Cultural anthropologist, blogger, and Culturematic author Grant McCracken explores the space where culture, media, visual communications, and the Internet collide. He believes designers should claim anthropology as a core competency.
IDEO Partner Fred Dust has helped guide change in organizations as diverse as Kaiser Permanente and the Transportation Security Administration. He’s taken Nike executives shopping and helped the Red Cross redesign its donation experience.
McCracken and Dust will tackle the big C’s—Culture, Connection, and Change—during their keynote addresses at the 2012 SEGD Conference: The Bridge June 7-9 in Brooklyn & Manhattan. You’ll want to be there Friday for McCracken’s “Making the Connection” and Saturday for Dust and “Taking the Leap.”
Fashion, design, food, and art are the key ingredients in New York’s unique urban alchemy. And sometimes they mix and mingle in beautiful, unexpected, and inspiring ways: art and poetry on street signs, typography that reflects the edgy DNA of the city, a fashion designer inspired by her Caribbean roots, and an urban farm that supplies one of New York’s finest restaurants.
Come and experience “City by Design” during the 2012 SEGD Conference: The Bridge, June 7-9 in New York! You’ll meet Project Runway winner Anya Ayoung Chee, typographer Tobias Frere-Jones, artist and poet John Morse, and chef Sisha Ortuzar and Jeffrey Zurofsky, co-founders of The Riverpark Farm and partner in Tom Colicchio’s restaurant, Riverpark.
What does the future of design look like? How will technology, collaboration, social changes, and new work processes impact our work in the coming years?
We’ve consulted with some forward thinkers, and you’ll hear their reports from the front at the 2012 SEGD Conference: The Bridge, June 7-9 in Brooklyn & Manhattan!
Our "Bridge to the Future" panel will be moderated by METROPOLIS Editor Susan S. Szenasy, and will include:
- Architect James Biber, who reimagined the concept of a portfolio show with his popular “100 Ideas” series and book
- James Patten, the interaction designer, inventor, and TED Fellow who works at the intersection of the physical and digital worlds
- Geoff Cook, partner in Base Design, the multidisciplinary firm that “specializes in not specializing” and focuses instead on storytelling through graphic and conceptual simplicity
In addition to the great main-stage program, you’ll enjoy fun networking and social events including the President’s Reception & Face2Face event, the SEGD Excellence Awards & Fellow Celebration, and the SEGD Global Design Awards!
 |
Pop-up stores, restaurants, museums, even hair salons—they may be ephemeral, but they’re certainly delivering memorable experiences. What are the secrets to creating a successful pop-up environment, and where is this trend headed?
We’ll hear some success stories—Sephora’s scent museum, Brooklyn’s own Dekalb Market, and West Elm’s take on the pop-up—at the 2012 SEGD Conference June 7-9 in Brooklyn & Manhattan. Anthropologist and Culturematic author Grant McCracken will moderate a panel including filmmaker and creative director Matt Checkowski of The Department of the 4th Dimension, Eldon Scott of Dekalb Market, and Vanessa Holden of West Elm.
The NYC Dept. of Transportation has tried some novel ways to bring attention to traffic safety issues. The latest is a sign program that combines safety messaging and haiku. Yes, you read that right. The story is in the latest issue of segdDESIGN magazine and the artist/poet will be a featured speaker at the 2012 SEGD Conference in New York. Read more...
A few minutes with Robert Hammond, Co-Founder of New York City's Park in the Sky
(17 April, 2012) The High Line is this decade's Cinderella story in urban place-making. In 1.5 miles of abandoned railroad track cutting through Manhattan's West Side, two local residents—Robert Hammond and Joshua David—saw the potential for an urban oasis. Branded an eyesore and slated for demolition, the decrepit tracks were instead transformed into one of New York City's most popular destinations.
High Line Co-Founder and Executive Director Robert Hammond, a featured speaker at the 2012 SEGD Conference June 7-9, spent a few minutes with us to talk about how the High Line came to be.
Q Can you remember the first moment when you envisioned what a High Line Park could be? What gave you the idea?
I fell in love with the High Line from the street, which was this industrial ruin that surprised me when I first went up and saw there was half mile of wildflowers overtaking the space. Josh and I weren’t sure what should actually be up there but we were inspired from the very start by how nature had reclaimed the site.
Q In your book High Line: The Inside Story of New York City's Park in the Sky, you've documented the epic, 11-year struggle to bring the High Line to life. When was the moment that you realized this was really going to happen?
I didn’t really realize that this was going to happen until after it opened!
Q What was the most challenging aspect of the development and/or design process?
Now the High Line is such a popular place that people love. At the time, there were questions about whether anyone would actually want to go up to a park. People were really convinced that it was going to be very dangerous.
Q Did you always envision art as having a major role in the park?
Yes, because artists were our very first supporters, and the High Line ran through Chelsea, the heart of the gallery district. Art has played an even stronger role than I originally anticipated.
Q We have to ask you about the park signage. Did you have any idea how signage might enhance the park experience? Are there any plans for additional signage?
At the time, I think we really wanted to limit the amount of signage. We didn’t want it to feel like a botanical garden. Maybe we went too far, because since then there have been many requests for more signage about the historical nature of the park.
Q How do you account for the park's wild popularity with the public, both tourists and locals?
I think the High Line is both an escape and yet very much a part of the city. The thing I love about the park is the experience—how it changes peoples’ perceptions of the city and how it changes the way people see each other. My favorite aspects of this flux are how the plants change every two weeks or so with different things blooming all the time. And the people—they change every minute!
Q Our conference theme is The Bridge, focusing on connections between design disciplines, approaches, generations, philosophies, cultures, and languages. In your own work, what would you most like to bridge to?
For me, it’s about inspiring people without any experience to go start their own projects!
Q & A with Randy J. Hunt, Etsy Creative Director
(2 April, 2012) Etsy’s Creative Director Randy J. Hunt will be a featured speaker in the Jumpstart: Concept to Reality session on Friday, June 8 in Brooklyn. He spoke with SEGD recently about Etsy’s mission and how its impact is reaching far beyond the DIY/craft community. “Etsy sees a world in which very, very small businesses have much more sway in shaping the economy, local living economies are thriving everywhere, andpeople value authorship and provenance as much as price and convenience.”
Q Why did Rob Kalin create Etsy? What was his original vision and how does that differ from what we see today online?
Rob created Etsy for a few reasons, first and foremost to help creative people start and run businesses doing the work that fulfilled them. The earliest days of Etsy were meeting the needs of a specific DIY, craft, and vintage community. That community has grown to be over 800,000 sellers in 150 countries, but the motivation and values remain the same. What differs is that we're now seeing and shaping the potential for profound economic impact at a massive scale.
Q How has Etsy become involved in shaping and nurturing new businesses?
We love helping businesses get started. It's in our DNA. Etsy has been encouraging and supporting new business since Day One! The community itself and our team here share information and tips at real-world meet-ups, in our forums, and at things like the Etsy Success Symposium. Many people at Etsy advise students and small business groups as well.
We're also huge supporters of the technology start-up community. We support it by sharing knowledge, open-sourcing software tools, and we've recently supported Summer Camp, which is providing seed investments to help small tech businesses get started in Brooklyn.
Q How does Etsy’s model for jumpstarting DIY/craft/vintage businesses jibe with the traditional bricks-and-mortar retail model? Is online presence enough, or do people still crave physical interaction with the product?
In some product areas, people want physical interaction more than others. For instance, furniture: it's often large, expensive, and difficult to ship. This is not so much about brick-and-mortar as it is about location and geography. Clothing, by contrast, some people really want to see and touch first, but that's changing. Online clothing sales arestrong and growing.
We're focused on getting people to buy from real people: people they can meet, learn about, converse with, regardless if the "meeting" and conversation are in the physical world or through other channels. Physical retail has the potential to do that as well, but only if people behind the products are present or accessible.
Above all else, Etsy is a community, a set of values, and a worldview. Those things are true whether on our Etsy.com venue, in a mobile device, or making a purchase face-to-face with a shop owner.
Q Tell us what you do for Etsy?
I lead design at Etsy, from on-site design at Etsy.com to an app to items that Etsy team members hand to you at an event. I do so by creating an environment and supporting a team that can lead with design, build what we design, and learn by designing. I makesure there is a consistent—and consistently awesome—experience across every touchpoint. It's the total design from end-to-end.
Q How do you keep the Etsy site/online marketplace fresh?
Our community of awesome sellers do that for us!
Q Can you speak to the variety of sellers on Etsy? Describe some of your user profiles and what you think lures them to be members of this group?
Etsy sellers range from vintage fashion mavens, to high-end hand-made wedding dress designers. From collectors of well-designed LP covers, to makers of custom letterpress cards. But that only scratches the surface!
Sellers come to Etsy for a wide variety of reasons: some come for the community of sellers and the support it offers, some come to tap into the huge shopping audience, some come because they believe in the values that Etsy stands for. Whatever the combination, it comes down toEtsy being something that they can invest themselves in deeply, care about sincerely, and experience a real benefit from.
Q Our conference theme is “The Bridge,” focusing on connections between design disciplines, approaches, generations, philosophies, cultures, and languages. In your own work, what would you most like to bridge to?
I'm always most deeply interested in the fuzzy overlap between disciplines and problems. This is where the most interesting challenges lie and where the best work gets done.
A blast from the past
With its theme inspired by the famous Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, the 2012 conference will provoke participants to rethink their profession, recognize and strengthen their existing connections, and build new ones. In two boroughs, participants will explore the “bridges” between local and global cultures, generations, languages, philosophies, and visual styles.
Experiencing the two unique communities—the funky, DIY vibe of Brooklyn and the sleek, glass-and-steel culture of Manhattan—will underscore how designers can learn from different approaches and experiences, and redefine themselves in the process.
About the SEGD Conference
The annual SEGD Conference is the only international educational event focused on communication design for the built environment. It is the space where multiple design disciplines converge and where design professionals who create compelling and information-rich spaces go for inspiration, education, and networking.
The SEGD Conference is known for its unique mixture of blue-sky inspirational speakers, hands-on workshops, signature project tours, and innovative networking events. Past speakers have included Stefan Sagmeister, Ruedi Baur, Paula Scher, Emily Pilloton, Robin Perkins and Clifford Selbert, David Gibson, Sylvia Harris, Garth Walker, Ben Fry, Adam Greenfield, Tom Ollerton, Ronald Shakespear, Massimo Vignelli, Deborah Sussman, Sohrab Vossoughi, Kyle Cooper, Brian Collins, and many more.
About SEGD
Founded in 1973, SEGD (the Society for Environmental Graphic Design) is the leading global organization dedicated to communication design in the built environment. Through educational programs, research, and publications, SEGD's mission is to provide learning opportunities and resources for professionals involved in creating environmental graphics, promote the importance of the discipline in establishing place, and continue to refine the standards of practice for the field. For more information, visit www.segd.org.
