DATS Design, Art and Technology Symposium

DATS was held at High Point University this year. Although I could only attend two events Friday afternoon. It was a very informative and interesting trip. I attended the David Burney's talk and a round table discussion about illustration.

The first event I attended was keynote speaker, David Burney, partner and CEO of New Kind. New Kind is a design firm in Raleigh, NC that specializes in helping clients develop solutions by using design thinking. Burney's talk focused on the importance of design thinking as tool for developing solutions to issues and problems. The scope of his talk covered politics, business and design, and he was adamant that design thinking has the power to solve any problem, because of its flexibility and open mindedness. His argument began with discussing how traditional business models and strategy have failed. His examples included GM, AIG and other failed business models. In contrast companies that employ design thinking such as Apple and Toyoto have been able to compete and overtake the business giants.

What does design thinking involve? It involves in not particular order, the following concepts: define, research, ideate, prototype, choose, implement, learn. These steps do not occur rigidly, but rather ebb and flow together when they are needed. The key concept in design thinking is to allow ideas to surface without creating a rigid framework for them to adhere to. By allowing a team to think creatively, more appropriate and better solutions can be discovered. Of course with design thinking, these solutions are never the final result, but rather a learning process that help to inform the next project or design opportunity. For information on design thinking, see Design Thinking

The round table discussion on Illustration was interesting. It involved a panel of two local illustrators discussing how to get work published and available for public consumption. I thought the talk would lean toward the digital creation of illustration, but it never went in that direction. However, should you want to become a professional illustrator, it's important to do drawings anytime you can, commissioned or not, network and constantly put your work out for companies to see. Most illustrators work for a company for the first few years after graduation and then move into freelance work, based on the contacts made. The two board members were Janis Acampora and Ed Fields

Overall the afternoon was fun and informative, and it was refreshing to be in the company of so many creative people.