Blog Re: Educate
By Jon Kolko - July 22, 2010
I just finished kicking off the IxDA's sponsored project with Boulder Digital Works, here in Boulder, CO. The IxDA conference will be here in Boulder in February of 2011, and as part of the conference, the Interaction Design Association is sponsoring a comprehensive system and interaction design problem with BDW's incoming class of students. The students are focusing on the space between venues - from the Denver airport, to the various conference venues and to the hotels. They'll do contextual research, synthesize that into meaningful insights, develop prototypes, and build out interactive solutions. The focus of our project is on creating magic - memorable interactions that attendees bring with them long after the event is over. It's a similar challenge to that given to frog by our clients; how can we transcend "innovation" to create something that's authentic and magical? Solutions are driven by emotions - by empathizing with and leveraging the emotional qualities of the audience, making connections with memories and aspirations.
The students at BDW represent one of the most vivid shifts in educational approaches in recent years - a completely studio-focused interdisciplinary group of graphic designers, marketers, and technologists, all working to apply the process of design to complex problems with multiple touchpoints and comprehensive service delivery. BDW's program is poised to take on more established offerings, and the "old guard" of design - Pratt and RISD - can't sit back on their laurels and rest, as BDW is doing more with less, faster, and with more passion. It's David the startup, taking on the various goliaths that have become unfortunately complacent in the art and design education space. And it's one of many new programs that are cropping up that fundamentally challenge the rigidity of traditional design education approaches.
Watch BDW for their future alumni, and consider attending the IxDA conference - it's sure to be the event of the year.
