Hasta La Ideas

The socio-political events of the last decade have forced a broad debate on education, policy and creativity. While the ’50s heralded a structured, rigid perspective on everything from family to business to broad social norms, the chaos and complexity of technological advancement has provoked a new conversation of systems, creativity, adaptability and agility. The unpredictability facing millennials and the aging boomer population is underscored by the unpredictability of the future of our government and country, and the sense of urgency is amplified by status updates and all things gone viral. Design, if it was to be considered at all, was traditionally thought of as a craft, focused on superficialities like styling and aesthetics.

Design is now at the heart of this national conversation of urgency. TED luminaries like Sir Ken Robinson have demanded creative design thinking in our schools. Silicon Valley has discovered that design plays a fundamental role in driving value for startups. And outlets like Fast Company and BusinessWeek have realized that the work of designers is alluring and likely to drive web traffic. The non-linear thinking of design, it is said (I’ve said it myself, in various public forums), will save us from ourselves: through innovation, service design and abductive reasoning will come a new humanism.

How? What are the more exacting and specific tools, techniques, theories and methods that will help realize this promise? Where are the case studies of success and failure that we can learn from? What is the nuance of this magical “design” thing?

On October 5th and 6th, Austin Center for Design is proud to host Design Extravaganza, a two-day reflection on these questions, topics and themes. Our speakers represent a multiplicity of professional roles and include educators, strategists, executives, curators, authors and practitioners.

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