• Editorial
• ID News
  • Q & A with Jordan Fischer, co-chair of about, with & for 2006
  • RTA User-Centered Design Research
• Recent Events
  • Generation clash: ID students and alumn get together in SF
  • Massive Change exhibition
  • Teaching and Learning about Sustainability
  • Lecturette: InDesign
  • Lecturette: Portfolio
• Showcase
  • Perspectives: Mark Vanderbeeken | Experientia
  • My favorite class at ID
• New IDers
  • New IDer: Andrea Kachudas
  • Name That IDer

• Of Interest
  • Speaking of engage... engaging... engagements! Yes, yes, engagements
  • Around Town: Take-out
  • Observed Links

It's always hard to keep students motivated and engaged with student associations.  engageID is no exception. It is exclusively run by students' motivation and dedication, outside of their normal course loads and with very limited (if any) resources. Our new team is starting to feel the mid-session crunch and we are still getting used to managing a large group of people. Even as the newsletter grows faster than we ever imagined, we have added a new element that not only provides us with a source of support but also allows friendly organizations to communicate more closely with you, the ID community.  You will see it below, but we want to be upfront. The Sponsored Articles are not advertisements. The benefits to the sponsor are obvious, exposure to such an exclusive audience, but our criteria for selecting these features will be first that we think it might be of interest to you. 

On top of that, we have yet another section: Perspectives.   This will feature interviews with practitioners that are outside of the ID galaxy. This is an experiment, but we hope that overtime this will grow and become a signature feature. There is a lot more to say, but we'll let the newsletter say the rest, for now.


Your entrepreneurial editors,
Alex Cheek & Enric Gili Fort



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Q: What is about, with & for?

A: I'm so glad you asked. about, with & for (AWF) is a collaborative forum hosted by the Institute of Design to discuss emerging topics, methods and issues in design research.

Q: OK, I'm happy you know how to copy and paste from the website. What is about, with & for in your own words?

A: Fine. about, with & for is a conference that is completely organized by students from the Institute of Design. It was the first conference focused on advancing the practice of user-centered design research, and continues to be one of the foremost conferences of its kind.

Now in its 5th year, about, with & for remains on the forefront of business by introducing and investigating topics such as simplicity in design, do-it-yourself research methodologies, design in education, social responsibility, design thinking in public policy, and structured decision making.

Q: Who is introducing and investigating these topics?

A: A comprehensive mix of academics and professionals from around the world. They come from organizations like Frog Design, Gravity Tank, Intel, ClifBar and the Design Council, UK, and schools like Delft University (NL), Parsons, Ohio State and of course, the Institute of Design. Go to http://www.id.iit.edu/events/awf/2006/speakers.html for a complete line up of speakers.

Q: That sounds really interesting. How do I register?

A: You can register online. Go to http://www.id.iit.edu/events/awf/2006/registration.php, and choose your registration. There are only a few spots left, so if you are interested in coming, you best register soon.

Q: Thanks, I will. Is there anything else you'd like to tell us about the conference?

Yes, there is. There are still a few opportunities to host a roundtable discussion during lunch on Saturday, October 7th. Roundtable hosts will facilitate conversations focused on design, methodology and decision making. Those interested should contact us at awf@id.iit.edu.

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) was established in 1974 to ensure financially sound, comprehensive, and coordinated public transportation for northeastern Illinois. The RTA accomplishes this by providing financial oversight and regional planning for the area's three public transit operators: the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra commuter rail, and Pace suburban bus.

In support of a seamless and effective transit network, the RTA is conducting user-centered design research to better understand how people use transit products, services and environments throughout the region, and to guide specific product improvements.

Activities undertaken and to be expanded include site assessments; on-site interviews; user observations and testing; and ride-alongs, where researchers accompany passengers on transit trips. This qualitative field research will help further define rider profiles and general improvement opportunities for various services and products, with a focus on the overall travel experience.

The RTA is now requesting expressions of interest from parties qualified to conduct user research and testing, which will enable the RTA to make key product improvements that meet customer needs. If you are interested, please respond by September 29th as detailed at http://www.rtachicago.org/business/newrfps.asp.

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Generation clash: ID students and alumn get together in SF
July 20th, 2006.Medjool, San Francisco, CA

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Massive Change exhibition
by Eric Niu

If you're a student, $30 buys you a membership at Chicago's MCA. Not that I've really taken much advantage, but last Friday, I went down to check out the "Members only" opening party for the Massive Change exhibit. Most of my experiences at the MCA have been on First Fridays, the meat market for supposed hipsters. With all of the big museum donors roaming around, the atmosphere had a markedly different feel.

Since free food was one of the reasons I went (despite the typically subpar fare), my entourage (Amy, Lise, Erik) and I searched out the buffet line first. After finding the buffet outside to be without a wait, we were surprised to find the food (Asian-style noodles and salad) to be quite good. Of course, the other thing we noticed in everyone's hands was the "Targetini," served in a brand-emblazoned glass. (Guess who sponsored the event?) I didn't have any, but Amy and Lise described it as "watered-down cherry Kool-Aid with a splash of vodka."

I separated from the group when we went to check out the exhibit, which tried to make an impact with large, bold typefaces and novel examples of data visualization. In fact, I found myself reading text most of the time. Perhaps because we are studying the issue of adaptation to global warming in our Systems Workshop, the images didn't strike me as hard as they could have. The two things that I found most interesting were the interactive voting exhibits and the examples of current efforts towards sustainability.

There were four exhibits that asked the audience to vote on a course of action. For example, one exhibit solicited a vote for or against genetically modified foods. Neither side of an issue was characterized very strongly as good or bad. But I had to ask myself if I was voting with the majority (the ballot boxes were clear to show which side had more votes), with the segment of society that I think I belong to, or with my true opinion. I still haven't decided, but every time I dropped a little yellow slip of paper into one of the boxes, I felt my fellow readers watching to see where it would fall.

Gathered in this central location, products currently in production (whose makers are consciously working to reduce waste) are displayed next to each other. This is a powerful sign that we can make a difference. Instead of hoping for some nebulous technological panacea, instead of lambasting the evil polluters of the world, these products showcase the positive steps we are taking.

And maybe that's the intent of the exhibit. Without dogmatically espousing foreboding predictions of cataclysmic doom, this exhibit instead focuses on the choices that we will make and the progress we are already making.

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Teaching and Learning about Sustainability
by Mark King

ID students volunteer at the Chicago Center for Green Technology (or as its friends call it, the CCGT)

On September 16, the CCGT had its first (annual they hope) Family Fun Fair, intended to teach people of all ages about how they can participate in sustainable issues. Volunteers spent the day talking with kids about ecosystems and ecology (see photo), teaching about rainbarrels, propping up people on stilts dressed as preying mantises, playing in the erosion simulation sandbox, eating cookies baked in solar ovens, and getting dunked in their rainwater dunk tank.

For those who would like to become friends with the CCGT, it is:

Only the third building in the United States to be designed according to the LEED rating system using the highest standards of green technology available (platinum level).

Home to organizations and businesses committed to the environment. Tenants who occupy the CCGT provide environmental products and services. Greencorps Chicago, the city's community gardening and job training program and WRD Environmental, an urban landscape company, all have offices at Chicago Green Tech.

The building and campus are open for visitors to explore and to learn how green buildings are people and good for the environment. Visitors leave knowing how to incorporate environmentally friendly, cost saving features into their home or business.

It's a valuable resource for anyone working on sustainability projects, professional or recreational.

www.cityofchicago.org/Environment/GreenTech/

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The basics of InDesign were recently disclosed in a generous two-hour session hosted by Gabe Biller and Max Shapiro. Foundation students, MDes and MDM students in attendance all seemed to benefit from the duo's informative antics. To begin, Max described the benefits and uses of InDesign in comparison to Adobe Illustrator. The two proceeded to show students how to set up a document and format its layout. Gabe touched on each aspect of the InDesign environment, including toolbars, palettes, menus and his overwhelming mental archive of keyboard shortcuts. He carefully explained master pages, margins, and the difference between picas and points. Focus was given to an upcoming foundation assignment to design a form, thus text boxes, paragraph formatting, glyphs and columns were covered in full. The session came to a close with an extended question and answer period.

To be sure, either of these gentlemen would gladly continue the conversation and answer more questions. (Right, guys?) Look for them on the third floor.

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Lecturette: Portfolio Workshop
by Alex Cheek

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In this issue, we launch this new interview section with the intention of knowing more about how design is understood and practiced in different cultures and markets. Our first conversation is with Mark Vanderbeeken, experience design blogger and senior partner at Experientia , an international experience design consultancy based in Italy.

Enric Gili Fort: Thanks for agreeing to participate in this interview. As the author of the popular Putting People First blog and as a partner of a firm that is based in Italy, we thought you would be a great person to talk about experience design and innovation outside of the US.

Just to get us started, could you talk a bit about your background, what has been your career path and how being Belgian have you ended up being partner of a design consulting firm in Italy?

Mark Vanderbeeken: First of all, thank you for the invitation to this interview.

To answer your question, I have always been interested in human behavior and in communications. In fact, I am trained as a cognitive psychologist (with degrees both from Belgium and from Columbia University, New York). I then started working in the broad field of communications and marketing, in Belgium, in New York and in Copenhagen, gradually taking on more strategic roles and challenges. In 2001 I was asked to work on the communications for the meanwhile no longer existing Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (in Italy), where I came to realize that my interests in human psychology, communications, innovation, and strategic visioning could be integrated within the nascent discipline of people-centered experience design.

So after Ivrea, I decided that I liked Italy enough to stay here longer. I knew Jan-Christoph Zoels from Ivrea and met some good Italian people (Michele Visciola, who actually also has a psychology background, and Pierpaolo Perotto), and together we started a company. We are all in our forties, have all lived in the United States, and have quite a bit of experience behind us, It is a good fit, since our skills are complementary. It allowed us to create the company with exactly the right mix that we wanted: user research, design prototyping and business strategy consulting, all combined into one.

EGF: You (and your company) have extensive experience working with both European and American companies that are looking to grow through innovation. From your perspective, what are the similarities and the differences between those companies at the time they are looking for innovation consulting services?

MV: First, I would say that the broader economic context is somewhat different in Europe, with a much more important public sector here. This also means that many European companies do work for these public institutions. This translates into a slightly different role for experience design. I would say that in Europe (and to some extent also Canada) you hear a lot more about design for social innovation, about service design, and about the role of experience design in healthcare, education, tourism, local or regional economic development, and public services. This even affects Europe-based multinational companies who work in consumer products like Nokia and Philips, as I tried to illustrate in my blog.

continue reading...

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My favorite class at ID
by Clinton Barth

My favorite class at ID so far was Service Design as a Model for Business Design, or more simply, Service Design. The class had two excellent teachers, Denis Weil, the senior director of innovation planning at McDonald's Corporation, and Mark Jones, a service lead at IDEO.

This class will enable you to:
1. Understand the fundamentals of service businesses (e.g. Nature of Services, Customer acquisition and retention, Value Propositions, Segmentation, Prototyping & Pilot testing, Stakeholders management, Infrastructure, Operational and implementation issues)

2. Learn design methods applied in the service industry
(e.g. Service audit, Customer journey, Experience maps/scenarios, Opportunity maps, Touch-point maps, Experiment Design)

3. Apply your design skills using the methods in a field assignment
(From the course description)

In only seven short weeks, the class takes you all the way from User Observation to Implementation. It is the only class I've taken at ID (excepting DEMO) that gives you a comprehensive look at the design process.

Additionally, each week both professors give you valuable and actionable feedback on your project. Valuable feedback. Every week. The only downside is you are expected to make the changes while also completing the next week's assignment.

The workload is high, and as one of my first classes at ID, I was a bit overwhelmed. But if you're a second year with even a passing interest in the service industry, you must take this class.



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new IDer: Andrea Kachudas
MDM Design Planning, 2007

My name is Andrea Kachudas and I am a full-time MDM student, Design Planning, class of May 2007. I am 36 years old ( You shouldn't ask a lady that question.  You shouldn't even be reading this.) I was born in Grand Blanc, Michigan, U.S., which is located between Flint and the Cranbrook Academy of Art.  This explains much about me.I grew up in the state of Michigan, attended the Residential College of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, I lived in France for a half year (for French literature study), then I moved to Chicago a year after graduation.  I've lived in Chicago for about 12 years.

I have a B.A. in Comparative Literature, which is typically the study of literature in a foreign language with some literary theory.  But my own school took it further; my training was multidisciplinary and combined literature, art and cultural studies.  I focused on the modernists. 

I most recently worked in design/brand focused marketing research (qualitative).  I've also worked in marketing intelligence and advertising.  Then there was my detour; I worked in interior design for about 2 years, with the Holly Hunt Collection's textile line, Great Plains. Married: No, but in an 8-year relationship.  Children: No. Politics: Like most Greek-Americans, a liberal Democrat. Religion: Culturally I'm Greek Orthodox, but I'm non-observant.  I'm also a non-practicing Unitarian if there can be such a thing.  An odd combination, to be sure, but my parents were progressive.

How did you end up at ID? What were your motivations for coming? Where were you working before?
How I ended up here:  I came to ID for a career modification, not really a career change.  There were aspects of marketing research I liked, but I didn't want to become a moderator.  I wanted graduate-level training to build upon my existing skills, which I gained through work experience in marketing and advertising.  However, nothing I found addressed what I wanted to learn, which was design thinking.  I didn't know there was a term for that it at the time.  In fact, I was heading to Medill's Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University when I learned about ID.  I was thrilled that I didn't need a design background to study design thinking.  I turned down Northwestern and came here instead, because ID was what I had been looking for all along. 

What are your first impressions about ID (people, faculty, the space, the city..)?

People:  My fellow students are really amazing and accomplished.  I've never been surrounded by this many brilliant and talented people.  I like that ID attracts other polymaths and multidisciplinary types like me.  Our foreign students are top-tier, and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.  It's a rare environment.

Faculty:  I'm just 4 weeks into this but can say the faculty members seem energized and dedicated to the “ID way.”   I should also stress that I think they are all extremely attractive, witty and successful beyond compare.

What do you think you can bring to the people here at id (culturally, socially,..)?
I've conducted consumer insight research for marketing clients before, and not many of the other students here have done this.  The only other thing I could possibly offer is my knowledge of the city of Chicago, but I guard that jealously.

Is there anything amazing from your culture or where you come from that you think people should not miss? (music, culture, design, food, cities, beliefs...)

Only that my friends are extremely attractive, distinguished, witty and successful beyond compare, and you can easily become one of them.

Which designers or thinkers have impressed you the most lately or you are following now?
I like designers who adhere to a rigor, a discipline.  I also respect those who envisioned a different future, like Mies did, or who used materials in an interesting way, like Jean Prouve.  The way the architect Peter Zumthor uses stone in the Vals thermal baths is beautiful example of rigor, materials and beauty.  However, the designers who shaped my thinking most are my friends, people like DB Kim (Starwood Hotels) and Douglas Levine, both from Chicago.

What are the websites you could not live without?
Don't ask me to start.

What kind of activities are you planning to do in your free time in case you have any while at ID?
I am perfectly happy to have zero free time.  Graduate school has been my long-awaited goal.

This blank space is for you to tell people whatever you want about you. Thanks!
My younger sister Renee Kachudas-Cardani is a professional ballet teacher in Los Angeles, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in London.  Her husband, Darrin, does digital imaging software work for Apple.

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A new way to meet your fellow IDers

Name that Skull!
Do you know who this is?
Do you recognize this head?
If you guess right, you win something that is absolutely useless.

Send your guesses to newsletter@id.iit.edu

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Around Town: Take-out
by Lise Lynam

Speaking of engage... engaging... engagements!
Yes, yes, engagements!
by Eric Wilmot

He-hem. Stay with me now...

Following the Massive Change opening at the MCA, the festivities continued at "one of those bars" in the Gold Coast. Little did we know, this would prove the setting of some great fodder for anyone truly interested in "observing users". So there we were, a group of IDers caught up in our discussion about the trials and tribulations of Demo, Systems, Strategy, Personal Brand – when all of a sudden our bubble is POPPED! With a jerk and a screech as if the world stopped rotating – an event to top all expectations unfolded right before our very eyes. Providing an answer to the collective group's question of "why are we here?", we were treated to the amazing range of human rationale and sense of appropriateness. Right there, at the bar of this quasi-club scene, a Russian young woman no more than 19 was drunkenly proposed to by a 20-something Irishman in full regale – he even got down on his knees! (We know this because we just HAD to research this further). Stunned by the immediate set of events, we were amazed not only by her excited response of "YES, YES, YES!!!!", but by the crazy rock that supported this dude's proposition!

And the fun didn't stop there, no no. Following the affirmation, we were all treated to their deep-throating of one another's faces, "high-fives", football Sunday-type grunts and "Whooooo!!! Whoooooo!!!!!!!!!!", and declarations that "DeBeers is out of business..." (we're still not sure what that meant). Left reeling, we were hard pressed to know what to do – buy this guy a drink for his ambition, or get him a taxi home? Long and short of it, never judge a bar by it's cover – as ID students we're likely to be able to make any night crazy.

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Observed