Thanks to our good friend Fred Murrell, who took time to convey quite a nice bunch of speakers/contributors, we had a very lively and interactive session, with lots of discussions and exchanges between all the participants.

As for the previous sessions in Paris and Shanghai, the program was roughly divided in two parts : a set of presentations by invited speakers and an open space for Cumulus members. Not unsurprisingly, the “local” teachers got to know each other quite well, and decided to open up a bit the format of the session itself, by encouraging discussion and interaction. The setup did help for this matter, as we had a board meeting for the whole day, enabling proximity in a cosy environment.
The first speaker was Rafael Fajardo, who introduced several reflections about the outcomes of experimental “social” (as in “social activism”) games he developed through cooperative workshops. We went through a light and open discussion about the influence of games on digital culture, as it provided an opportunity for emotional engagement in digital systems.

We switched then quite smoothly to Hugh Graham from 1st Movement, who was the sole “business representative” of the session. We therefore asked him his opinion about the qualities, skills and knowledge expected from design education. His answer was quite clear : train autonomous, open and creative professionals with a true attention to users. Which lead us to the notion of tools and interaction with the users, a perfect transition for Michael Mages. He exposed the virtues of rapid sketches and low tech prototyping for problem solving.

After lunch break, the organisation has been a bit messed up as the fourth speaker, Joy Sikes,  didn’t show up. Nevertheless we switched then to the presentation by the Cumulus members. Pipsa Asiala from the Media Lab in Helsinki did a short presentation of the current activities of the department.

Last part of the afternoon was dedicated to the presentation of a long term collaboration between the web agency Markit On Demand (formely Wall Street On Demand), specialised in financial information display, and RMCAD Communications department. Erik Lennert, creative director of Markit, made a very clear and detailed description of a six months collaboration involving a whole group of student and a team of professional designers. Balancing pros and cons, he made a very encouraging conclusion about the reciprocical learning situations experienced by both the students and the designers.

This was an appropriate conclusion to the day, which happened in a very smooth and warmful way. We have to thank again the organisers at RMCAD, especially Fred Murrell who gathered this excellent panel.

The next session will be held in Helsinki during the spring’12 Cumulus conference ( May 24-26 2012) with the help of the Media Lab people. Details will be announced on this blog as soon as possible.

More pictures of the working group by Lindsay Roome
http://www.cumulusdenverphotos.blogspot.com

Frédéric Degouzon
Head of Strategy, L’École de design Nantes Atlantique
f.degouzon@lecolededesign.com
Follow @fdegouzon

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An overview of the French digital ecosystem

A four hour slot was dedicated to the working group’s session. First part featured invited speakers from the French local ecosystem, from 10:00 to 12:30 am.air castle slides

Benoît Drouillat, president of Designers Interactifs, the main professional organisation for interaction design in France, introduced the current state of the art in France : trends within the profession, the level of recognition by institutional partners, design education players and main figures. He outlined the multiplicity of terms and definitions and the effective lack of recognition of interaction design as a proper field of design practice, despite a quite healthy and active mix of well trained professional designers, innovative companies and studios, and valuable design courses. But as we’re in France, everything should be more complicated… Read the content of the presentation on Designers Interactifs website.

Virginia Cruz and Nicolas Gaudron from the design consultancy fim IDSL made a concise but complete overview of the process of innovation they engage with their clients (with a perfect fluent english, thanks Virginia). They drew the line quite efficiently between problem solving for applied innovative solutions to a broader social approach. Unfortunately we are not able to present their works for non disclosure matters, but there is a comprehensive portfolio of their projects on the IDSL website.

Some feedback from the Cumulus members : an “open mic” session

The second part in the afternoon was stuck with four presentations from various Cumulus members, with very little time for discussion unfortunately.inflatable roller ball

Dominique Sciamma, head of Strate Collège Designers, introduced the “Interactive Systems & Objects” programme.

Martin Zimper, head of the CAST programme at Zürich (Switzerland) ZHDK, made a nice introduction to this new department dedicated to new audiovisual formats & experiments for online and mobile media.

Niels Hendriks, a young researcher from KHLim Media and Design Academy in Genk (Belgium), shared with us the questions raised by the “Social Spaces” research group.

Finally, last but not least, Ulrich Schendzielorz from Schwäbisch Gmünd HfG (Germany) made a very efficient presentation of the Interaction Design BFA program in SG.

Next Cumulus Digital Culture is planned during the Cumulus fall conference in Denver, September 29th 2011. Fred Murell from RMCAD will introduce us to the fascinating IxD community in Colorado. Programme will be announced on this blog as soon as possible. Participation is open to Cumulus members, please send me a mail !

Frédéric Degouzon
Head of Strategy, L’École de design Nantes Atlantique
f.degouzon@lecolededesign.com
Follow @fdegouzon