Donna Lamar on “Creative I-D”

As Group Creative Director for Vice Media, Donna Lamar is intertwined with the youth culture and is gaining insights into how the creative process is evolving under the influences of the upcoming generation. “Every thing is fluid,” she explained in “Creative I-D”, her talk at January 2019’s In/Visible Talks conference, including race, gender, and sexuality. Generation Zs are defying definitions and breaking molds. Millennials, for example, had to wait for validation, for someone to say “You’re an artist”. Gen Zs, they just do it. They trust themselves. For them, she says, being creative is intuitive.
Yet, they’re also engaging in a messy world where being creative, now more than ever, is competitive. Artists, visionaries, philosophers, creators, makers, and influencers want to be seen and heard, in record numbers. “Are we creating to create,” Donna asked, “or are we creating for profit?”

Watch her thought-provoking talk here, then join the conversation.

Ivy Ross on “From Design Thinking to Design Feeling”

As Vice President of Design for Hardware Products, Ivy Ross’s job is “to figure out what it means to hold Google in your hand.” For her talk on “From Design Thinking to Design Feeling” for January 2019’s In/Visible Talks conference, she shared key steps and learnings from her team’s journey to the 2017 launch of Google’s first cohesive hardware line. They thought about what they were, what they were not. They brainstormed unique and brand-appropriate possibilities, they debated every word. Her job, she felt, was similar to that of an orchestra conductor, in that she held the vision and called in different parts as, together, they created the piece they wanted to play. “The magic,” she said, “happens when people’s gifts are amplified in harmony with one another.”

“Harmony” has played a major role in her life. In addition to sharing the backstory of the creation of their Empathy Lab, where they hope to solve problems at a deep level of human experience, Ivy talked about her personal quest to better understand the Universe and creativity. She has been, she says, the Product Designer of her own life, and she inspired us to do the same.

Watch—and listen to—her talk here. And prepare to have your mind blown when she gets to the part about her experiments with sound.

Randy Hunt on “Designing Almost Anything”

Following his talk at January 2019’s In/Visible Talks conference, Randy Hunt headed to the airport to start a new chapter of his career—destination Singapore, where he’ll be Head of Design for Grab. It was an exciting time to hear his thoughts about “Designing Almost Anything”.

Randy shared insights from how he designed his childhood bedroom (he was a fan of hip hop) to how he defines “total design—“a practice of intentionally creating responses by addressing and considering every variable of every touchpoint of an experience.” He introduced examples such as transportation at Disney World (all those touchpoints) and a bar in New York with a seemingly casual but very intentional design. “Sometimes,” he said, “design choices are choosing to not do something.”

Check out the video of his thought-provoking talk here.