Get your afternoon pick-me-up with three short talks followed by interactive demos and lively discussion. We'll learn about prototyping a mushroom lab, finding design inspiration in video games, and making a social impact through performative research.
Schedule- 2:30pm - 2:45pm: Well, That Didn't Work...
- 2:50pm - 3:05pm: Game Brain: How to Use Video Games to Design Better Products
- 3:10pm - 3:25pm: Performative Research: Designing for Social Change
- 3:30pm - 4:15pm: Interactive demos
Well, That Didn't Work...Justin Smith, Roman Titus
How do you take on challenging work that is definitely outside your comfort zone? Join Roman Titus and Justin Smith to discuss how they routinely get in over their heads, freak out a little, and then adapt and iterate to finish the project. You’ll walk away with the comforting anecdotal evidence that getting thrown in the deep end isn't the worst thing in the world.
Game Brain: How to Use Video Games to Design Better ProductsJustin Smith
Justin Smith uses games on a daily basis to create better experiences at Cartoon Network. There’s lots of inspiration to be found in games that’s not found in traditional interfaces. There are tenets of games’ design that can, and should, be applied to non-gaming experiences. This talk will walk through how to use games as a lens for designing experiences. Even non gamers can participate in the same conversations without ever picking up a controller. You'll walk away with a clear method for using games to help design better experiences as well as how to use games to connect and align with your team.
Justin will also be leading an interactive demo of some of Cartoon Network's games. He can talk through the design process of those games and how they inform Cartoon Network's non-gaming products. He will also have the Emmy award winning Cartoon Network app available for use and be able to answer any questions attendees have about it.
Performative Research: Designing for Social ChangeMalaz Elgemiabby
In 2015, Malaz embarked on a task to design a new orphanage for abandoned children born outside of wedlock in Sudan. The brief from the management outlined the program and requirements. However, after careful investigation, she discovered that a far more important problem was overlooked in that brief: half of the babies admitted die within the first week due to the condition of their abandonment. This session will explore the creative research and design process that resulted from the many challenges this project faced—such as social stigma and mapping the abandonment journey—to design a better solution to the problem.
