Just finished day one of the AIGA design conference,
no doubt the five best parts of today's general session were:
1.Barney Frank (a congressman) talked about the role government should (and shouldn't play) in our lives and how designers could make a difference, he was later joined by John Hockenberry (Dateline/NBC guy, very good MC for the event)for a bit of debate.
2.Design for Democracy designer Dori Tunsdall, Hockenberry, David Gibson (Two Twelve Associates... these guys had a chunk of plane land on their conference table across the street from the world trade center on 9/11), and Lori Ann Reed (head of AIGA/New Orleans... days after Katrina) talked about what designers could do to shore up the flagging social capital of our country... which made me think that we need to invent a special design forces corp that could sweep into a disaster area in a hummer outfitted with a giant banner making digital printer (ala the bookmobile that prints books on the fly) to post useful directional and informational signage (big print'm out banners that flack jacket wearing commandos could tear off and slap on the sides of whatever is left standing) for the evacuees and survivors so they can find safety (Lori Ann Reed noted that during Katrina there was really no way for her to tell if it was safe to go certain directions in town or what was truth and what was sensationalizm)... Hockenberry noted the old Civil Defense (CD) signage that used to instill a sense of assurance on us when we grew up... that there was a plan...he also wondered why cnn could have a graphic designer whip up a"katrina news" graphic so fast yet getting clear directions out of a disaster strewn town (that wallmart could get stuff to by the way even when the mayor/gov/et al. couldn't) was impossible...(though note to self, buy cans of spray paint for home just in case global warming makes my house into beachfront property and I have to write messages to the sky)
3. 2020... at key points during the session 1 minute was given to select designers to do whatever they wanted onstage in front of 2000 people... mixed results but great idea.
4. the point where DJ spooky showed this clip by Hexstatic (ft. Juice Aleem).
5. Michel Gondry's music video ("La Tour De Pise" BY JEAN FRANCOIS COEN) was shown as a short interlude... it was a stunning collage of words and letters "found" around a bustling country (france) that combined to visually spell out all of the words to the song. A great collection of his work is here (just buy it)... you know him, he did eternal sunshine, and a bunch of commercials and video for people like radiohead, chemical brothers, foo fighter, and bjork (human behavior was their first collaboration). See the trailer for the collection (unfortunately the trailer doesn't have the aforementioned video) here.
In the afternoon there were portfolio reviews (of student work) and smaller breakout sessions. I went to Horoshi Ishii's
tangible bits session, not surprising if you follow tangible computing (or are a practioner) but sooooo well articulated and fun.
Then we saw Christopher Walkens and Philippe Starck fighting over some free beer tickets at the evening happy hour (they knocked over John Maeda's wine glass just before tripping on rudy's distended ego), visited Adobe's booth which was covered with these things called Versa Tiles and ate dinner on the champs elysees (uh, no, boston right? hmmm,) ok... we pissed in the alley on a lexus and dined on hummus and fondue (eschewing the crab meat due to my delicate sensibilities).
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