Collective Design: Equipping Designers for the Future

Dec 03, 2024 By Jessica Jones

The fifth season of our popular webinar series gives design professionals key insights and tools to navigate the changing landscape of the profession — and to create positive change

By Jessica Jones Dec 03, 2024

Published in Articles

The future is coming fast, and in the fifth season of Collective Design, we navigate uncertainty and spotlight opportunities to deepen our craft, forge stronger connections, and move our industry forward.

Design leaders and experts gathered to share essential knowledge on sustainability, AI, the power of experience, and the necessity of equity and inclusion, offering insights that empower and enable designers to enhance their individual practice and strengthen their firms.

With four episodes and a special series on the state of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the design industry, this season of Collective Design brings together futurists, sustainability specialists, strategists, and top minds from various corners of design to assess where we’re at, where we’re going, and how to create a built environment , that consistently serves everyone.

Listen in on conversations led by IIDA Executive Vice President and CEO, Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA; Mark Bryan, IIDA, a Senior Foresight Manager at the Future Today Institute and IIDA’s Futurist-in-Residence; Ryan Anderson, Vice President of Global Research and Insights at MillerKnoll; and other design leaders.

Below you’ll find a description of each episode, along with one great quote from the conversation.

Episode One | Building Sustainable Communities

In this very special Collective Design episode, IIDA presents a keynote address by renowned urban revitalization specialist and MacArthur Fellow Majora Carter, followed by a post-keynote discussion on design’s role in building sustainable communities. The discussion is led by IIDA EVP and CEO Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, with Ronnie Belizaire, FIIDA, immediate past president of IIDA’s International Board, and Dr. Angie Scott of the International WELL Building Institute.

Watching people recognize the value that exists in their own communities is such a beautiful thing. Recently, in my work, I’ve recognized that community members understand the gold mine that is their communities and they don’t want to give it away for pennies.

Ronnie Belizaire

This webinar is for IIDA Members only — log in to access.

Speakers:
Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, Executive Vice President and CEO, IIDA
Majora Carter, Economic Revitalization Strategist, MacArthur Fellow, and Lecturer at Princeton University
Ronnie Belizaire, FIIDA, Studio Practice Leader and Principal, HKS
Dr. Angie Scott, Ph.D, Director, Community Concept and Health Equity Lead, International WELL Building Institute

Episode Two | Where Next? Equipping Designers for Future Tech

In this episode IIDA convenes experts for an in-depth conversation on AI and future tech. In which direction will those technologies take us? How can designers best use these new tools to create the future of design?

Moderator:
Ryan Anderson, Vice President of Global Research and Insights, MillerKnoll

Panelists:
Sarah Clair, IIDA, Vice President, Director of Technical Excellence for Interiors, HKS
Rolando Mendoza, Founder/President, Integrated Design Technology Solutions

The concept of fun, play, and joy has to be front and center in terms of how we engage with new tools. We need to have that child-like approach to the way we begin to interact with these tools.

Rolando Mendoza

For full details on earning 1 IDCEC CEU credit for this program, visit the academy page.

Episode Three | The Future of Experience

Live at NeoCon 2024, this episode examines how experiential design is changing the face of design at large, and how experience will intersect with and empower the future of design and designers.

Moderated by:
Mark Bryan, Senior Foresight Manager, Future Today Institute, and IIDA’s Futurist-in-Residence

Panelists:
Lauren Rottet, FIIDA, President and Founding Principal, Rottet Studio
Upali Nanda, Global Sector Director, Innovation, HKS
Brian Graham, IIDA, Founder and Creative Director, Graham Design
Lori Mukoyama, IIDA, Global Leader of Hospitality and Principal, Gensler

Recently, I was challenged not with a design brief but an emotional brief. It was something where I had to first understand from an empathetic perspective what kind of feeling, emotion and what kind of desired outcome and experience did the products need to enable.

Brian Graham

For full details on earning 1 IDCEC CEU credit for this program, visit the academy page.

Episode Four | Tapping Into Next Gen Design Wisdom

In this episode, we collect the wisdom of the next generation of design leadership. We convene emerging designers for a discussion around how they see design’s future evolving; what their priorities are; how they are cultivating career success; and how they communicate with clients, manufacturers, and firm principals as young leaders.

Moderated by:
Cheryl S. Durst, Hon. FIIDA, Executive Vice President and CEO, IIDA

Panelists:
Paul Burd, Ind. IIDA, Business Development Manager, The HON Company
Elidet Guerrero, Assoc. IIDA, Senior Interior Design Professional
Peter Harrison, Assoc. IIDA, Interior Designer, Climate Action and Sustainability Specialist, Gensler
Vanessa Thanh Vu, Senior Interior Designer, Associate, DLR Group and Co-Owner, 2d Restaurant

I think there is a real sense of connection that’s needed now more than ever because so many of us went through so much turmoil and changes with COVID. The idea of work and life being these binaries that are separated by a very hard line has been totally disrupted.

Peter Harrison

For full details on earning 1 IDCEC CEU credit for this program, visit the academy page.

Special Series | The State of EDI

In this three-part special series, sponsored by Tarkett, we convene industry leaders for a trio of conversations exploring equity, diversity, and inclusion across the design industry. Thought leaders discuss how we can build diversity into the design process, creating equity across communities and the broader society we design for.

Intersectional Design: Community, Diversity, and Sustainability (Part 1)

Moderated by:
George Bandy, Jr., Ind. IIDA, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, Andersen Corporation

Panelists:
Lee Bey, Chicago Sun-Times Architecture Critic and Member of the Editorial Board
Maya Bird-Murphy, Founder and Executive Director, Mobile Makers
Annamaria Leon, Co-owner, Homan Grown L3C and Co-founder, Permaculture Chicago