The Design of Understanding

Speakers and design changes

We have two new speakers announced. 

Jon Hill - Design Editor at the Times in London.

Michael Robinsion - Head of Graphics at the Guardian, Observer and Guardian online.

Michael will leading a panel on News design, featuring Jon, Scott and Michael A.

News design is something near to my heart so I'm thrilled that we have these folks here. We will hear some new ideas from this area.

Design Changes

Ill be changing the design of the site soon. I've commissioned some beautiful graphic design work from David Preston Studio. They will be doing the main ID for the event, plus posters, flyers and the publication. They will also be bringing this V.01 blog into line with that look and feel.

More on the publication soon. 

Michael Robinson - speaker confirmed

Michael is Head of Graphics at the Guardian/Observer and Guardian on line. He has been the graphic consultant for a number of papers NZZ Sunday in Switzerland, Publico in Portugal, Internazionale in Italy and the Economist in the UK.

His department have won many coveted Malofiej Society of News Design Gold medals and awards.

Why I asked Michael to speak

Many designers can talk about their craft but Michael has fantastic insights into how the business of journalism functions - and therefore how designers serve within.

Jon Hill - speaker confirmed

Jon is Design Editor at The Times in London, having overseen redesigns of the paper, Times web site and iPad edition. He also oversaw the launch of the Eureka supplement, one of the richest examples of regular visual journalism in the world.

Why I asked Jon to speak
The Eureka supplement does what many other printed vessels do not - namely - integrates all modes of communication pretty seemlessly.
Text, graphics and images all act as one. This integration of separate expertises, workflows, media is difficult and I'd like to hear about it.

Heathcote, Bryne-Fraser, McCandless are confirmed speakers

I'm glad to announce three more speakers for The Design of Understanding 2011.

Chris Heathcote, designer, technologist, chef

Scott Byrne-Fraser, Creative Director, BBC News

David McCandless, author, Information is Beautiful

When we have them all announced, we can post a schedule. (They'll be doing 25 min talks to accommodate more range of insight)

Chris Heathcote - speaker confirmed

 

Chris is a User Experience Designer and former Head of Service and UI Portfolio at Nokia Design. He has just published a historical newspaper called As It Is Today and is a practicing Molecular Gastronomist.

 

http://anti-mega.com/antimega/

 

http://metaloca.com/consult/

 

Why I asked Chris to speak

Chris is a truly consilient designer and individual. His passion for understanding materials, technology, users and content leads him to the edges and overlaps in our industry.

 

Scott Byrne-Fraser - speaker confirmed

 

Scott is Creative Director of the BBC News Online Specials team. Previously he worked at Sky TV News.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/default.stm

Why I asked Scott to speak

Scott sits astride two parts of the news industry - web and TV. I'd like to know about the principles that guide each and where they differ. He is well versed in breaking news - an environment that can test the typically pensive Information Designer.

David McCandless - speaker confirmed

 

David is a London-based author, writer and designer. 

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/

http://www.davidmccandless.com/

His recent book, Information is Beautiful has done very well and deservedly so. His work can also be found on the Guardian data-blog.

He also made this - so some of you may want to come just to demand hours of your time back.

Why I asked David to speak - 

He has not come through a traditional design-college-route as such, but the book's success has propelled him to places that I'd like an outsider's view on.

Tickets are now sold out (but send me a mail to get on the list)

Tickets are now sold out

Eventbrite page

Please do mail on the address below and I'll put you on the waiting list

maxgadney@googlemail.com

If you mail, it will also mean that I'll have an idea of how many may want to come (and therefore whether to do another one) - so even if you are disappointed, please do mail

Blastland, Agar, Rennie are confirmed speakers

I'm glad to announce more speakers for The Design of Understanding 2011.

Michael Blastland, Journalist, Author

Michael Agar, Head of Graphics at Telegraph Media Group

Dr Paul Rennie, Head of Context in Graphic Design at Central St. Martins

We'll continue to confirm speakers through the summer

Not sure when tickets will be sorted but we are on it