Thursday, May 17, 2012

DD+D Goes to Helsinki Finland!

 Byron has been invited to present an interactive lecture as part  of  World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 events. The presentation is June 7th. 2012 in Helsinki. The presentation is titled,Theatre + Design.

The audience will be a mix of SME-small business owners, designers and improv actors from Helsinki's Stella Polaris improv troupe. The actors will perform as part of the presentation.

The event is funded by TEKES Funding Agency , Finland.

Here is the event Flyer

Here is the press release:

The way we go about creating new products and services is changing.
There is a move to focus on the customer-centric or human-centric aspects of design.
This change, along with increasing complexity in available technologies and experiences, make it imperative that SMEs’ and designers have an empathetic perspective.  Customers compare companies – no matter what industry they are in-against firms like Apple, Southwest Airlines, and Disney that are known for customer centricity.  As a tool for modeling human interactions, theatre is inexpensive, fast and flexible.  Theatrical techniques and acting methodology can help support building that empathetic perspective when infused into the design processes and aligned with business goals.  The Theatre + Design lecture will review what’s needed for SME’s, design firms, and theatre + based design consultants to work together to create business value and great customer experiences.  

Byron will also be a guest participant at the Fennia Awards while he's in Finland.

We'll let you know how it goes!


Friday, April 13, 2012

Personas and Prototyping with IxDA Chicago














DD+D will be one of the speakers for this month's IxDA event -"Personas and Prototyping" at SymphonyIRI Group.

Here is the event description :


What makes a persona useful? What are your expectations for them, and how do you prepare your team so they function? How much research is enough? How many personas do you remember? Are some of them like stock photographs, and others like a Weegee news photo?

They are a waste of time & money if they are not memorable; your clients should be able to refer to them by name sooner and later.
Charles will share some strategies & examples of paper personas that worked, Byron will talk about work with McDonald's and embodied personas and may demonstrate. Shailesh will talk about techniques he used to quickly understand the users of Air NewZealand's Economy SkyCouch.

Event Speakers:
Charles Field - Vice President of User Experience at Symphony IRI
Byron Stewart - Owner Design Lead DD+D
Shailesh Manga - Director User Centric

For more info Personas and Prototyping IxDA

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Desgin The New Business


Great video on design especially Service Design!
Please take a look and let me know what you think.
Is this possible is the U.S.?