Defuse:
20 x slides | 15 x seconds | 13 x explosive talks
DEFUSE Update:
By now the dust has settled on what was a terrific night of fast talk and big ideas at the Sugar Club. Hailed as one to 'the' events of Design Week 2009, DEFUSE brought together some of Dublin's premier interaction designers and thought leaders.
The night started with everyone sketching whacky design ideas for the 'Improving bad design challenge'. By the time Frank introduced the first speaker the venue was packed to capacity with even standing room at a premium. 13 high excellent talks were delivered that covered a broad spectrum of design issues and ideas - each talk consisting of 20 slides of precisely 15 seconds each. There was hardly a chance to catch your breath before the next idea came hurtling towards you.
The IxDA Dublin would like to thank the hundreds of supporters that turned up on the night and a special thanks to the speakers for enlightening and entertaining us.
Presenters
MC for the event
Frank Long, Frontend.com
Fear and Loathing on Dublin Streets
Fiachra Ó Marcaigh, AMAS
Why are some aspects of the design of our pavements and streetscapes so user-hateful? Or even downright dangerous? Holes, white lines, tarmac and bollards all feature in this talk.
Fiachra Ó Marcaigh is a director of AMAS, the consultancy that specialises in making the Internet deliver strategic gain for clients. His strategy, usability and redevelopment projects for corporate and public sector organisations often include significant interaction design elements for web, intranet and mobile resources. Before joining AMAS in 2003 he worked at senior level in Irish media and new media companies.
Henry Poskitt, Frontend.com
An argument for greater use of evidence in the design process.
Henry is a Director at Frontend.com Ireland's leading User Centred Design company. Henry has been with Frontend since it's inception on 1998. Over this time he has lead User Research and User Interface Design projects for a wide range of banking, software and telecommunications clients including Hewlett-Packard, Barclays, O2 Bank of Ireland and AIB. Henry has a particular interest in the simplification of complex data through visualisation and graphic representation.
TO DO: Redesign an entire industry
Steve Gotz, Nonconforming Mind
Can you redesign an entire industry? Possible yes, probable no...nevertheless Steve Gotz will be kicking off his campaign to radically rethink how Irish universities currently manage intellectual property and ultimately help or hinder spin-out activities.
Steve has over 10 years of experience commercialising technology and service offerings in both large corporate environments (AT&T Labs) as well as small entrepreneurial ventures. Currently he serves as Intellectual Property Strategist for the €33 Million Centre for Next Generation Localisation where he was responsible for IP portfolio management and commercialisation of intellectual property arising from research activities. In 1999 he Co-Founded DigitalHound, LLC a NYC-based software startup (acquired in 2001) which provided the media industry with technology to enforce IP rights on the Internet. He has a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Binghamton University and an MBA from Oxford University with a concentration in Technology & Innovation Strategy.
Simon Roberts, The Ideas Bazaar, @si_roberts
Simon's talk will explore what walking with two sticks and reinventing the 1.6 million year old practice of walking can teach us about successful innovation and design (and why some stuff fails).
Simon thinks he was the first person to be employed to do anthropology by an Irish business; either way he has spent the last decade or more, in London and Dublin, applying that discipline to business, technology and policy challenges and opportunities.
Des Traynor, destraynor.com & http://www.contrast.ie/blog
Why do you sit down in a pub, but stand in a bar? Why do some pubs serve straws with their drinks? Why do rockers congregate at Central Bank? Why does everyone complete their LinkedIn profiles? Design influences these behaviours. We'll see how.
Des is the User Experience designer with Contrast, a small team specialising in the design and development of web applications in Ireland. Des regularly speaks at conferences, events, meet ups, bar camps, etc, and writes on the Contrast blog at http://www.contrast.ie/blog as well as maintaining a personal blog at destraynor.com
Brands we could manage without
Neil O'Gorman, Bespoke With Direction, @NeilOGorman
Neil O'Gorman is MD of BespokeWithDirection, which was recently created from the merger of Bespoke Communications (a PR agency which O'Gorman set up up June 2007) with Direction@JWT. Neil is also a former Director of Edelman's Consumer Brands and Youth Marketing Divisions and was also PR Director of Banks Love Marketing Communications. Neil is a consumer PR expert with a proven track record in developing successful PR Programmes for leading consumer brands, such as Heineken, Vodafone, Smirnoff, Centra, Sky News Ireland, AIB, Lynx, Coors Light, Jack Daniels, Adidas Originals and Dove. Neil's passions are music, sport, entertainment and consumer lifestyle.
Let's not blame the pixel pushers
Niamh Redmond, niamhredmond.org & niamhredmond.com
Why bad design decisions are not the fault of one designer, developer or website manager.
Niamh is a Web & Interactive Media Designer and Consultant. She is a graduate of the first undergraduate degree in Multimedia in Ireland (BSc. Multimedia, Dublin City University) and holds a 1st class Honours M.A. degree in Digital Media Technologies from the Dublin Institute of Technology. Professionally, Niamh has 5 years mixed contract and in-house corporate experience having worked with companies, organisations and clients including a design, events and post-production company, two universities, a media agency, a film critic, a stockbrokers, an international energy company and a global consultancy firm. She is an active member of the local and international design community, having both attended and organised a number of design and technology events. She believes that there is no alternative to good design, or in other words - the opposite of good design is not no design, it's bad design.
Niamh writes a weblog at niamhredmond.org and maintains a website at niamhredmond.com
Technology makes advertising great/less annoying/a step above crap
Mark Congiusta, Irish International
How does technology empower users and brands to find common ground in mutually beneficial relationships that are rapidly replacing the top-down brand broadcasting approach of yore. After briefly illustrating how good advertising has always sought to use technology to increase its connection with consumers we will, through the use of relevant examples, see how the current digital revolution has begun to alter the balance of power in favor of the customer.
With fifteen years of interactive advertising experience and over two decades of design and technology credentials behind him, Mark has had his fingers in the pie of just about every aspect of the digital space that you care to name. He has worked for clients such as Audi, Bank of Ireland, FT.com, Johnson & Johnson, MasterCard, MyHome.ie, PepsiCo, Sony and the United Nations.
Brian is one of the UX folk at iQ Content, where's he's been working since 2005. He's worn a lot of different hats there, starting out as a content specialist, then developing a web analytics expertise, but mostly he's focused on the more standard UX stuff like use research, interface design, and online strategy.
Deneva Goins is an accomplished UX expert with a Master of Art degree in Interaction design as well as over 9 years of industry work experience. Most of her career has been in the entertainment, software and internet industry. Currently she is contracting at Microsoft Europe in Global Product Development. Prior to relocating to Dublin, she worked in New York as an information architect at the digital marketing agency: Razorfish. Deneva provides consulting services ranging from Usability Engineer to UX architect as well as Product Management. Notable clients include: Microsoft, Fuse TV, Ford Motor Company, Universal Music Group, Maybelline, Conde Naste and McGraw Hill. Other recent talks include "Using Storytelling in Client Communication" given to Interaction Design Association and "Building Blocks of Online Community Development" given to Razorfish both in New York, NY 2008. Deneva is a member of IXDA, UK & Eire Business Network Group, and the Leading UX & UI professional Network. She can be best reached on LinkedIn.
Designing for the Universe (and everyone in it)
Dónal Rice, Centre for Excellence in Universal Design
Dónal with look at the diversity of people for whom we design and how (sometimes) we get it right.
Dónal Rice is the Senior ICT Advisor for the NDA Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD) at the National Disability Authority of Ireland.
Dónal has over eight years experience working on accessible and user-centred designed ICT projects. He has responsibility for the NDA IT Accessibility Guidelines and formerly worked extensively with many public sector departments and agencies on the NDA's Excellence through Accessibility Awards. Dónal is a judge on the Irish eGovernment Awards and is the Editorial Coordinator of the e-Accessibility Toolkit for Policy Makers which is a joint initiative of the International Telecommunications Union and G3ict, the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information Communication Technologies, is a flagship advocacy initiative of the UN-GAID, the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
The Toolkit supports states parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in meeting the mandates of the Convention on digital accessibility. Dónal holds a BA in Maths and English from University College Dublin, an MSc in Computing from Griffith College Dublin and is currently undertaking a PhD in eAccessibility and Legislation with the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the National University of Ireland, Galway.
A new approach to ergonomic school furniture
Simon Dennehy, Perch.ie, Simon on LinkedIn
Simon Dennehy has worked in industry for many years, as an industrial and graphic designer. In 2008, he completed a 2 year research masters in Industrial Design, with NCAD and chose ergonomic school furniture as his subject matter. Since completing the study, he has received lots of interest in the IP and product offering. He has received funding from Enterprise Ireland's, CORD scheme, and "Perch Dynamic Solutions" has been established to bring the products to market.
Perch school furniture offers primary school children a healthier, more comfortable and adjustable suite that focuses on dynamic sitting and task work. The furniture is fully height adjustable, and the patented flexible seat pan, ensures the furniture responds to the movements of students throughout the course of the day. The project is now moving toward final functional prototype. Simon also runs his own design business, Kablamo Design Services, as well as continuing his line of research as a PhD study with NCAD and GradCAM.
Please visit Perch.ie to read about the initial phase of research. This website will be updated shortly, showing our new product range, pricing and marketing material. Also, please feel free to link up on LinkedIn.
This Is Your Life: Lifelogging & Challenges for Design
Daragh Byrne, Centre for Digital Video Processing (DCU) & Doras
Several years ago, Daragh abandoned the working world in favour of the student life. He's been working towards a PhD in the Centre for Digital Video Processing CDVP, Dublin City University, since 2006. Before that, he completed a Masters by Research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at Lancaster University. Since joining the CDVP, he's worked on a diverse range of research projects and topics including designing interactive multimedia systems, mobile apps & context, video search and summarisation, and more besides. His doctoral work, however, examines at the idea of lifelogging, or trying to capture your day-to-day activities through digital means, such as by using devices like the Microsoft SenseCam, and has a particular focus on interactive narration and digital storytelling.
If you'd like to find out some more about Daragh or his work, a list of his publications is available on the CDVP and Doras websites.
