message with a potent and clever delivery. Basically he is worried about the environment and Industrial Design's role in its destruction--but it is not really the same old environmental disaster message. Inspired by recent heat waves (global temperature records attributed to ozone depletion) he, as a futurist, extrapolates these conditions to a seemingly obvious point where things get much worse. He sees us much in a state of denial, with "no intellectual integrity"--there is no escaping the fact that in essence "we are digging coal with every tap of the 'return' key." With his brief but trenchant analysis of the cigarette as a product that is a failure (in that it is desirable but eventually kills its users) he deems Rockefeller, Ford, and Edison as "godfathers of the greenhouse effect" and likens them to R. J. Reynolds, The Marlboro Man, and Joe Camel. They designed desirable products that eventually will kill the environment and subsequently its users. As a futurist, Bruce plainly admits that the longer it takes us to catch on, the more far-sighted he gets.

"The greenhouse effect is a design problem" and designers have the "means, motive, and opportunity" to fix it. Admittedly because Bruce can't design he decided to create a design movement--the Viridian movement. His desire is not to create a utopia because he sees a utopia as essentially inhuman-- it puts "chains on the souls of your children." Instead he hopes that environmental responsibility becomes an "anonymous truism," a fully disposable ideology that "spontaneously decays and recycles itself" so we can get on to the next serious set of problems. I cannot do his work justice, but you can take a look at his website and the Viridian Principles at www.brucesterling.com. and www.bespoke.org/viridian/links.asp and you can do a "bruce sterling" search for other published interviews on the subjects as well as stuff about his sci-fi writing.



Next we had some quick presentations from a few of the IDEA Award winners. Tom Delaey, senior product designer of Phillips Design Group informed us about their development of the computer-top video camera which was actually inspired by the Mr. Potato (or 'Potatoe' for all you" Dan Quail for a Republican in 2000" fans) Head character in the movie Toy Story--which the design team opted to see rather than their usual relaxing after-work sauna. Ravi Sawhney, principal of RKS Design, gave us the story of the ultra-thin, new-paradigm external stereo speakers. Jon Rossman, vice president of Product Insight, followed with their new flat screen. Perhaps the most engaging was the 5-minute video presentation by Brett Lovelady, principal of Astro Products which described the gritty, fast-paced, adrenaline-ridden design environment reflective of, and perhaps necessary for, the development of the new Nike sports watch (the one that thanks to Astro has created a $100 million division of the company). And yes Astro fellas I did catch the subliminal clips of the Astroglide tube at the end of the video. These guys look like they know what fun is and can deliver. (I wouldn't hire them to design a kidney dialysis machine, although I'd love to see what they'd come up with.)

- IDEA Winner's Showcase -

Slamming on the breaks after Astro's heavy-metal-rock-video paced presentation (somewhere in the Carcass genre), Christina Nippeert-Eng used old-fashioned black and white helvetica overhead projector slides to champion academic social scientific research. It is a shame that valuable content often goes ignored without visual sound bites in our age of information overload. Dr. Nippert-Eng is an assistant professor of Sociology at the Illinois Institute of Technology and is an expert, author, and consultant about people's relationships with spaces, artifacts, and technology. Her recent book, "Home, Work, and Beyond" was a study into how people in the information age articulate their domestic and employment relationships. Her talk dealt with the meaning that surfaces within the contexts of space, time, and interpersonal relationships. These all affect what artifacts and spaces do for us and any study that does not consider all three is bound to leave out something valuable and/or useful. Her experience ranges from the academic to the ultra-practical: having her students observe fish swimming patterns at the Chicago Aquarium and primates at the zoo, to industry projects on office work with Hewlett-Packard. She sees the object as a "hyperlink to culture." If we got her together with the guys at Astro we just may have something.

The final presentation showcased the as usual mind-blowing projects from those guys and gals at the MIT Media Lab. Director of the Physical Sciences program there, Neil Gershenfeld, with his intellectual exuberance and nerdish charm, discussed their latest projects. Previously they have produced inventions ranging from a digital cello for Yo-Yo Ma to a quantum molecular supercomputer. This latest round included an investigation of text that is laser etched on food (produce and poptarts) that resulted (or maybe was an off-shoot of) the development of an electronic ink. This ink is made up of particles that can be charged and attach themselves to paper much the same as toner particles in a laser printer. The effect is that the ink has an inherent physicality, which you obviously expect, but this physicality is not static or necessarily fixed. Pretty amazing to see dynamic ink on a page.


- IDEA Winner's Showcase -

Another project dealt with an electronic visual representation of a ping-pong game (this is a long way from Atari Pong, my friends). Super sensitive acoustic detectors are placed in the corners of an actual ping-pong table. When two people volley the ball back and forth the acoustic information is translated into direct pressure and placement data which is then fed into a video projector located directly above the table that projects a lake-surface like image downward. The effect is that the game looks as it the ping-pong table is actually a thin plane of water. When the ball hits the surface it creates ripples like that of a stone dropped into a lake. The ripples propagate concentricity based upon the force of the hit ball. Really it is a crime trying to describe with mere words such a visually luscious phenomena.

While I could go on and on with other digital clothing and shoe computer projects that they are working on, I will describe just one particularly bizarre investigation. One of Dr. Gershenfeld's students developed a sort of scream delay device--the premise being that there are times when you really just want to scream at the top of your lungs, but such action would be socially inappropriate. By wearing this ridiculously sized device (it is like a small backpack that you sling over your shoulders but the bag is in front over your chest and stomach) you are able to scream into this muffled sound chamber and release your anxieties. A device inside the pack records the scream and allows you to release your primal noise outside or when it is more appropriate--because this is certainly part of the catharsis gained through the scream.

The Media Lab is like a playground, which most of you probably know. They develop and use technology to no specific, useful ends initially. They are investigations that can, and often do, lead to something 'worthwhile'. To see what their students are doing will certainly dazzle you--even if you think they are superficially stupid you have to be amazed at these achievements technologically.



After Dr. Gershenfeld's presentation he was available at a break-out discussion session. When questioned about the ethics of the work they do he admitted that there was no Ethics entity that oversees their laboratory. For Gershenfeld this would be counterproductive to their aims and would/could stifle the creative process. He makes no bones about it and while although he did not state it, I believe that he embraces the notion that there is good and bad inherent in everything--a hammer may be used to build or destroy. He makes technological hammers. Also, he did express that the Media Lab is expanding and that they are interested in what industrial design does and the people who do it. This has been identified as a potentially valuable component of their mission. So, and I guess this is partly why he was at the conference, he is interested in hiring some industrial designers to be part of the MIT team. If you think you have the mettle (and GRE scores) you can contact him at the MIT Media Lab website. Good luck Da Vinci--don't think that your kick-ass marker renderings of that blender or your foamcore (CORE!) model of that information-kiosk-of-the-future is going to wow these brainiacs.



The evening closed with the IDEA Dinner and Awards Ceremony. This year we were all bussed out to Chicago's Navy Pier and its Grand Ballroom. It was a huge space and the place was packed with an interesting mix of students, designers, academics, and industry representatives (the corporation big wigs accompany the designers on stage to accept the awards). Dinner was a salmon and filet surf-n-turf (while the filets were small it pays to sit next to a vegetarian--just a free tip for you unabashed carnivores out there). Katherine McKoy, the 1999 IDEA Chair and Bruce Nussbaum of Business Week were the moderators of the awards ceremony. Basically they ran through a slide show of the bronze and silver IDEA winners and then showed 30-second videos of each of the gold winners. In between the winning designers and corporate hangers-on came on stage, said a few words (well, not the vice-president, or was it president, of Motorola who went on an on with the platitudes), and were presented their trophy-like award thingy. One designer even flew all the way out from New Zealand to accept a Gold Award. My favorite video clips were the BMW re-subtitling of an early '70's motorcycling movie (anything with Guggenheim in the punch line gets me every time) and the Phillips Mr. Potato Head production. (Oh, and the guys at Astro had another nice showing with their black and white millenium themed Gen-X video of the Nike watch)



The evening ended with a fireworks show off the Navy Pier. No, IDSA did not spring for this as it is a usual occurrence in the Chicago summer--sponsored no doubt by the tourist commission for the spend-thrift visitors (that's who basically inhabits much of the Pier in the summer). So things really did go out with a bang. My overall impression of the conference is that it is a great place to hear new ideas and meet new people doing interesting stuff that you wish you were doing (or at least they make it seem like their job is much cooler that yours). As well it is a great time to get together with old friends from school or past companies. As a networking tool you can't beat it (and no I am not just saying that because IDSA gave me free meal passes). Having been to the one in Washington DC. two years ago, and regretting missing last year's in San Diego, I would really say that you almost can't afford not to go--especially for those just starting out with their design careers. Sure it costs a little cash and takes some gumption to ask your boss if you can take off for four days, but as I (and Bob Dole) have learned, anything worthwhile in life usually takes a little courage.

Next year's conference will take place in good ol' New Orleans. The theme title is Design Gumbo, which is apparently what you name something when it is a year away and you are not sure what speakers you will be able to book. Stephen Wilcox, the 2000 International IDSA Conference Chair promises that it will be a great time, not take place all inside the hotel, and that everyone who wants to sit down at lunch will be able to--a man of the people who understands the value of those little pleasures. It is supposed to take place in September but no one could give me the exact dates--someone who is somewhat credible said it was in the third week of that month. I encourage you to go there and soak it all up--if you truly engage the ideas presented (and don't bale out on all the sessions because you are hung over or are sightseeing or came just to hide from your responsibilities and overbearing project manager at work--although these are still common and seemingly valid reasons to attend) there is no doubt that it will affect your design thinking. Also consider attending the IDSA National Education Conference which will probably occur the few days just prior--it is not just for educators you know, the whole design community is effected by what goes on with education--be a part of it. As my father always said: be careful, you might learn something.



I hope to see you all there next year, or here on the web afterwards. (I also hope that those cheap bastards at CORE will spring for decent hotel room for me this time.)




National Design Conference
VIEW DAY: | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY |

Design Education Conference
VIEW DAY: | SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY |