Design Thinking Digest

The Minneapolis PhizzPop Design Challenge Results

A serious cold means this is a bit of a belated post about PhizzPop Minneapolis. If you’re not in the reading mood check the video above or look at deep dive videos with a number of players from the event.

PhizzPop Minneapolis occurred on one of the coldest days of the year in Minneapolis. Despite the minus 20 degree temperatures (and this is before we even start with that wind-chill crap) close to 300 folks came out to watch five digital agencies compete for a chance to go to SxSW.

The teams:

MOOV Worldwide (formerly Gestalt www.gestalt.tv/)

Hanson (www.hansoninc.com/)

Zeus Jones (http://www.zeusjones.com/)

space150 (http://www.space150.com/)

Colle+McVoy (www.collemcvoy.com/)

The Minneapolis design challenge was to develop a proof of concept for a new retail concept entering the U.S. in two test markets. The assignment is to demonstrate how technology can be used both in a store environment, in physical branding and promotions both in the store and out of the store, and via experiences on the store’s web site and third-party online web properties.

Zues Jones, paired up with Sierra Bravo won the event, sweeping both the popular audience vote and by wowing our panels of judges, which included:

David Reynolds-Gooch, Group Manager, 3M
Craig Yolitz, Vice President, Findlaw
Mark Hines, VP Strategic Services, Ratchet
Jen Klise, Innovation & Strategy, Target
Andrew Banas, Director of UXE, Alliance Life
Mike Gibbs, Group Creative Director, Fallon
Kathy Swanson, VP Marketing, Piper Jaffrey

So, what’s next for Zeus Jones and Sierra Bravo? They get the privilege of doing it all over again at SxSW with the winners of the other regional PhizzPop Design Challenge events.

Vote for your favorite panels at SxSW 2009

There a number of panels that I'm excited about at SxSW this year. Let SxSW know what you think of the following ideas. Know of other great panels that are worth a look? Promote them here in the comments. Those of us that know and love SxSW know that panel selection can be a crazy process. Are you submitting a similar idea? Passionate about a similar area? Drop a line and let me know at [email protected]

I love all these ideas but in terms of naming I've got to give props to David Crow and Nishant Kothary for their creative naming conventions. :)

The panel picker is located at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/

Session Title: Why Do Web Sites All Look Alike-
Organizer: Sean Seibel

Session Title: Crossing Over- Web Services in the Physical World
Organizer: Sean Seibel

Session Title: Mobile 2.0- The Next Frontier
Organizer: Chris Bernard

Session Title: Check the Mousetrap- Is the Mouse Dead, Yet-
Organizer: Chris Bernard

Session Title: Robots Rock- Human-Robot Interaction
Organizer: Will Tschumy

Session Title: Living in Glass Houses- Life Without Privacy
Organizer: Will Tschumy

Session Title: Battle of the Browsers- Round 2
Organizer: Chris Wilson

Session Title: Browsers Have Your Dirty Secrets
Organizer: Chris Wilson

Session Title: Math + Design = Art
Organizer: Chris Harrison  

Session Title: More than Pantones- Today’s Web Designer
Organizer: Nishant Kothary

Session Title: Why the F#$k Should I Care About RIA?
Organizer: Scott Barnes

Session Title: Finding Inspiration
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: The World Isn't Flat - Building the Next Silicon Valley
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: How to Demo Like a Demon
Organizer: David Crow

Session Title: Blame Canada - Innovation Beyond Government Programs
Organizer: David Crow

Chris Bernard's NEW Panel at SxSW. The Web Agency: There Will Be Blood

So I gave up one panel but get to do another and it's about another topic I'm passionate about, the future of the Web Agency. We've lined up some great folks to sit on this panel For those of you that follow my talks I promise to get off the 'perfect storm' and 'there will be blood' kick at SxSW : ). This new panel is:

The Web Agency: There Will Be Blood

Social media and a transition to digital marketing combined with an economic slowdown just might be the ingredients for a perfect storm in the world of marketing, advertising and Web agencies. There will be winners and losers when this happens. Learn what it means for you and folks in the middle and on the periphery.

• How social media, Web standards and the switch to digital is changing advertising and marketing.
• Learn how big and small companies, both new and old, are adapting.
• Hear about what is coming next and how you can take advantage of it.

I'll be moderating this panel and joining me will be Kevin Flatt, Executive Creative Director of Tribal DDB in Chicago, Brooke Nanburg, SVP of Creative at IP Pixel, Peter Eckert, Chief Creative Officer of Projekt202, and Garrick Schmitt, VP and author of AARF's annual digital outlook report. In the coming weeks I'll post up bios of who the panelists are (although SxSW might beat me to it on their site).

Changes in Chris Bernard's panels at SxSW

So a few changes at SxSW. Due to my workload I've decided to turn over a panel I was moderating to a peer from our Microsoft Surface team. The panel below...

Hollywood and Design and Literature: Just who is inspiring who?

Gattaca, Minority Report, Children of Men, Battlestar Galatica. Cinema and television inspire technologists and vice versa. Who’s driving who these days? Join interaction designers and some of Hollywood’s best special effects artists and story tellers and discover how convergence in these two worlds is already happening.

• A review of Hollywood inspiration.
• A debate on what’s really coming in the future.
• A discussion on how science fiction and Hollywood inspires us.

...is now going to be moderated by Evan Hirsch (Those of you that hang around Siggraph or ACM have probably heard Evan speak a number of times). In the coming weeks I'll post up bios of who the panelists are (although SxSW might beat me to it on their site) but other panelists include Joe Crump, Rhazes Spell, Lisa Sanders and Marty Kline.