Hasta La Ideas

The IDSA’s annual run of Design Dialogue Conferences kicked off this past weekend with the Mideast event in Detroit; the four upcoming regional events will take place over the next month, including the Midwest Design Dialogue in Chicago and the Northeast Design Dialogue in Philadelphia next weekend, April 13–14.

We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be hosting a portfolio review at the latter event, which takes the timely theme of “Forward Thinking through Vintage Perspectives”:

Getting design right is now recognized as essential for business success. Design thinking is equally beneficial in the social domain. How is design practice evolving to meet expanding demands and opportunities? How can design best use the lessons of yesterday and today to evolve and reimagine the future?

Philadelphia and the rest of the northeast are full of history, and daily reminders of how an entrepreneurial spirit built this nation and how innovation and design thinking have helped our country grow and flourish. So what better place to tackle this dialogue? We will consider explore and envision what the future through the lens of the past and how we got here. We will take a journey from the past, and take a hard look at the present to bring the future of the design practice into focus through the lens of our history and creative journey to the present.

The two days in the City of Brotherly Love is subdivided into three topics—”To know your past is to know your future”; “Change is the new Norm – Now What?”; and “What’s next? Thinking beyond design”—each of which will be addressed over the course of half a day following a series of workshops on Friday morning. The conference will feature notable speakers Peter Bressler, Eric Chan, Hilary Jay, Deb Johnson and Bill Moggridge, among many others; the portfolio review will take place on the evening of Friday, April 13.

See the full schedule of events here, or register here.

The following weekend, April 20–21, will see the Southern Design Dialogue Conference in Atlanta; the series concludes in Seattle on May 4–5.

Head over to IDSA.org for more information.

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At USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab, groups presented on their ideas for improving the city.

Los Angeles is a city without a center. A recent exhibition across the street from LACMA gave away donuts as a testament to this fact—concentric circles that are quite good, which literally have nothing in the middle. And yet, as the second largest city in the United States, with a record number of people moving in and out, it’s certainly dynamic and lively, and anyone who lives hear knows it’s a hub for creativity.

Recently, I’ve encountered a number of groups trying to create some kind of civic center to Los Angeles. One of the more compelling is the City Works Campaign, an effort, as they say on their site, to “improve cities and spur innovation by mobilizing creative people to find varied solutions for urban problems.” Part of their platform is LA Here and Now, a solutions-based workshop in collaboration with USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab.

I had the pleasure of attending their workshop this past weekend, which aimed to gather the creative, civic set of Los Angeles in exploring five themes: improving city experiences, fostering local economies, volunteering and (re)connecting, re-skilling and education, healthy and happy cities, and creating greater access to city services.

Group discussions included a discussions session with post-its centered around what-if possibilities of an improved city.

This weekend’s workshop, A Smart Cities Incubator, broke up into groups by geographical region, recognizing that Los Angeles is more of a patchwork of communities with distinct needs, rather than a single, urban entity whose challenges can be tackled with broad policy changes. In our groups, we discussed the five themes and proposed to focus on one, and in the course of a couple hours then narrowed down that theme into a more actionable issue.

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(Photo: Sasha Arutyunova)

“Brands are like people,” Reed Krakoff has said. “They are all different and you get to know them in different ways.” The versatile designer’s observation on the diversity of brands, quoted back to him by Pamela Golbin, curator of fashion at textiles at Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris, was a fitting way to begin the first in a trio of “Fashion Talks” presented by the French Institute Alliance Francaise (the chic conversations continue tonight, when FIAF welcomes Stefano Pilati, who earlier this month stepped down from the creative helm of Yves Saint Laurent). In two short years (and five runway collections), Krakoff has created a luxury brand—an American luxury brand, no less—from scratch, which in an industry that trades on centuries-old saddlery skills and wildly embellished “heritage” narratives is no simple feat, especially considering that he’s developed his eponymous label while also maintaining posts as president of executive creative director of Coach.

“When I came to Coach [in 1996], I had never done accessories. I was a menswear designer, and what I loved more than anything was starting something that was an amazing challenge, something where I knew I could learn and be on path to discovering what I could do—or not do,” he told Golbin at last week’s sold-out event at Florence Gould Hall. “I really love the idea of learning and challenges, and after fifteen years, I felt that I wanted to do more that was in keeping with my own true aesthetic.” Influenced by everything from ultimate fighting champs and vintage football jerseys to the artful aviary of John James Audubon and design masterpieces from his own astounding collection, that aesthetic is refined but flexible, as likely to embrace a sleek clutch (in matte python) as a bold trench stamped with a painterly monochrome print that only the most eagle-eyed shopper would recognize as an abstracted version of the brand’s geometric logo. “It’s a direct reflection of the things that I love,” said Krakoff. “The aesthetic is a combination of disparate ideas—things that are quite sexy and sensual and romantic, things that are quite minimal and architectural.”
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Is it time to rebrand Design Thinking? Bill Moggridge’s salon for the Cooper-Hewitt has always been a place for lively conversation on a range of interesting topics from a tribute to Eva Zeissel to how design can offer solutions in an urban metropolis. Bill and the guests at his Design Talk last Thursday night passionately discussed the relevance, efficacy and even the branding of Design Thinking. Panel members included Helen Walters, a design journalist and Core77 columnist, Fiona Morrisson, the former Director, Brand & Advertising for Jet Blue and Beth Viner, an Associate Partner at IDEO, all of whom had different kinds of opinions of and experience with Design Thinking based on their backgrounds. Walters was the most outspoken of the bunch, but this isn’t the first time she’s been vocal on the subject. In a piece she wrote for Fast Co. Design called “Design Thinking Isn’t a Miracle Cure, but Here’s How It Helps,” she questions the reliability of the term ‘Design Thinking.’

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This Thursday, Cooper-Hewitt director Bill Moggridge will discuss design thinking vs. design practice with Core77 columnist Helen Walters, Fiona Morrisson and Beth Viner. Each of the panelists brings a unique perspective to the program: Helen writes about creativity and design for numerous publications and speaks about the business of design at conferences around the world; Beth is an Associate Partner at IDEO where she works with both internal design teams and clients on design strategy and innovation; and, until earlier this month, Fiona was the Director, Brand & Advertising for JetBlue Airways.

This is the third talk in a vibrant conversation and presentation series, which runs through June at the WNYC Greene Space. The program will be webcast live at www.cooperhewitt.org/live, allowing viewers from across the world to learn from some of the brightest design minds in the industry. To register for the talk, visit www.cooperhewitt.org/calendar.

Bill’s Design Talks
Thursday, March 15th
6:30PM – 8PM
WNYC Greene Space
44 Charlton Street
New York City

FOR CORE77 READERS: Cooper-Hewitt has offered a special discount for Core77 readers! Enter the special promo code: core77 for a $10 ticket for Bill’s Design Talk!

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