Another conference at the end of September, in Amsterdam this time around, Picnic has a stellar list of speakers. An “annual event for all those interested and involved in cross media content and technology in Europe, North America and Asia.
Under the theme “celebrating creative genius”, PICNIC ‘06 will provide you with the opportunity to discuss major trends, see innovative content, formats and channels, and develop new opportunities.”
This will surely be exciting, it’s too bad it’s so darn expensive… ill have to listen to the podcast then 
Mark Hurst has asked me to talk about this exciting conference coming up on September 1st in Copenhagen called GelConference which stands for “Good experience Live” and will explore good experience in all its form: business, art, society, technology, and life. I’m sure some of the pilots here would have great things to say or should definitely attend. : ) live blogging!!!
After reading this World Changing article via Putting People first I started to realize how much stands in the way of a service economy. The article in itself did not reveal that much about the innovative ways in which we could be considering our possessions for one. I find it a bit depressing that we are still talking about basic and impersonal services like car sharing, tool sharing, lending and renting services, things that Ezio Manzini has been talking about for the past 10 years.
Yes people like to own things, they socially define themselves by what they own, so services that would challenge and question our worldly belongings and the way we interact with them (Rentathing comes to mind) would be more useful to the whole discourse i think… especially when you read the types of comments that accompanied the article. I think that people seriously need to start considering what their impact on the environment is but also for designers to start getting a lot more creative about the options that we offer people. If some services have changed the face of video rental, air travel, music sharing, surely there is a fabulous design space beyond sharing your lawnmower with the neighbor! Club cards aren’t the answer to everything.
It´s been a while since I wrote last time and while I am not about to start my own busieness, like Hans-Henrik the workload both at the office and at home have been overwhelming so far this year.
Nevertheless, the interest in design, innovation and leadership has not vanished - on the contrary - and so I would like to raise a relevant question in relation to design and business. How do you measure the effect of design from a business point of view?How do you know that design played a role in achieving business success?
I think that measurement is one of business primary decision-making tools and a cornerstone of the scentific world and since design wants to become as integrated into the business world as possible there is no way around it. We need to be able to explain what difference design makes and what value we create.
Perhaps you could look at market share, the turnover or profit, analyze percieved customer value, or customer loyalty or maybe the effect can be found in brand equity? Perhaps - and probarbly - the impact of design can be seen in many or even all of the above, depending on the type of design assignment.
This challenge becomes even more tricky if design is deeply integrated in the company and thus cuts across the organization to interact with different divisions. Do you individually measure the parts that design contribute with across the organization and add it all up?
On October 22-25, 2006 some of the worlds design managers and business managers will gather in Manchester Village, Vermont, USA for the 31st International Design Managment Conference to discuss this topic, but perhaps we can start talking about it here and now?
What is your view on measuring the impact of design? How could it be done in practice?
The final graduation show of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Milan and not only will this be the graduate show but also the last show of the school as it stands now.
The theme of the exhibition is “Limited Edition”
You are invited to experience 17 thesis projects from the final graduating class of Interaction Design Institute Ivrea.
Opening: June 7th 2006 (18:30-23:00)
Exhibition: June 8/9/10th 2006 (noon-20:00)
Where: Galvanotecnica Bugatti
Via Gaspare Bugatti, 7
Zona Tortona
Milano 20144
More details: http://milano.interaction-ivrea.it/
info@interaction-ivrea.it
www.galvanotecnicabugatti.it
And yes that means i will be exhibiting my work and graduating too so book a cheap flight and come and say hi!
This really good conference: International service design Northumbria in Newcastle took plòace last march and was on the subject of service design with a great collection of speakers and the podcasts to download:
Service Innovation through Design Thinking from Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
Signposts for the Next Decade from Dr. Andrea Cooper, Head of Design Knowledge, Design Council
Live|Work - Pioneering Service Design from Chris Downs, Partner, Live|Work
Objects of Service - From Subjects to Objects and Back Again from Prof. Steven Kyffin, Global Head of Design Research, Philips Design
and much more…
via Design Council RED
Matteo Penzo and Leandro Agro’ put together a conference called Interaction Frontiers that will take place in Milan on the 16th of June 2006.
The focus of the conference is on future and emotion-based user experiences, both for the screen and through products.
“The adventure of Interaction Frontiers started by raising issues about user experience. This year it will take a step into the future of user experience, with presentations on avatars that enrich the windows of traditional GUIs, digital products with input devices and sensors that can collect information about users’ emotions, and user experiences that leave the screen and move around on wheels and robot legs.”
At the Università Milano-Bicocca, see the conference’s website for more details. If i go ill live blog it
Tom at MediaA introduced me to this concept a few days ago. The Long Tail is defined as a statistical model where:
” a high-frequency or high-amplitude population is followed by a low-frequency or low-amplitude population which gradually “tails off”. In many cases the infrequent or low-amplitude events can cumulatively outnumber or outweigh the initial portion of the graph, such that in aggregate they comprise the majority.”
Coined in 2004 by Chris Anderson,the editor-in-chief of Wired, who is writing a book on the subject, it’s interesting to hear about how this model applies to internet-based businesses such as Amazon and Google and how they compare to brick-and-mortar businesses.
He compares traditional big businesses like Hollywood who are really interested in just the first part of the curve in a way, ie. the first week of ticket sales and performance as a way to judge a film’s performance vs. online businesses who might be more interested in the long run, how their business will grow from a short peak and gain momentum and interest from users through recommendations, word-of-mouth, etc. ultimately leading to a longer lifespan and growth through time.
Listen to this talk given by Chris, its definitely worth it.