Thursday September 17, 2009
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Accelerator Centre
Meeting Room #2
295 Hagey Blvd., Waterloo
[Map]
In February of this year, we enjoyed a visit from Scott Berkun, who filled the RIM Theatre for a lively discussion of the myths of innovation. This month, Scott’s with us again in spirit as we kick off the 2009-2010 season with a fun event that he first imagined almost 10 years ago: the design interactionary.
What is a design interactionary?
In a design interactionary, small teams of typically 4 people work together on solving a design problem. The catch? You have only 10 minutes. The pressure of producing a completed design concept in only 10 minutes is, as you might guess, quite insane. But it’s also insanely fun!
This event was originally designed to take place on-stage during large conferences. Audience members could witness design teams work through their challenges live, one team after another. Judges would score each team’s efforts and declare a winner. If you’re curious to learn more, check out this essay on Scott’s website.
How we’re adapting the interactionary format
We’re changing the event format slightly, to make it more suitable for a smaller group in which everyone can participate. Our plan is to form teams of 3 or 4 people. We’ll still get only 10 minutes per design challenge, but the teams will work simultaneously. There’ll be no scoring and we’ll have no judges aside from other participants, since we’ll be presenting our final work to each other.
We hope to complete at least 3 design challenges. They’ll be fun and won’t require any specialized knowledge, so everyone is welcome to participate!
Want to suggest a design challenge?
If you’ve got a great idea for a design challenge, please email it to uxgroup (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll keep the challenges secret until the last minute!
RSVPs requested
If you’re hoping to attend, please help us anticipate numbers by RSVP’ing to Wanda Eby at Communitech. Thanks!
