What can you expect from Design Engaged? October 24, 2005
Thanks to everyone who’s sent me their presentation information! The lineup is looking really good.
I wanted to write briefly about what you can expect at this year’s Design Engaged, and to thank Mike Kuniavsky for helping with the planning work. We’ve tried to acknowledge what worked well last year and leave it alone, but have made some adjustments to accommodate our larger group this year.
Day 1 and the morning of Day 2 are for our individual short presentations. The afternoon of Day 2, we’ll get outside and explore Berlin in small groups, before meeting up for dinner together. Day 3 will involve brainstorming (and then presenting) in small groups on ideas for products, services, or projects based on themes that emerge from Days 1 and 2.
(We’ve got some other surprises up our sleeves, too.)
The main goal of Design Engaged was to take the good aspects of other conferences and workshops and social events but end up with something more playful, collaborative, and informal than other conferences. Design Engaged should feel something like a proper conference, but a also little bit like a three-day dinner party.
The reason for that is not just because it sounds like fun. “Experience design” is in many ways “participation design”: a satisfying experience comes from participating in ways that feel engaging to you. The “architecture of participation” is a phrase we’ve heard a lot this year, usually about software, but it really applies here, too. Just as we each have different learning styles, we don’t all participate in the same ways. Some people enjoy standing in front of a group talking to the audience; others prefer joining group discussions; and others feel most comfortable in a group of six, not thirty-five. Likewise, some people contribute by talking, some by drawing or making photographs, or in other ways. And we all can learn something by stepping, a bit, outside of the participation styles we’re comfortable with.
You’ll get more information next week, but a couple of people have asked about the following details:
- We’ll try to wrap everything up by 5:00 PM on Sunday the 13th so you can catch evening flights if you need to.
- If you’d like to bring a spouse, partner, or friend to dinner on Saturday night, let me know so I can make the reservation. Dinner will be a fixed price meal, probably about €25