Thursday 25 October

09.30	Registration and coffee
10.00	Welcome by Kel Fidler, Northumbria University Vice-Chancellor, David Kester, Design Council Chief Executive and Jeremy Myerson, chair
10.15	Innovation at the intersection of disciplines and culture: Frans Johansson Frans will outline lessons from his best selling book, The Medici Effect. He will argue that breakthroughs happen when new connections are made at the intersections between ideas, concepts and cultures
11.00	The challenges of design thinking: Tim Brown Tim is a design industry leader and key promoter of the concept of 'design thinking', a term given to the introduction of design methods and culture into fields beyond traditional design, such as business innovation. Does this represent a threat or an opportunity to designers?
11.45	Coffee
12.15	Break-out / Seminar sessions Culture thread Chair: Vicky Richardson Fashion connections Ignacio Germade, Sarah Maynard and Tom Savigar Fashion is no longer the sole preserve of either fashion designers or clothes. Fashion designers tailor car interiors, graphic designers craft trainers and Prada has participated in the design of a mobile phone. Why is the rest of design developing more of a fashion sensibility? Will we see more graphics, products, and interiors by Fashion designers? Interactions thread Chair: Nico Macdonald Designing interactions, media or experiences? Andy Altmann, Durrell Bishop, and Daljit Singh What do designers from different backgrounds and who are designing interactions to different ends, consider to be their core skills? Business thread Chair: Jeremy Myerson Are design schools the new B-schools? Janet Abrams, John Bates, and Christoph Boninger Business Week has floated the idea that tomorrow's Business school might be a design school. Can designers really go head-to-head with the MBAs?
13.15	Lunch
14.30	Break out session feedback Vicky Richardson, Nico Macdonald and Speaker Jeremy Myerson
14.45	Mission creep - The limits of design: James Woudhuysen As design makes inroads into business, public services and policy, it has developed greater ambitions. What are design's merits and limits? How far can design go?
15.30	What is the new know-how in service design? Chair: Jeremy Myerson. Gillian Crampton Smith, Chris Downs, and Heather Martin Services have been around for centuries, but Service design has recently become a hot topic. So what are the core skills of service designers and how important are traditional designer notions such as craft, beauty and visualisation?
16.15	Coffee
17.00	As designers, are we guilty of killing the planet? John Thackara and friends John will argue that 80 percent of the environmental impact of the products and buildings is determined at the design stage; and the ways we have designed the world force most people to waste stupendous quantities of matter and energy. But for John, playing the blame game is pointless, the best way to redeem ourselves is to become part of the solution.
17.50	Chair's Closing Remarks Jeremy Myerson
18.00 - 20.00	Drinks reception: Pitcher & Piano

Download a PDF of the event programme

Friday 26 October

09.30	Coffee
10.00	Chair's remarks Jeremy Myerson
10.05	Lines, words, pictures and sound Peter Higgins Does the convergence of architecture, narrative and communication media create a new genre?
10.50	Management: Stupid by Design Stefan Stern As a reviewer of management thinking for the Financial Times, Stefan will reflect on some broader shifts taking place in the world of knowledge work and in the organisations designers will find themselves working for. He will explain how to deal with management, which often involves stopping people from getting on with what they want to do. He will finish by pondering on what good management would look like?
11.30	Coffee
12.00	Break-out / Seminar sessions Culture thread Chair: Vicky Richardson Where does design end and art begin? Allan Chochinov, Matthew Collings, Peter Saville, and Richard Shed Some argue that design is starting to fill the aesthetic and cultural vacuum left by contemporary art. Is it still useful to make a distinction between the two? Can art be functional or is 'Design Art' a new category? Interactions thread Chair: Nico Macdonald Can good design be 'co-created'? Joe Heapy, Lynne Maher, and Austin Williams What has design got to learn from the open source software movement and 'wikinomics'? While everyone is a designer, isn't it the job of professional designers to champion good design? Business thread Chair: Stefan Stern What can design bring to strategy? Richard Eisermann, Jonathan Sands and Ed Silk Design strategy is a growing sub-discipline of design. What are the strengths that designers bring to strategy building and what new skills must they acquire?
13.00	Lunch
14.00	Break out session feedback Vicky Richardson, Nico Macdonald and Speaker Stefan Stern
14.15	Leviathan: the rise of the polymath Richard Seymour Reflecting on his discipline-busting career, Richard will argue that designers should adopt a wide-spectrum approach to the future. The key being to spot the gaps between existing skill sets and to make new connections.
15.00	The silence of design Clive Grinyer This talk questions our model of design and looks at how designers must step into the world and show their value.
15.40	Coffee
16.10	New connections: Question time Jeremy Myerson and panel discussion: Peter Saville, Richard Seymour, and John Thackara
16.50	Closing Remarks Bob Young and Lesley Morris