Thursday May 28, 2009

Sponsored by Identia
with Brian Collins (moderator), Bennett Peji, Moira Gemmill, Stuart Karten, Marc Greuther, and Luis Fitch

Design is increasingly global, pan-disciplinary, multi-media, multi-cultural, and amorphous, defying traditional boundaries or categories. Our opening general session will explore and celebrate the dynamic, category-defying state of design today. Come ready to have your mind expanded!

Moderator Brian Collins designed Al Gore’s “WE” campaign. For almost a decade before founding COLLINS:, he led Ogilvy&Mather’s brand and innovation division. COLLINS: is a design consultancy focused on using design and technology to connect people with new ideas, brands, and organizations. His presentation at the 2007 SEGD Conference + Expo in Boston was wildly popular. How can he possibly top the blueberry muffins? By designing a surprise that will wow you! Be prepared to think and be creative, and you’ll be rewarded.

Bennett Peji, an award-winning designer, civic branding specialist, and commissioner of arts and culture for San Diego, will introduce us to San Diego, the perfect venue for exploring design’s pliant boundaries. San Diego is a city where design and culture meet, and where public art, branding, and placemaking converge in a uniquely beautiful setting. Learn how San Diego has spent the last three decades revitalizing its downtown core, honoring its heritage, and engaging the present while embracing the future.

Moira Gemmill, director of projects, design, and estate for London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, will share how this venerable but daring institution continues to inspire designers and the public. She’ll focus on the V&A’s recently launched FuturePlan, an extraordinary transformation that will span architectural interventions, cutting-edge exhibition design, and regeneration of retail and public spaces.

Industrial designer Stuart Karten’s ModeMapping process uses graphic communication to solve the challenges inherent in design research—organizing results, communicating findings to team members and clients, and drawing analytical conclusions. Based on ethnographic research, ModeMapping creates visual storylines organized by a series of activity “modes.” These visual maps help designers identify common patterns, which represent shared experiences. Karten uses these maps to drive innovative new product concepts.

Marc Greuther, curator of industry and design at The Henry Ford, is responsible for collecting and interpreting power-generating, machine tool, railroad, production/manufacturing, and modern design artifacts. He will address how the history of innovation, represented through the stories of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Buckminster Fuller, connects to innovation today. Learn how lessons rooted in the past can inspire America as we search for solutions for the future. Marc holds a degree in art history from The Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

What is the “Hispanic market,” and what will it mean for designers in the coming decades? There is plenty of folklore, myth, and stereotype surrounding this elusive but increasing significant market sector. Luis Fitch, co-founder of Uno, a Hispanic branding agency, will help demystify the notion of designing across cultures and show how ethnographic tools such as consumer profiling can be used to create designs that are culturally relevant.

The spirit of the Latino culture is heroically displayed at Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. This one-of-a-kind experience is a visual story unique to San Diego. The park bears a powerful community story and holds the largest collection of Chicano murals in the world. Its concrete and steel pillars are not only supports for the Coronado Bay Bridge, but the canvas for stunning murals created over nearly three decades. We'll hear the fascinating and controversial story behind this place from one of the original muralists, Mario Torero--artist, community activist, and director of the Chicano Park School of Art/Grupo Fuerza.

Sponsored by Charleston Industries
with Mitch Levitt (moderator) and Nancy Egan, Tuyet Le, Marjanne Pearson, Mike Savage, and Lee Slade

Wondering how to navigate this new economic landscape? We face challenging times, both now and in the foreseeable future. It’s clear that many companies will need to rethink their marketing and business strategies to fit current and future situations. This high-powered panel will help you see the issues—and opportunities—from many sides. You’ll take away hard information that will help you calibrate your business plans for the short and long haul.

Mitch Levitt is president and CEO of architectural firm Karlsberger. He has been instrumental in propelling his firm from a small, one-office shop to a multi-office company with nationally recognized expertise in healthcare facilities. Mitch is past president of the Society for Marketing Professionals.

Nancy Egan is a frequent lecturer, panelist, and workshop leader on design, real estate, and marketing. She was with Harvard University’s Executive Education Program for eight years, and has taught at Yale, Columbia, the University of Wisconsin, and Rice University. She is principal of New Voodou, which provides marketing strategies and media relations services to its real estate and design clients from offices on both coasts.

Tuyet Le is vice president and director of healthcare business development at HOK, a global provider of planning, design, and delivery solutions for the built environment with 24 offices on three continents. Healthcare is one area where building continues and EGD projects flourish. Tuyet will shed light on how firms can differentiate themselves in this market niche.

Building on her experience in design firm management and independent practice, Marjanne Pearson focuses on strategies for organizational success and sustainability. The managing principal of NextMoon, a consultancy based in San Francisco and New York, she is an expert in addressing the complexities of talent development and practice sustainability within the context of competitive advantage.

Mike Savage is vice president and principal at Geotechnologies, a computer software company in Los Angeles.

Lee Slade, P.E., is senior principal at Walter P Moore, an engineering company specializing in structural, civil, traffic, and transportation solutions, where he’s helped the firm establish a reputation as a leading structural designer of important buildings, and as Structural Engineer’s Top U.S. Structural Engineer to Work For three years in a row. He now leads the structural engineering services group of the 450-person, 13-office firm, with responsibility for the $45 million annual operations. Passionate about the linkage between marketing and operations, he recognizes that everything the firm does is marketing, for better or worse. Lee is a graduate of Rice University.