SVA/BBC Design Film Festival

The upcoming SVA/BBC Design Film Festival will give you the once-in-a-lifetime chance to view groundbreaking BBC films that have never previously been screened in the United States. It takes place at the SVA theatre on 23rd street, here in NYC on March 24th.

The program includes design, advertising, and book-related films on topics such as the future of the book, the history of Levi’s 501 Jeans and the Barcelona chair, and real-life stories of the ad men – and women – behind the fictional tv series Mad Men.

The festival is curated by the wonderful Steven Heller, co-chair of the MFA Design Department at SVA, and Adam Harrison Levy, faculty member in the MFA Design Criticism Department at SVA.

More info.

When We Build

This fantastic talk by Wilson Miner was given at the 2011 Buildconf.

In his talk, Wilson asks: What happens when we stop thinking of ourselves not just as developers or experience designers, and take up the mantle as a new generation of product designers for a digital world?

Watch more Buildconf talks.

OFFSET 2012

Offset 2012 looks like it’s going to be a fantastic conference. The speaker list is impressive: Michael and Paula from Pentagram, Shepard Fairey (OBEY), Conor Harrington, Johnny Kelly, Seymour Chwast, Droga5, Kesselskramer, Jessica Hische, Evan Hecox and many more. And the event takes place in beautiful Dublin, what’s not to love?

OFFSET2012, March 9-11 in Dublin, Ireland

Special-Effects Machine

“Aside from keeping the rain out and producing some usable space, architecture is nothing but a special-effects machine that delights and disturbs the senses.”
— Liz Diller

A quote taken from Liz Diller’s TED Talk.

Disruptive Wonder

The wonderful and incredibly talented Kelli Anderson recently gave a talk at TEDxPhoenix. This morning, her talk went live for the world to see. Kelli is one of the most passionate, hardworking and thoughtful designers I know. Watch it!

Yes to the Idea of an Indoor Park

Today’s CreativeMornings/NewYork with Charles Renfro was generously hosted by Park Here, a gallery turned indoor park. It was packed and seriously fantastic. What a fun venue! A big giant thank you to the team at Open House Gallery for hosting us. Here’s a short video about the space and the idea behind it all:

Parke Here is only open for a few more days. They are starting to break it all down on the 15th, next week. If you’re in NYC, make sure to stop by asap.

ParkHere.info

Brooklyn Beta

This Brooklyn Beta video made my day. Thank you @boltron!

Brooklyn Beta is a fantastic conference organized by my studiomates Cameron and Chris. Brooklyn Beta is my twitter stream come to live. A small group of incredibly talented, smart and *friendly* folks.

Good Work

This quote by Michael Bierut is from his January 2010 CreativeMornings Talk. Seriously worth watching.

CreativeMornings Video: Jamer Hunt

2011/09 Jamer Hunt from CreativeMornings on Vimeo.

Our September CreativeMornings/NewYork speaker was Jamer Hunt. He has dedicated his career to pursuing design as a means for reinvigorating the public realm. Currently the Director of Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons the New School for Design, he focuses this CreativeMornings talk on the subject of scale. From insects to typography and even bicycle transport, Jamer explores how changes in scale influence the way we approach problems.

A big thank you to Sy J Abudu for producing the video!

Frank Chimero | The Shape of Design

Wonderful talk by my studiomate Frank Chimero from last year’s Build Conference.

The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts

The Power of Side Projects and Eccentric Aunts is the title of a talk I gave at FOWD New York in November of 2011. The talk is mostly about lessons I want to teach my kids, hoping that one day, they will be at a place in their lives where they are happy with the decisions they’ve made and most of all, love what they do.

If you’re interested in attending and upcoming event by the same folks of FOWD, you might want to look into Future InSights Live happening in Las Vegas in the end of April. They have some mighty fine speakers lined up. If you’re quick, you might be able to take advantage of the early bird special.

Valerie Casey: The New Normal

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Wonderful AIGA talk by Valery Casey, founder of the Designers Accord, the global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive sustainable impact.

Valery is an impressive force in the design industry: She was named a “Guru” of the year by Fortune magazine, a “Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine, a “Master of Design” by Fast Company and one of the “World’s Most Influential Designers” by BusinessWeek. The World Economic Forum has honored Casey as a “Young Global Leader.”

Derek Sivers: How to start a movement

With help from some surprising footage, Derek Sivers explains how movements really get started.

Tony Schwartz: The Myths of the Overworked Creative

Time is finite, but we act as if it were otherwise, assuming that longer hours always lead to increased productivity. But in reality our bodies are designed to pulse and pause – to expend energy and then renew it. In this revelatory talk, energy expert Tony Schwartz debunks common productivity myths and shows us how to regain control over our energy so we can produce great work.

Watch it over at the99percent.com

CreativeMornings Video: Kate Bingaman Burt

Our speaker at the first CreativeMornings/Portland was the lovely and talented Kate Bingaman Burt . A big thank you to the chapter host, Tsilli Pines for kicking off the Portland chapter with a big bang!

Become a CreativeMornings speaker (LA or NYC)

To celebrate the end of another fantastic 2011 CreativeMornings year we thought we’d do something special and turn the mic to our audience.

We’re inviting anyone interested to apply to be a December CreativeMornings speaker in New York City or Los Angeles. Three people will be chosen (for each chapter) to give an eight minute talk.

To apply: submit a quick 60 second “talk-to-the-webcam” video telling us about you, your talk, and why you’d love to speak at CreativeMornings.

The application deadline is Nov 20th, 9pm EST. Hooray for experiments!

More info and short video with our siberian tiger, Kurt.

Apply here

Typo St.Gallen (Conference)

I am thrilled to be speaking at a small conference near my hometown in Switzerland on saturday november 19th. Typo St.Gallen is focusing on typographic topics and asks the question if there’s still such a thing is typical Swiss typography. If you live close to St.Gallen, consider getting a ticket, there’s only a few left. You should know though that the conference will be held in German. (not sure how that will work out, me presenting in German, should be interesting)

11/11/11


Image by Jason Hawkins

If you’re in New York next week then don’t miss to rsvp for the CreativeMornings talk on 11/11/11 with my wonderful studiomate Jessi Arrington. (rsvp opens on monday morning at 11am. We fill up within minutes!)

It is going to be an unusually *colorful* CreativeMornings as Jessi is color-lover-extraordinnaire and the undisputed rainbow queen. After her CreativeMornings talk we will form a rainbow parade (this is what we’re talking about, line up monochromatically and march through DUMBO. And yes, there will be a marching band!

If you can’t get a ticket to the actual CreativeMornings, fear not, and just meet us at NY at 9:45am in front of Galapagos Art Space.

With that said, you need to dress in a single color. Embrace your inner monochromatic self and join the fun, wear your favorite color!

RSVP for the 11/11/11 CreativeMornings talk opens up on monday morning, november 7th, at 11am, here.

Starlee Kine: Fear, Heartbreak, and Making It Happen Against All Odds

At the 99% Conference, “This American Life” contributor and producer Starlee Kine talks about what making ideas happen has to do with Little Orphan Annie and Phil Collins.

How To Spot A Liar

On any given day we’re lied to from 10 to 200 times, and the clues to detect those lies can be subtle and counter-intuitive. Pamela Meyer, author of Liespotting, shows the manners and “hotspots” used by those trained to recognize deception — and she argues honesty is a value worth preserving.

Expectations

“Expectations are just leftover praise. They are a blessing. If you didn’t have the capability to meet them, they wouldn’t exist.” — Chris Shiflett

(opening words by Chris Shiflett at the BrooklynBeta Conference)

CreativeMornings Video: Jason Fried

Our speaker at the July CreativeMornings/Chicago was Jason Fried of 37Signals. A big thank you to our Chicago host Mig Reyes for making this happen.

And thanks to Charlie Curran and James Schonzeit for taping and editing the video.

Pictoplasma

Wow, Pictoplasma NYC 2011 has an interesting line up of speakers. Meanwhile in its 3rd US edition, Pictoplasma returns to New York. It will take place at the Tishman Auditorium of Parsons The New School for Design on November 4th and 5th, featuring more than a dozen selected artist and designer lectures, such as Tim Biskup, Allyson Mellberg Taylor, Jeremyville, Raymond Lemstra, Geneviève Gauckler, Jon Burgerman, BeatBots, Mark Jenkins and many more!.

I would sign up just so I could see Geneviève Gauckler speak. Long time fan here! Tickets are only $260, that’s a refreshing price.

William Ury: The walk from “no” to “yes”

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently at an intimate summit in Colorado, surrounded by incredibly humbling minds. One of them is William Ury. He is one of the authors of the well-known book called Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Having been able to spend some time with William I can say that he is a mediator to the core and an impressively kind and deep man.

Do yourself a favor and watch William’s 20minute TED Talk in which he offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations — from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.