DesignSight: Volume III - September 10th!

JOIN US! Thursday, September 10th 6:30pm – 10:30pm at Andalu Restaurant, 3198 16th St. @ Guerrero, San Francisco

DesignSight is an event series developed to help stimulate some important conversations in the design community.

Volume III is sure to be the best yet! Anyone considering making the entrepreneurial leap or those looking to fine tune their business practices should attend. Come ready to discuss your concerns with experts on entrepreneurial topics specific to: entrepreneurship in developing nations, marketing, brand development, trends in the market, and of course, entrepreneurial best practices.

Click Here to Register

Brett Lovelady
President / CEO at Astro Studios and CEO at Astro Gaming

Topics:
1) The Business of Design
2) Create IP at all levels; brand, utility, design, etc.
3) Ideas are important, but only 10% of the effort.

Brett Lovelady is the founder and driving force at ASTRO Studios of San Francisco, a company he launched in 1994. Brett created ASTRO to be a pure design culture, where he and his talented crew could blend design skills, innovative technologies and lifestyle influences into high impact, supercharged products and brands.

Within a short time, ASTRO has become an international design powerhouse by designing industry leading products and brands for companies like Nike, Microsoft, HP, Alienware, Herman Miller, Xbox, Virgin and many more. Also, Brett and ASTRO recently spun-off a new company called ASTRO Gaming, providing high performance video gaming equipment for pro gamers.

In the past decade, ASTRO has won numerous design and industry awards, including 2 prestigious BusinessWeek/IDSA Design of the Decade Awards, for both NIKE Triax Sportwatches and Kensington Smartsockets and was featured as one of Fast Company’s Fast 50 in 2003. Prior to starting ASTRO, Brett did time as VP of Design at Lunar Design and before that VP of Design at Frog Design on the mean streets of the San Francisco bay area.

Pamela Bennett, PR/Marketing – North Face

Topics:
1) Business and audience - creating best storytelling
2) Integrated communications - spreading out the word
3) News cycle- establishing relevancy

Pamela Bennett has been a communications professional for more than ten years. From corporate communications to media relations and social media campaigns, her programs and strategy development are designed to assist clients to best understand their audience and deliver stories in unique, truly relevant ways.

She has crafted and placed positive stories and product+service reviews in top tier consumer and technology outlets including The Today Show, The New York Times, USA Today, Men’s Journal, Wired, and CITY magazines. In addition to generating mainstream success on behalf of Apple Computer and clients like IBM Voice Systems [while with Boston-based Brodeur Worldwide] Pam has helped startups such as dodgeball.com go from obscurity to being widely known and respected.

Pam is currently the Communications Manager for The North Face, the world’s premier supplier of authentic, technically innovative outdoor products. In this role, she is responsible for corporate initiatives, retail, product, events, lifestyle and entertainment, athletes and expedition communications and PR.

Martin S. Linder, Associate Professor, Design and Industry Department at San Francisco State University, Founding Director at Industrial Design Outreach (iDo)

Topics:
1) Fostering creativity amongst task driven work loads
2) How to work with engineers in order to realize unique design visions
3) The win/win strategy in setting up royalty contracts

Professor Martin Linder has worked as an industrial designer and educator for over two decades. Martin initially received national prominence for his award-winning designs during his graduate studies at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Martin has focused his design work on the creation of interfaces which enhance airport security. His innovative work with InVision Technologies and Reveal Imaging explosive detection programs are utilized in airports throughout the world. Martin was recently rewarded for his design innovations in explosive detection equipment with an Industrial Design Excellence Award sponsored by Business Week Magazine.

During Martin’s youth, he served for two years as an apprentice in New Hope Pennsylvania with the George Nakashima trained furniture designer sculptor James Martin. Martin’s professional furniture designs have been exhibited throughout the United States for the entirety of his career, most notably at Knoll/Design America, Steelcase's Metro Furniture, and Herman Miller’s Brandrud Furniture. His furniture designs have received both ADEX and S.P.E.C awards.

In addition to his success as an industrial designer, Martin has also distinguished himself as a design educator. After teaching at both the San Francisco Academy of Art and California College of Art in various facets of their design programs, Professor Linder came to San Francisco State University (SFSU). Martin teaches industrial and interface design, rapid prototyping technologies, design education and design management. San Francisco State University has honored Martin for his work as an academic with the 2009 Outstanding Community Service Learning Award that acknowledges “Exemplary Practice in Community-Based Teaching”, and the 2008 Sarlo Excellence in Teaching Distinguished Faculty Award, awarded to a faculty member for “Extraordinary, Meaningful, and Lasting Contributions to Teaching”. He was also named one of the "Most Admired Design Professors" in Academia by Design Intelligence. His students have won international research and design awards including the Industrial Design Excellence Award, and hold key design positions at companies including Nike, Steelcase, IDEO, Hewlett-Packard, and Kodak.

Martin currently devotes much of his time as the Founding Director of the Industrial Design Outreach program (iDo). iDo reaches out to public school teenagers in the bay area who are inspired by hands-on, tactile, experiential learning. iDo is a nationally recognized program which fosters curiosity, promotes creativity, and builds self confidence. Recently the iDo Community Bench Project was selected for display at the San Francisco De Young Museum and was featured on the Cover of the San Francisco Chronicle News paper. In addition to this, the 2009 iDo Community Bench Project was gifted to the Mayor of San Francisco and placed on permanent display at the San Francisco City Hall.

Martin is an active writer and presenter on topics including Design Education, Technologies and Rituals that Impact Collaboration for the Knowledge Worker, Risk, Experimentation, and Innovation, and Industrial and Interface Design for Explosive Detection Airport Security Systems


Marieke Van Der Poel, Trend specialist consultant at Peclers Paris

Topics:
1) Smaller is better, and in that respect, startups have a definite benefit.
2) Keep an eye on your core business. Stay aware of market trends and the socio-cultural context. Where do you fit in?
3) Make sure to always have a good story. In your design, in your marketing, anywhere.

At 30, Marieke van der Poel is the youngest member of PeclersParis' West Coast team, operating as an independent trend consultant in all consumer markets (a.o. with Nike, Microsoft, Old Navy) in Northern California, Oregon and Washington, since the beginning of 2006. As a consultant, she works with together with brands to define new markets and helps them recognize opportunities for the future.

With advanced degrees in humanities, philosophy and fashion, Marieke combines analytical skills with a profound knowledge of international culture, fashion and design. Currently based in San Francisco, she has lived in Italy and The Netherlands most of her life, working as an editor and consultant for a variety of Italian, English and Dutch magazines and fashion brands.

The company Marieke works with, Peclers, is a leading international trend forecasting agency, based in Paris. It has been a reliable source of trend information and inspiration for virtually all markets and industries for almost forty years. Deciphering today’s trends, predicting the products of tomorrow and aiding in defining creative directions, it offers both consulting services and a line of trend publications, translating consumer expectations for fashion, interior, industrial design and marketing fields.

Click Here to Register