School is back in session, so you know what that means: The a Better World by Design Conference will be returning to Providence, Rhode Island, in just a few short weeks, for the weekend of September 19–21. Born as the collective brainchild of RISD ID and Brown Engineering Students in 2008, the conference has grown into one of Providence's most looked-forward-to annual events. Each fall, it draws an international audience of hundreds to discuss the impact of interdisciplinary design. But perhaps more impressive than the fact that it's now in its seventh year, the conference continues to be completely student-run, and has the tendency to completely take over the two campuses for three days that include not only talks and workshops but also design challenges, a design expo and of course excellent afterparties for attendees and speakers.
This year, the theme for ABW×D is Wayfinding':
Wayfinding is about orientation. It's about developing and reading signs, navigating new terrain, and processing the unfamiliar. It encompasses understandings of both where you are and where you are going—individually, and in relation to your community. The 2014 conference will challenge attendees to create a more comprehensive understanding of our relationships to spaces, problems, and experiences.
For a student event planned by first-timers with full course loads, the conference has had incredible success entering its seventh year. The audience comprises students, Providence natives and professionals, whose ranks include multiple-year attendees who prefer ABW×D over more established design conferences. The collegial atmosphere, in which presenters, attendees and students intermingle freely, is made possible largely due to the enthusiasm of the young group of organizers. With the implementation of last year's presenter "office hours" in combination with a number of social events, the team has further demonstrated its ability to achieve personal rapport in where many conferences fail. Likewise, boasting previous presenters such as former AIGA President Doug Powel, who also previously served as Chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts, or Lorna Ross, Design Director at Mayo Clinic Centre for Innovation, certainly doesn't hurt. It seems that the RISD/Brown penchant for innovation is alive and well. Not only does the ABW×D team find a way to pass institutional knowledge down through the ranks to new team members (who are often only freshman or sophomores), but they actually manage to improve the conference each year.
Here are a few of our picks for this year's must-see presenters during the upcoming weekend of design, social good, engineering and a healthy dose of sticky notes:Speaker Spotlight on Ellen Jorgensen
Jorgensen is the co-founder and Executive Director of Genspace, a nonprofit community laboratory dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology. Since 2009 Genspace has served the greater New York area by providing educational outreach, cultural events, and a platform for science innovation at the grassroots level. Ellen is passionate about increasing science literacy in both student and adult populations, particularly in the areas of molecular and synthetic biology.
Speaker Spotlight on Aaron Naparstek
Aaron Naparstek is the founder of Streetsblog, a website dedicated to daily coverage of transportation, land use and environmental issues in NYC. Since 2006, Streetsblog has emerged as an influential forum for New York City's Livable Streets Movement, dedicated to reclaiming cities' public spaces from the automobile and improving conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.
Workshop Spotlight on Shantell Martin
From London to Tokyo to New York, Shantell Martin is an internationally acclaimed visual artist expanding conventional definitions of drawing and animation to transform visual experience in the design, fashion and music industries.
Speaker Spotlight on Melissa Mongiat
Mongiat is the principal at Daily Tous Les Jours, a design studio with a focus on public participation: empowering individuals to have a place in the stories that are told around them. These experiences take many forms, including urban interventions and city planning, exhibitions, products, spatial design, events, software applications, and film.
Speaker Spotlight on Bevan Weissman
Weissman is a co-founder of New American Public Art, a design/build firm at the intersection of public art, architecture, and technology. Part futurist, part transcendentalist, he was trained as an engineer and reborn into the cult of Makers. You'll most likely find him tinkering and teaching in various community workshops around the East Coast.
Whether you're looking to get your hands dirty during some workshops, take in a talk, or just planning to relive your college days on the Brown Green or outside the furniture workshops at RISD, ABWxD is definitely worth checking out. View the full lineup here—tickets can still be found here.
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