design lab ucsd design at business summit amsterdam

Exploring Design at Business in Amsterdam

Exploring Design at Business in Amsterdam

Exploring Design at Business in Amsterdam

Design Lab Associate Director Michèle Morris, and members Nanna Inie, and Jennifer Taylor recently attended the Design at Business Summit in Amsterdam. The three-day event brought together design practitioners from private and public sectors, including SAP, Nestlé, Red Cross, Eindhoven University of Technology, and HPI Potsdam, among others.

Through a series of keynotes and workshops, the summit centered on the question: Is it time to innovate design thinking? Day one of the summit, titled “Outside In,” broadly explored challenges in the world where there could be a role for design thinking, a core aspect of the Design Lab’s philosophy. The remainder of the summit offered diverse perspectives on methods and applications, covering areas such as experience design, organizational design, transformative practices, and design leadership.

The summit kicked off with keynotes describing opportunities for design thinking in addressing societal challenges. Maarten van Aalst and Fleur van Monasso from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre explained how risk management has become increasingly complex in the face of a changing climate. Marco Steinberg from Snowcone & Haystack built on this theme in describing how the growing complexity of societal challenges has required a shift from managing “risk” to managing “uncertainty.” In his work supporting scalable solutions within government agencies, Steinberg moves away from traditional, linear processes of planning and implementation, to an iterative approach where cycling through planning, implementation, and evaluation guide programming, for example by using prototyping as part of a “soft launch.”

Other sessions described opportunities for advancing design processes. Presenters included Ford designer Joy Mountford, who argued that, in order to gain a genuine understanding of how people interact with a new technology, tools for prototyping must engage multiple senses to effectively embed users in the experience. Sean Carney, Chief Design Officer at Phillips, described how its Cocreate process engages stakeholders in the design process. For instance, patients and physicians contribute to the design process to improve children’s care experience during diagnostic testing in radiology.

So what might the future look like for design thinking? Recounting the history of design over the past two decades, Alexander Grots illustrated how design has evolved from an early, business-minded focus on products and deliverables, to increasingly focus on the methods and toolkits that guide the design process, and most recently to shaping ways of thinking that cultivate confidence, courage, and creativity. In the face of increasingly complex and ambiguous challenges, this latter perspective speaks to the Design Lab’s dedication to pursuing opportunities for design in shaping ways of thinking, doing, and being among people and organizations.

The Design Lab is dedicated to identifying the landscape for design-driven innovations as well as establishing itself as a leader in this space.

Design Lab Associate Director Michèle Morris, and members Nanna Inie, and Jennifer Taylor recently attended the Design at Business Summit in Amsterdam. The three-day event brought together design practitioners from private and public sectors, including SAP, Nestlé, Red Cross, Eindhoven University of Technology, and HPI Potsdam, among others.

Through a series of keynotes and workshops, the summit centered on the question: Is it time to innovate design thinking? Day one of the summit, titled “Outside In,” broadly explored challenges in the world where there could be a role for design thinking, a core aspect of the Design Lab’s philosophy. The remainder of the summit offered diverse perspectives on methods and applications, covering areas such as experience design, organizational design, transformative practices, and design leadership.

The summit kicked off with keynotes describing opportunities for design thinking in addressing societal challenges. Maarten van Aalst and Fleur van Monasso from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre explained how risk management has become increasingly complex in the face of a changing climate. Marco Steinberg from Snowcone & Haystack built on this theme in describing how the growing complexity of societal challenges has required a shift from managing “risk” to managing “uncertainty.” In his work supporting scalable solutions within government agencies, Steinberg moves away from traditional, linear processes of planning and implementation, to an iterative approach where cycling through planning, implementation, and evaluation guide programming, for example by using prototyping as part of a “soft launch.”

Other sessions described opportunities for advancing design processes. Presenters included Ford designer Joy Mountford, who argued that, in order to gain a genuine understanding of how people interact with a new technology, tools for prototyping must engage multiple senses to effectively embed users in the experience. Sean Carney, Chief Design Officer at Phillips, described how its Cocreate process engages stakeholders in the design process. For instance, patients and physicians contribute to the design process to improve children’s care experience during diagnostic testing in radiology.

So what might the future look like for design thinking? Recounting the history of design over the past two decades, Alexander Grots illustrated how design has evolved from an early, business-minded focus on products and deliverables, to increasingly focus on the methods and toolkits that guide the design process, and most recently to shaping ways of thinking that cultivate confidence, courage, and creativity. In the face of increasingly complex and ambiguous challenges, this latter perspective speaks to the Design Lab’s dedication to pursuing opportunities for design in shaping ways of thinking, doing, and being among people and organizations.

The Design Lab is dedicated to identifying the landscape for design-driven innovations as well as establishing itself as a leader in this space.

Design Lab Associate Director Michèle Morris, and members Nanna Inie, and Jennifer Taylor recently attended the Design at Business Summit in Amsterdam. The three-day event brought together design practitioners from private and public sectors, including SAP, Nestlé, Red Cross, Eindhoven University of Technology, and HPI Potsdam, among others.

Through a series of keynotes and workshops, the summit centered on the question: Is it time to innovate design thinking? Day one of the summit, titled “Outside In,” broadly explored challenges in the world where there could be a role for design thinking, a core aspect of the Design Lab’s philosophy. The remainder of the summit offered diverse perspectives on methods and applications, covering areas such as experience design, organizational design, transformative practices, and design leadership.

The summit kicked off with keynotes describing opportunities for design thinking in addressing societal challenges. Maarten van Aalst and Fleur van Monasso from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre explained how risk management has become increasingly complex in the face of a changing climate. Marco Steinberg from Snowcone & Haystack built on this theme in describing how the growing complexity of societal challenges has required a shift from managing “risk” to managing “uncertainty.” In his work supporting scalable solutions within government agencies, Steinberg moves away from traditional, linear processes of planning and implementation, to an iterative approach where cycling through planning, implementation, and evaluation guide programming, for example by using prototyping as part of a “soft launch.”

Other sessions described opportunities for advancing design processes. Presenters included Ford designer Joy Mountford, who argued that, in order to gain a genuine understanding of how people interact with a new technology, tools for prototyping must engage multiple senses to effectively embed users in the experience. Sean Carney, Chief Design Officer at Phillips, described how its Cocreate process engages stakeholders in the design process. For instance, patients and physicians contribute to the design process to improve children’s care experience during diagnostic testing in radiology.

So what might the future look like for design thinking? Recounting the history of design over the past two decades, Alexander Grots illustrated how design has evolved from an early, business-minded focus on products and deliverables, to increasingly focus on the methods and toolkits that guide the design process, and most recently to shaping ways of thinking that cultivate confidence, courage, and creativity. In the face of increasingly complex and ambiguous challenges, this latter perspective speaks to the Design Lab’s dedication to pursuing opportunities for design in shaping ways of thinking, doing, and being among people and organizations.

The Design Lab is dedicated to identifying the landscape for design-driven innovations as well as establishing itself as a leader in this space.

Read Next

Design-A-Thon: Mindshifts on Megafires

During fire season, it has become the norm to see front-page images of apocalyptic wildfires. A century of suppressing wildfires has created a dangerous accumulation of flammable vegetation on landscapes, contributing to megafires that risk human life and property and destroy ecosystems.

The Design-A-Thon brings together UC San Diego students from all disciplines and experience levels in a pitch-style competition to apply the Design Thinking process to proactive solutions to end destructive wildfires. All participants will be invited to present their submissions on April 20 after the Design@Large panel on Climate Risk Reduction and Technology.

Key dates and events:
-April 7 @ 4 PM - Design Challenge unveiled at kickoff
-April 15 - Registration & design-thinking workshop, lightning talks, and mentor sessions
-April 16 @ 11:59 PM - Submissions due
-April 20 @ 5 PM - Project showcase at Design@Large
Don Norman Zdnet Over Automating Uc San Diego

Software Developers and Designers Risk Over-Automating Enterprises

Don Norman of Cognitive Science and the Design Lab argues for human-technology teamwork among designers in…

San Diego -- Tijuana

Can San Diego — Tijuana region be World Design Capital?

Read the San Diego Union Tribune article by columnist Diane Bell about the World Design Capital bid.

San Diego, together with Tijuana, has placed a bid to be designated the 2024 World Design Capital , a selection that will be finalized this October.

A San Diego nonprofit called the Design Forward Alliance was created with the help of numerous community and design groups to coordinate with Tijuana representatives and prepare the bid package.

Michèle Morris, associate director of the UCSD Design Lab and president of the Design Forward Alliance, is very optimistic about this region’s chances for success.

“We do feel confident that we will make the short list,” she says. Morris also is associate director of the Design Lab at UC San Diego, which helped launch the alliance in 2016 following an inaugural Design Forward Summit in downtown San Diego.

Win or lose, Morris notes that the bidding process has strengthened ties and fostered new creative ideas for our region.
Surveillance Technology San Diego

San Diego council committee unanimously approves ordinances targeting surveillance technology

Photo courtesy of John Gibbins/The San Diego Union-Tribune

A City Council committee on Wednesday unanimously approved two proposed ordinances geared at governing surveillance technologies in the city, an action sparked by sustained pushback from activists and others who were surprised and upset last year when it was revealed that San Diego had quietly installed cameras on streetlights throughout the city.

Lilly Irani, an associate professor at UC San Diego (and Design Lab faculty) who specializes in the ethics of technology, called the vote “a win for better governance in the long term.”

Irani helped draft the ordinances and assisted the organized opposition dubbed the TRUST San Diego coalition, which focuses on responsible surveillance in the region. The coalition was born out of concerns about one specific technology — so-called smart streetlights — and ultimately landed a seat at the table to draft the proposals.

“Without Councilmember Monica Montgomery championing this... there would be no table,” Irani said.
Report: Military Remains Economic Bright Spot In San Diego

Report: Military remains economic bright spot in San Diego

Design Lab member Michael Meyer discusses San Diego's defense economy during Covid with ABC 10 News San Diego.

The coronavirus pandemic appears to have been no match for San Diego's defense economy, which a new report says keeps on growing.

The San Diego Military Advisory Council study says from the fiscal year 2020 to 2021, direct defense spending was $35.3 billion dollars, a 5.3 percent annual gain. Jobs grew 2 percent to nearly 349,112. In all, it made for a $55.2 billion dollar gross regional product.

"That means continued stability and economic prosperity for San Diego, buffered by, or provided by the military economy presence," said Michael Meyer, a professor at UC San Diego's Rady School of Management, which researched the report.

The study points out that military spending impacts more than the people employed by the federal government or serving on base or active duty. Instead, there's a multiplier effect in San Diego, with nearly 190,000 San Diegans employed by private companies contracting with the defense department -- such as in programming or shipbuilding.

"Retraining for electronics, computers, aviation, the engineering fields, the technical financial fields. That's all valuable and an effective way of getting into the military economy," Meyer said.
Ucsd Extension Design Bootcamp

Design Lab and UCSD Extension Team Up for Design Bootcamp

This past July, San Diego high school students embarked on a five-day dive into anthropology and design as part of Design Bootcamp, a collaboration between the UC San Diego Design Lab and UC San Diego Extension.

The class first emerged from the demand for design workshops in San Diego coupled with UC San Diego’s interest in offering classes to pre-collegiate students. “This first Research Scholars ‘Design Bootcamp,’ if you will, is our first prototype,” says Michele Morris, Design Lab Associate Director. “The needs of the University, the expertise of the Design Lab, and the community platforms of UC San Diego’s Extension all came together seamlessly.”

Mayya Azarova, a Design Lab Anthropology PhD candidate, joined the team as the Bootcamp’s inaugural instructor.  Coupling her background in anthropology with design, the team customized an offering focused around ethnography and empathy-building.
Back To Top