Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Design Research Conference + Design Improv



Byron and Raph presented, "Design Improv", a four hour interactive workshop for IIT/Institute of Design's Design Research Conference.

The Conference:
For nine years running, DRC has brought together leading thinkers, exceptional practitioners, and seasoned executives. This year’s conference will set the spotlight on exciting changes driven by emerging technologies and the new position of design research within the business world. Please join us for two days of cutting-edge ideas, fresh work, and new business connections.

The Workshop:
Design Improv with Raphael D’Amico and Byron Stewart

As design researchers we strive for empathy with our users but often find it difficult to fully close the gap. What if we could step into their shoes? Design Improv brings research to life by drawing on the unique techniques that actors and improvisers use to create believable characters and scenes. Workshop participants will learn how this approach can help prototype, build empathy, and reveal how people interact with products, services, and each other. Come ready to play!


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Service Design Network Conference + DD+D



DD+D will be presenting with new client partner, McDonald's at this year's Service Design Network Conference Oct. 20-21 in San Fransisco.

Service Design Global Conference

The 4th annual Service Design Conference crosses the Atlantic this year to San Francisco where we will meet to develop and strengthen the knowledge and expertise in the business, science and practice of the innovation and improvement of services. This global gathering will be an invaluable opportunity to meet your peers, expand your network and hear from those operating at the very heart of service design.

Right from our first conference in Amsterdam in 2008; new thinking has been debated, methods shared, great ideas and strategies developed and stories have been told. Invaluable connections have been forged between individuals, groups and organizations to help design and build internal capacity and teams, create new management capabilities, all ultimately generating value for service organizations and users alike.

So if the design and provision of services is on your agenda; whether you’re a practitioner, whether you’re in the business of managing and delivering services or you’re if studying, this conference is for you.

This year’s theme of the conference:
At this year’s conference we’ll be exploring what happens when service design meets business. We’ll look at how, where and when our two broad professions work together to generate value, what we can learn from each other and ask what the future of this relationship might be. The theme is:

“From sketchbook to spreadsheet”
We’re particularly interested in understanding the impact that service design is now making to organisations’ bottom lines and in hearing where the compelling stories of designing business strategies, monetising service propositions and cultural change are.

We will also be maintaining our focus on the practice and business of service design itself; new tools and methods yes, but also how to buy and sell service design, and what the design community can learn from business and vice-versa.

DD+D's Byron Stewart,and McDonald's Jeff Pollard will present:

McDonald's+Service Experience+Jam

McDonald’s Chief Restaurant Officer has a favorite saying, “It’s not real until it’s real in the restaurant.” The path to making service experience real at McDonald’s has had many twists and turns and is still in its early days as a formal practice. We’re excited to share how service culture has been cultivated over the years at McDonald’s and how we’ve employed tools from the disciplines of theater and design and are collaborating with innovators in the service design community to have a positive impact on our business. And it wouldn’t be “real” if we didn’t have an embodied employee persona performance thrown in for good measure!

I attended Adam Lawrence's workshop at the conference.
Adam is the owner of Work Play Experience in Germany.

And also works in the area of theatre + design.
Here is a clip from the workshop.