Hasta La Ideas

Robert Jacobson is very active in Sweden these days, where he is Entrepreneur in Residence at MEDEA, Malmö University’s new initiative for collaborative media.

He has developed a beautiful, short lecture series on innovation, media and transformation, entitled Media transformation – Malmö transformation. From November 3 to 17, you can listen to Mark Anderson (Strategic News Service), Marc Canter (Broadband Mechanics), Adam Greenfield (Nokia), GK Van Patter (Humantific) and Robert Jacobson himself.

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The second in I.D. Magazine’s new series of webcast goes live today at 4:00 pm EST. Presenters Masuma Henry, and Martjin Van Tilburg from Artefact group will discuss the opportunities for and implications of “Designing Products for Emerging Markets.”

Here’s I.D.’s writeup:

As countries such as India and China continue to grow and become more accessible, they represent expanding opportunities for product development. How can product designers create unique and meaningful user experiences for people in these populations? Masuma Henry and Martijn Van Tilburg of the Seattle-based design consultancy Artefact will explain how to do just this, outlining an effective process for developing compelling products for customers in emerging markets.

Drawing from their experience designing technology experiences for these users, they will dispel common misconceptions and reveal practical insights and methods for undergoing this design process. Specifically, they will explain how to conduct the discovery phase, including the planning and execution of fieldwork, remote data collection, and concept generation in the field. They will also demonstrate how to make sense of fieldwork results and how to choose the most relevant concepts to pursue further. They’ll highlight examples of successful and failed products, discuss the reasons for these outcomes, and show examples of their recent work in this exciting space.

The webcast is at 4:00 pm EST TODAY. Registration is $39.99—sign up here.

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(Photos, left to right: Patrick McMullan Company and UnBeige)

David Stark has long been the go-to event designer for the Cooper-Hewitt’s annual National Design Awards gala. In recent years, he and his team have transformed everyday objects—from cushions to cocktail napkins—into colorful tableaux that popped against the walls of the white tent pitched in the museum’s courtyard. This year, with the museum in the throes of a massive renovation, the gala was moved to Cipriani 42nd Street, a York & Sawyer-designed bank turned cavernous, landmarked event space. Even with a 65-foot ceiling to contend with, Stark rose to the challenge, creating bold and graphic decor inspired by the awards program’s tenth anniversary.

To make the designers the stars of the evening, Stark designed a series of graphic patterns from the names of past National Design Award winners. Set in white all-caps Futura on the NDA’s signature cyan, the text patterns made for a striking contrast with Cipriani’s Corinthian columns, inlaid floors, and soaring, Wedgewood-domed ceiling. “The important thing is always to create elements of scale that relate to the room you’re in,” Stark told us. “Much like we’ve done at the tented venue, we played with scale by creating entry and ceiling decor elements like the fourteen-foot ’10’ at the entrance and eight-foot drumshades suspended from the ceiling. On each, the pattern was exploded to various scales so the typography can be admired for its shape as well as its message, and provide interplay with the elaborate background of the space.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Night Jar Creative, an new, experimental ad agency, is hosting an open photo shoot in Brooklyn tomorrow. The event, entitled Sand County, aims to depict a “high-fashion, low-impact, sustainable future, with elements in social awareness and environment.”

You are invited to come hang out on site at this all-day event (a DJ booth, snacks, games, and a lounge area will be provided) or even ask to get involved. More information at their site.

Sand County
9 am – 6pm, October 24th
3rd Ward Studios, Brooklyn

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Good creative hiring is all about flexibility and relationships–this was the core of the message gleaned from Wednesday’s long-anticipated Coroflot Creative Confab at the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco.

The panel discussion at the heart of the 160-attendee event was easily the most boisterous and impassioned of the Confab’s four-city tour so far, with panelists Emily Delmont (Google Creative Lab), Steve Johnson (LinkedIn), Kate Gilman (24 Seven) and John Foster (IDEO) bouncing around opinions on networking, creative skill sets, and employee engagement with dizzying speed. Kudos to Coroflot’s Carl Alviani, who’s deft moderating provided just the right amount of provocation, synthesis, and encouragement to the panel.

A few of the more memorable revelations:

• The timeframe for a creative hire can vary tremendously: John and Steve both recalled designers who took over two years to finally bring on board, while Kate regularly places freelancers the same day the position opens. The difference? Specificity: A designer who’s defined entirely by their skills is easy to place, but easily replaced; a staff hire with growth potential depends more on collaborative and learning ability, and these take far longer to assess.
• Creative skills for the next three years: Once esoteric abilities like motion graphics, interaction design, and social media engagement are being integrated into almost every part of the creative world, and will soon be as common a part of the communication toolbox as email. At the strategic end, John has seen a recent swell in demand for designers who understand business processes, and can approach them with the same creative mindset they bring to other projects. Expect Design MBA programs to proliferate like mad.
• The high cost of a bad hire: It’s astronomical, in wasted time, money and opportunity. A worry voiced across the panel was of wanting to fill a position so badly that a poor-fitting applicant with great skills gets the job. It always ends in tears.
• Post hire support: It’s difficult, it’s time-consuming, and it’s absolutely necessary. Every panelist described a different strategy for connecting new hires to their colleagues, and keeping them supported, but they all had one. IDEO’s in particular is deeply involved, with multiple follow-up interviews, presentations, and introductions with potential collaborators in house (read more at John’s 3 Questions preview post)
• Biggest surprise–it’s not about the job, it’s about the person: “Should I apply for a job despite not meeting all the requirements?”, asked one audience member. The panelists replied with a unanimous “Yes!” It turns out they keep tabs on dozens or even hundreds of potential hires (Emily’s team at the Creative Lab maintains a Google Doc for just this purpose), and job postings are primarily tools for building that list. This is one reason they’re often so vaguely written: while there are sometimes specific jobs that need instant filling (especially in freelance), recruiters are more interested in finding qualified creatives with good communication skills and learning abilities. Replying to a post is merely the first step in that relationship. So apply, apply, apply.

more pics, notes and links after the jump

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