Kristine Arth opens up IDC 2020 and shares some background on her design career thus far.

Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA and Aziza Cyamani open up Track 2 of IDC 2020 (IDSA Education Symposium). Recorded September 17, 2020

Spencer Nugent introduces himself and shares some of his design work. Recorded September 18, 2020

Jeevak Badve, FIDSA takes over Track 5 of IDC 2020 and shares some insights into his design practice. Recorded September 18, 2020

Fear can be overwhelming, but it has a purpose. Fear is a powerful human emotion and physical response. When we feel the fear creeping in, we’re perceiving a threat that’s cracked our sense of safety. Evolutionarily speaking, it’s what’s kept the human species alive and thriving. The physiological effects on our bodies are largely the same, but the emotional response is highly individual. When we’re taken by fear and confronted with what to do next, we weigh the risks and make decisions based on self-interest. But when we can’t fully understand the risks, our fears can lead to irrational thought and action. Amid gobal crises—in this moment, the COVID-19 pandemic and killing of George Floyd—there’s yet another layer of fear to unpack. We’re all paying attention, and we’re on high alert. Suddenly, our society’s collective ego shifts. In a frenzy of observations, interests and instincts, our shared state of consciousness has become one of unrest. And as we face a global recession, this begs the question: How will companies, corporations, governments and even individuals navigate the collective trauma that comes after? In this talk, Alain Sylvain, Founder & CEO of Sylvain Labs, explores the science of fear on the human psyche and the power of the collective ego, and what happens when society's state of mind overtakes individual experiences. He argues that the collective trauma the COVID crisis and the killing of George Floyd have left behind will be the most powerful determinant of our ability to get back to work. And finally, drawing from science, psychology, historical and cultural examples, Alain identifies the ways in which brands, businesses and people alike can begin to navigate our collective trauma, and changing sense of self and of each other, as we begin to heal.

In the age of emojis, type and image work in tandem to bolster our typographic voices, conveying our wide range of emotions. What if, in lieu of relying on smiley-faces and eggplants to make our point, new punctuation could formally articulate the meaning of a message as conveyed through facial expressions, gestures, and metaphors? Engaging with design as a medium for inquiry, these speculative characters aim to supplement our existing typefaces, attempting to make the rich complexities of conversation visible. Introducing these characters while citing and celebrating their historic predecessors, this presentation prompts a larger discussion: what is the role of speculative design in typography, and how do these pursuits advance communication? Recorded September 17, 2020

Design at its surface provides recognizability and differentiation for a brand to the outside world and the people that it impacts. But the root of design is based on communicating an authentic, purpose-driven view to a brand’s soul, and that is far more complex but much more meaningful. How that soul is defined and shaped, and what the resulting impact is to the teams and companies that create it, is what we’ll dive into in “Design is DNA.” Recorded September 17, 2020

Jiani Zeng, S/IDSA presents her graduate student work. Recorded September 17, 2020.

Basak Altan, IDSA reviews desired factors and systemic influences to cultivate a thriving setting for organic design education to prepare design students for a circular economy. It reviews faculty-driven initiatives adopted in a sustainable and social impact design studio where aspects of the organic educational setting were integrated. The paper concludes with the final results of these practices. Part of the 2020 IDSA Education Symposium. Recorded September 17, 2020

How do we teach Design in the face of an ethical awakening when issues of climate change are complicated by political turmoil, social injustice, and food insecurity; where advances in technology come laden with concerns over surveillance, data privacy, equity, and dependence? What if designers were less concerned with driving the economy, but instead designing a better planet? What if design education pushed students to identify problems that don’t exist yet by connecting their understanding of history, society, technology, and design to provoke, interrogate, and shape the future by grounding themselves in the study of ethics and design futures? How can the context and concepts of design fictions allow students space to conceptualize, explore, and critique design ideas through an ethical lens? Recorded September 17, 2020

Research into the current state of design education has suggested a rather negative outlook, including a dated educational model, poor academic rigor, and sub-par scholarly achievement. One of the more alarming findings point to the relative failure of design students to attain the academic and industry success of their peers in business, medicine, and law (Meyer & Norman, 2020). Why are design students not attaining the level of leadership gained by their business, engineering, and marketing peers? What’s missing from the curriculum that would enable more effective and successful industry leaders graduating from design programs? These research questions are investigated in several steps. Part of the 2020 IDSA Education Symposium. Recorded September 17, 2020

The paper explores the history of two methodologies: “Design Thinking” as shaped by the Industrial Design community and “Systems Engineering” which was developed by NASA and government-led R&D. How can these two methodologies that evolved from radically different environments be combined to tackle systemic challenges that our society faces today? The paper explores the possibilities for human-centered system design and introduces new frameworks that can help designers evolve their craft for the decades ahead. Part of the IDSA Education Symposium. Recorded September 17, 2020

Sawyer Alcazar-Hagen presents his work. Recorded September 17, 2020

A powerful conversation about elevating design with aesthetics and consciousness. Recorded September 17, 2020

We’re taught that human-centered design champions the individual, taking into account the infinite ways in which people think, need, and behave differently. Within both academia and practice, this holds true—but only as long as we’re designing for ourselves. As soon as we design for the “other,” those whom we consider to be inherently different, what we’ve learned goes out of the proverbial window. We plan to bestow design upon the next billion people, as if our work were a gift from us to them. But each billion begins with a ‘one,’ and each one has a plan for themselves. Recorded September 17, 2020

In the world obsessed with great customer experiences, we often overlook the experiences of people who should matter to the business most—our own teams. How might we apply the best practices of human-centered design to designing rich and fulfilling experiences of our own teams? Whether you are an established leader, a new manager or a rank-and-file teammate, this talk will help you design your team’s experiences for better rapport, collaboration and, ultimately, a strong sense of belonging. Recorded September 18, 2020

Anne McDonald, S/IDSA shares her student undergraduate work. Recorded September 17, 2020

A pandemic came out of nowhere, halted the entire globe, and highlighted all our weak links. It is requiring a complete systemic restructuring; it would be unwise to completely waste this crisis and not mold it through foresight and empathy. So how do we do that if we can no longer go to people? As designers, one of our strongest tools is listening to people and being empathetic. We are having to re-evaluate some of our design practices, especially in the space of participatory work. Previously, empathy was being with people; now, if you care, you maintain distance. Let’s re-write the rules of research. Recorded September 18, 2020

Jessica Monteleone, S/IDSA shares her undergraduate student work. Recorded September 18, 2020

Lani shares how she uses design as a mediation tool in a few different ways, using examples to illustrate, in terms of connecting the Intangible & Tangible, Art, Craft & Design, Tradition & Modernity.

Ellen Posch, S/IDSA presents her undergraduate student work. Recorded September 18, 2020

What if wearables not only sensed the needs of the body but acted on them, by delivering interventions such as micropulses, heating and cooling, and more? As the market for wearables explodes and customers simultaneously get more protective of their data (and their physical, on-body space), the wearables of the future will need to do more than just monitor and report, taking on advanced capabilities that drive positive outcomes. Designers, technologists, and physicians have a shared responsibility to create products that can change lives for the better. In this presentation, Jeannette will explore the potential of wearables to shape the future of proactive healthcare—first by highlighting the intimate access wearables have to personal data, then diving deeper into the challenge of designing user/patient-centric devices, and finally, acknowledging the market potential for proactive wearables. Recorded September 18, 2020

I have designed products that are not built to last, made with plastics that have filled our oceans, and with heavy metals that have leached into and polluted our soil, and I have done this in service of… The Consumer. "Consumer." Design's dirty little word. We have been focused on "the consumer" since the dawn of our profession, and been "consumer-driven." But, that mindset has only driven us to the heights of convenience-driven consumption. It is time for a fundamental shift not necessarily in the way we design, but in the way we define, and understand, the people for whom we design. If designing for the consumer has brought us to the limits of convenience-driven consumption, perhaps a bit of thoughtful inconvenience might go a long way? Recorded September 18, 2020

Designer Nicole McLaughlin discusses how curiosity and passion have given her works purpose and the ability to change people's perception of waste and sustainable design. Recorded September 18, 2020.

Avery Saylor, S/IDSA shares her undergraduate student work. Recorded September 18, 2020