This topic is as vast as it is important. There has been a broad shift to human-centered design augmented by ethnographic practices to capture the functional and emotional needs and embeds of people who will actually use objects. Most believe the process heavily hinges upon the intuitive insights of creatives. I would add the brain chemistry response of similarity, novelty and sampling critical life stage associations. Beauty is good too.
A panel considers design and possibilities created by ever changing technology. What is our emotional relationship to objects? How do we imagine the future? Are we entering an era of significant green and sustainable design? What is the role of "open source" design, also known as open design?
Some who have considered these ideas include Marc Gobe on emotional branding, Kevin Roberts on emotion, branding and objects, Donald A. Norman on emotional industrial design, William McDonough and Michael Braungart on biomimetic design. Of course R. Buckminster Fuller who proposed meeting the needs of the world's population by doing more with less.
Panelists considering your questions:
Sohrab Vossoughi founder of ZIBA Design (www.ziba.com), which has incorporated artists and sustainability into branding projects in addition to its well known industrial design of objects.
Portland architecture blogger, writer and filmmaker Brian Libby (www.portlandarchitecture.com).
Musician, thinker and community outreach organizer for Portland Center Stage, Tim DuRoche.
Daniel H. Wilson, robotics engineer and author of Where’s My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived.
This event is part of DWR's Designs on Portland series and presented in cooperation with:
R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe at Portland Center Stage (www.pcs.org/bucky) The Viridian design movement is an example of Fuller prinicples, I would declare it successful rather than kill it.
Manufactured at the Museum of Contemporary Craft (www.contemporarycrafts.org)
Raymond Loewy: Designs for a Consumer Culture at Oregon Historical Society (www.ohs.org)
At DWR Portland Studio 1200 NW Everett. Doors 6:00PM, program 6:30 Free
