“Design Redux” Looking to the past for ideas of the future
Each year, I have the distinct pleasure of orchestrating the Salesforce Design Leadership Conference. The 2017 event was a stone-cold funky affair with a decidedly retro theme.
We got our funk on with subjects that ranged from car and supersonic aircraft design to virtual reality, Detroit-made products, and film editing. Speakers included the legendary car designer, J Mays, technologists, Ashley Crowder and Ewan Johnson, supersonic aircraft engineer, Josh Krall, Daniel Caudill and Sky Yaeger from Detroit’s Shinola, Academy Award-winning editor, Lisa Frutchman, and rounding out the day was producer/humanitarian, Mick Ebeling.
The day grooved to a 1970’s funk soundtrack followed by modern day covers of that funk, films that were an homage to Saul Bass, and type design that took you back to an era of early nineteen-seventies graphic design.
And to put a cherry on top, call it serendipity, and just by coincidence, our theme meshed perfectly with the de Young’s exhibit: The Summer of Love.
