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WELCOME: The Only Multidisciplinary Design Conference In The World
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THE LINEUP (as of 1/23/2012)
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Gordon Gill
To architect Gordon Gill, size matters. When complete, Gill’s latest project, Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, will be the tallest skyscraper in the world. The 3,280-foot-high tower has a spear-like appearance that’s conceptually derived from the fronds of a native flower that grows in the surrounding desert. It’s a reflection of Gill’s philosophy that there exists a "language of performance" between buildings and their environments. But size is not Gill’s only priority. His design is largely driven by his dedication to clean technology and sustainability in architecture. This is evident in Gill’s project, Masdar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi. This photovoltaic-paneled structure actually produces more energy than it consumes. Gill tackles these large-scale, pseudo-sci-fi projects through the Chicago-based architecture firm that he co-founded in 2006: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. In 2009, Gill was selected as Chicago’s Best Emerging Architect by the Chicago Reader. Today, the he is recognized as a fearless innovator in the realm of architecture, constantly redefining what it means to design with grandeur and sustainability.
smithgill.com
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Chip Kidd
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Book Cover Designer
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"The history of book design can be split into two eras: before graphic designer, Chip Kidd and after," says Time Out New York magazine. Since Kidd first appeared on the scene in 1986, a new standard was set for provocative book-cover design. Creating more than 1,500 covers for big-name authors including Cormac McCarthy, Don DeLillo, and Haruki Murakami, Kidd has earned himself monikers like "inky colossus" and "design demigod." Publishers Weekly describes his work as "creepy, striking, sly, smart, and unpredictable," noting that Kidd’s covers "make readers appreciate books as objects as well as literature." USA Today hails Kidd to be "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today. Kidd is a recipient of the International Center of Photography’s award for Use of Photography in Graphic Design, as well as the National Design Award for Communications, the industry’s highest honor. When he’s not busy designing a cover for the latest New York Times Best Seller from his office at Alfred A. Knopf, Kidd is likely working on his newest project: a graphic novel about Batman.
goodisdead.com
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Kyle Cooper
In the world of film and TV, Details magazine credits Kyle Cooper with "single-handedly revitalizing the main title sequence as an art form." A maverick in the world of motion graphics, Cooper first turned heads with his work in David Fincher’s 1995 film, "Seven." Channeling the movie’s dark energy, he used a needle to hand-scratch the letters of the cast’s names into actual film stock, frame by painstaking frame. Wired Magazine writer, Jon M. Gibson, writes of Cooper: "His credits operate as mini-films in their own right, consistently stunning audiences." In 1996, Cooper co-founded Imaginary Forces, a motion-design and visual-effects firm. In 2003, after getting bogged down in design management, Cooper founded his own creative agency, Prologue. Cooper’s motion-graphic masterpieces have been featured in more than 150 films’ title sequences, including "Mission: Impossible," "Spider-Man," and "Braveheart." Cooper constantly pushes motion graphics to the brink using live-action graphics, still imagery, typography, and other strange materials (such as human blood). Director Zach Snyder says, "Cooper is known as the guy who makes title sequences that are better than the movie."
prologue.com
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Brian Collins
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Brand & Experience Designer
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Brian Collins is a whimsical designer and storyteller first, a rebel advertiser second. Before launching his own communication and branding firm, "Collins" in 2008, he spent nine years as the chief creative officer at Ogilvy & Mather where he led a troupe of 30 self-proclaimed "creative misfits" to create award-winning campaigns and designs for blue-chip clients like Kodak, Motorola, Coca-Cola, and IBM. One of the projects Collins is most known for is the design of Hershey’s chocolate factory and retail store in Times Square. Originally hired to create a simple billboard, Collins and his team instead created a Willy-Wonka-esque 15-story factory complete with smoke stacks that belch colored steam, 4,000 blinking bulbs, and glowing candy-bar brands. Another of Collins’ projects, the Helios House, is the first-ever LEED-certified gas station, which was built for BP in Los Angeles. The metallic, mind-bending structure earned Collins the Grand Clio in design from the Clio Awards. He’s been compared to Tom Hanks in the movie "Big" — "childlike in his enthusiasm and freshness, but with an understanding of markets that is nuanced and sophisticated."
collins1.com |
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Karsten Schmidt
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Computational Designer
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Karsten Schmidt (aka Toxi) describes his approach to design as "treating ideas as software at the heart, which in turn informs all other facets of each project." While the title of "computational designer" seems to fit Schmidt best, he says he holds a niche unto himself. Based in London, this German-born designer has a trans-disciplinary way of working — merging computer code, design, art, and craft skills to engage in a variety of digital and hands-on projects in divergent fields. One of Schmidt’s most recent works is an installation piece he created at the V&A Sackler Centre in London: a laser-cut ornamental room divider covered in 620 hand-folded white paper cones, creating a textured canvas for an interactive, projection-mapped pattern generator. After working for various ad agencies, he now designs at his own branding studio, PostSpectacular, where design, art, and software development collide. Schmidt won honors at the British Insurance Design Awards in 2010, best magazine cover design at the Type Directors Club in 2009, and the bronze award at the 2009 European Design awards. When asked what his tombstone might read, Schmidt says, "Jack of all trades, master of none."
postspectacular.com
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Thérèse DePrez
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Production Designer
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A successful production designer is an untamed dreamer — imagination is a prerequisite, and the ability to make dreams tangible is a requirement. Thérèse DePrez embodies this description. She’s known for her production design in the disturbing balletic film "Black Swan," which won her the prestigious award for Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film from the Art Directors Guild in 2010. A meticulous designer, DePrez creates elaborate sketchbooks for each of the films she works on — collecting photos, sketching, and scribbling notes to arrive at the perfect design for a film. She’s designed more than 20 wildly divergent films, including "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," "American Splendor," and "Howl." DePrez believes in teasing out a film’s soul, then representing it through cohesive color schemes and details as small as wallpaper patterns. She is the recipient of the Best Production Design award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for "Black Swan" in 2010, and she won special recognition for production design for the film, "Going All the Way" at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. She’s always on the go, absorbed in the production design for her next film. DePrez sums up her boundless energy simply and modestly: "I’m very much a doer."
www.imdb.com/DePrez
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George Lois
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Art Director/Magazine Designer
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“George Lois, pioneer, innovator … is an advertising genius … Superman of Madison Avenue … America’s master communicator” –New York Times Magazine. Lois has had a finger on the pulse of American culture for the past 50 years; he knows how to win an audience. He designed the highly controversial covers of 92 Esquire Magazines which stunned readers, skyrocketed circulation sales, and made Lois famous. Lois has performed marketing miracles such as popularizing the Tommy Hilfiger brand after just one ad, and a few of his other clients include Xerox, Aunt Jemima, USA Today, ESPN, and MTV. “Every industry has its stars, and in the world of advertising, George Lois is a Supernova, the original Mr. Big Idea. Since the ’50s, he’s had a titanic influence on world culture,” says Business Week. Lois helped launch VH1 and created a new marketing category, Gourmet Frozen Foods, with his name, Lean Cuisine. He is the only person in the world inducted into The Art Directors Hall of Fame, The One Club Creative Hall of Fame, with Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Society of Publication Designers, as well as a subject of the Master Series at the School of Visual Arts.
www.georgelois.com
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Jay Parkinson, MD
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Health Care Designer
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Jay Parkinson has been called “The Doctor of the Future” and “One of the Top 10 Most Creative People in Health Care” by Fast Company. In 2009, he was recognized by Esquire Magazine in its issue, “Best and Brightest: Radicals and Rebels Who Are Changing the World.” Parkinson also spearheads a design firm, The Future Well, where designers dream up products and services that inspire health and happiness. When he completed his residency at John Hopkins in 2007, he took an unconventional route — Parkinson started a practice for his neighborhood in New York City, paying house calls to patients. The concept, called Hello Health, works like this: Patients log onto Parkinson’s website, check out his Google calendar, set up an appointment, and send a list of their symptoms. Parkinson gets appointment alerts via his iPhone, visits patients, and sends bills through PayPal. The concept is simple, creative, and, in short, genius. Newsweek says that Parkinson is “one part doctor, one part tech innovator, one part salesman: The sum of those parts have made Parkinson the face of a new kind of health care.”
www.jayparkinsonmd.com
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Margie Ruddick
“I design with my feet,” says landscape designer, Margie Ruddick. “Some people design with their computers, some people with their heads. I design when I am alone on a site, walking, looking.” For more than 20 years, Ruddick has been pioneering an environmental approach to urban landscape design, creating a new language for designers in her field that integrates ecology, urban planning, and culture. Her design for New York’s Queens Plaza has won awards for promoting nature in the city. “I like to find the point where the orderly becomes wild,” says Ruddick. “And the point just before wildness becomes, well, a mess.” Global in scope, her international design projects include the Shillim Institute and Retreat in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India, as well as the Living Water Park in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Ruddick’s design has earned her the honor of being a finalist for the 2011 Cooper Hewitt National Design Awards, and in 2010, Ruddick was named as one of the top ten women in Green design by the Green Economy Post. She was once fined for cultivating "weeds" in her front yard. The charges were ultimately dropped.
www.margieruddick.com
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Javier Mariscal
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Multidisciplinary Designer
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“Javier Mariscal is a polymath who can, literally, put his hand to almost anything,” says IDFX magazine. A multidisciplinary designer hailing from Spain, Mariscal works in underground comics, illustration, mural painting, sculpture, graphic design, interior design, textile design, furniture design, and animation. Despite the rise of computers in his nearly four-decade long career, Mariscal remains loyal to the simplicity of pen and paper. Design Indaba magazine writes, “Mariscal takes risks and tickles the eyes of those who gaze on his work.” In 1980, he designed one of his most famous pieces, the iconic Duplex stool. In 1989, he designed Cobi, a Catalan sheepdog in Cubist styling chosen as the mascot for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Some of his most notable graphic design works include the visual identities for the Barcelona Zoo and the Granship Cultural Centre in Japan. In 2010, Mariscal drew and co-directed the animated film “Chico and Rita” which is a nominee for Best Animated Feature Film at the 2012 Academy Awards. Mariscal is a recipient of the National Design Prize of the Spanish Department of Industry and the BCD Foundation grants in recognition of achievements throughout a professional career.
www.mariscal.com
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Iris van Herpen
"Ladies and gentleman, I think we just found our next fashion legend. HO. LY. SHIT," wrote one blogger after viewing 27-year-old Dutch fashion designer, Iris van Herpen’s collection, "Capriole," at the 2011 Paris Haute Couture show. Van Herpen is leading the outer limits of fashion — crafting ruthlessly adventurous pieces by combining rapid-prototyping (3-D printing) and traditional sewing. This process often involves Van Herpen cutting strips of plastic using a selective laser sintering machine, then arranging the pieces onto the garment by hand. The result? Incredible textures like nothing you’ve ever seen before. One of her pieces looks like hundreds of slimy, black squid tentacles wrapped around a model’s torso; another looks like a female skeleton-cum-cocktail dress. "I see it as my expression of identity combined with desire, moods, and cultural setting," Van Herpen says. Fast Company’s Design blog, Co. Design, described Van Herpen’s work as a far cry from "clothes," rather they’re more like “sculptures with models hanging off them, which manage to pair the theatricality of [Alexander] McQueen with a computer geek’s soul."
www.irisvanherpen.com
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Alex Lieu
Alternate Reality
Game (ARG) Designer
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Alex Lieu is inseparably linked to the phenomenon of alternate reality games (ARGs). He is Creative Director at 42 Entertainment, a leader in the creation of cross-platform entertainment experiences. A mash-up between advertising, treasure hunting, and role playing, ARGs immerse audiences in an alternate reality, intricately constructed through a web of experiences and clues spread across TV, radio, newspapers, websites, e-mails, telephone, SMS, voicemail, and real-life manifestations. ARGs are defined by intense player involvement with a story that takes place in real time and evolves according to participants’ responses. In 2008, 42 Entertainment won the Cyber Grand Prix award at Cannes International Advertising Festival for the ARG that launched Nine Inch Nails’ album “Year Zero.” To celebrate the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft and AMD launched “The Vanishing Point,” an ARG co-created by Lieu to reward tech-savvy consumers. “The Vanishing Point” was the first global puzzle game of its kind, coordinating spectacular live events around the world with online puzzles. Over a million people were drawn to the website, and nearly 100,000 people registered and played.
www.42entertainment.com
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Rafael De Cardenas
Super-saturated, candy-coated colors. Stark geometric patterns. These are the loud interiors that Rafael de Cardenas designs. At his New York-based design firm, Architecture at Large, Cardenas’ philosophy is: concept over strategy, cosmopolitan over genre-specific, and atmosphere over static. "I never explicitly set out to pursue any one thing,” Cardenas says on his career as a designer. “I was fairly schizophrenic in my various pursuits as a teenager, but I have always been interested in moods and generating atmospherics." His diverse interests led him to work as a Calvin Klein menswear designer, an architect (his design for a rebuild of the World Trade Center was a top-six finalist), and a creative director for experience design at Imaginary Forces, a special effects production company. Today, Cardenas works full-time at his design firm, Architecture at Large. His portfolio here includes design for supermodel Jessica Stam’s Manhattan and East Hampton abodes, the OHWOW gallery in Miami, and Nike’s Bowery Stadium in New York. His most recent venture is a line of bold, chromatic furniture. Daily, Cardenas strives to “take note of the past while daydreaming the future.”
architectureatlarge.com
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James Victore
James Victore is hell-bent on world domination — via design, that is. For the past 25 years, he’s worked in nearly every format that graphic design encompasses, producing work that toes the line between sacred and profane. Known for his use of handwriting and messy scribbles in lieu of clean typography, Victore’s most famous piece is a poster depicting racism in a disturbing game of hangman. “My goal in work, as in life, is not only to think and act creatively, but to be brave,” Victore says. Today, he runs an independent studio, James Victore Inc., in New York. The studio’s work is represented in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., the Louvre in Paris, and it has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “Victore’s work is hard to classify,” says graphic designer, Michael Bierut. “It’s so personal and conveys ideas with the directness of a speeding freight train.” Victore teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York.
www.jamesvictore.com
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James Ramsey
James Ramsey is the intrepid visionary behind the Delancey Underground project — an imaginative plan to transform a 60,000-square-foot underground railway terminal into a subterranean park for New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan. Reclaiming a train line that’s been abandoned since 1948, the design would involve Ramsey’s invention, the Remote Skylight, to filter in natural light for trees and plants. Courageous projects like this — the bold, the surprising, the super-modern — are Ramsey’s forte. His background helps explain why: During his design study at Yale University, he won a Bates Fellowship to study cathedral design in Europe. After that experience, he went to work as a satellite engineer for NASA, where he was part of the team that created the “Pluto Fast Flyby” and the “Cassini” satellites. From there, Ramsey went to work for DMSAS, a large firm in Washington, D.C. before relocating to New York to work at Penny Yates Architects. While teaching architecture at the Parsons School of Design, Ramsey put the pieces together to start his own practice in 2004 (RAAD: Ramsey Architecture and Design). He has since built over a hundred projects, both residential and commercial, across the country.
raadstudio.com
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STAYED TUNED.... 5 MORE SPEAKERS YET TO BE ANNOUNCED
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INSPIRATION: Come Curious. Leave Inspired.
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Gordon Gill,
Chip Kidd,
Kyle Cooper,
Brian Collins,
Karsten Schmidt,
Thérèse DePrez
George Lois
Jay Parkinson, MD
Margie Ruddick
Javier Mariscal
Iris van Herpen
Alex Lieu
Rafael De Cardenas
James Victore
James Ramsey
