Roshi Givechi   |   ideo.com

Designing the essential story
An exploration on making the complex meaningful

Design isn't just another pretty face. As we know, it's used to draw a connection between a need and a solution, or a desire and a potential experience. We're successful when our design intent is well defined and compelling. Yet we're only truly satisfied when our audience recognizes the intended purpose and interprets the outcome for themselves. Given the massive amount of information people are faced with, our ability as designers to manage complexity and design for impact means we need to flex our ability to curate and edit content well. By experimenting with ways to understand what matters, we can crystallize the core story of any offering so people can make more thoughtful interpretations in the end.

Bio

Roshi Givechi is a Design Director and Associate Partner at IDEO, and currently serves as Co-Lead of IDEO San Francisco. With roots in communication and new media design, she works toward deeper engagement with clients and other stakeholders through all forms of storytelling. Fascinated with exploring and redefining how people interact with objects, brands, spaces, services and one another, she particularly thrives on crafting the "right" stories in the "right" channels for the "right" audiences. She believes IDEO's insight-based angle on communication design and narrative form has impact at different junctures of the design offering, from the depiction of a strategic vision for internal use early on, down to the tangible expression of a branded experience intended for people out in the world.

Roshi has co-taught cross-disciplinary design at the California College of the Arts, designed websites at Microsoft and MSNBC, spoken at conferences, and coached clients on ways to innovate through IDEO workshops. In January 2009, she was profiled in I.D. Magazine's "I.D. 40" list as one of 40 leading design innovators.

Frank Chimero   |   frankchimero.com

The Shape of Design

I can't help it. Design is the lens through which I see most of the world. It's how I decipher the things I do not understand and build up the things I do comprehend. But, there is a whole other set of interesting ideas other than design to consider and learn, and let affect our craft. By understanding other fields of thought, such as anthropology, philosophy, and fine art, we can leverage the moon landing, Edward Hopper, Avatar, caveman tools, and maybe even our clients into things we can use to craft a viewpoint about how to approach all of our work. And maybe, just maybe, we can use it to craft a modest proposal as to where our field should head in the future. The talk isn't only trying to decipher the shape of design, the value of it, and its qualities, but also a rumination about the state of our beloved practice at this very interesting juncture in time. And, I'll give away the ending: it's a dodecagon.

Bio

Frank Chimero is a graphic designer, illustrator, thing-maker, and writer in Portland, Oregon. His fascination with the creative process, curiosity, and visual experience informs all of his work in some way, and each piece is part of an exploration in finding wit, surprise, honesty, and joy in the world around us. Then, trying to document it with all deliberate speed. His work often uses symbolism, concepts, and storytelling seamlessly to create pieces that are sure to provoke thought and to delight.