What is TouchPoint?

TouchPoint is an informal gathering of Professional, Industry, Research, Education and Design Students interested in fostering a culture of design and opportunities for interchange. TouchPoint is the first event for the proposed Interaction Design Research Centre (IDRC) at SFU’s Surrey Campus, aligned with the SIAT program (School of Interactive Arts and Technology). The IDRC has a broad membership of Faculty across the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology (FCAT), at Simon Fraser University. TouchPoint has been organized by SIAT Design Faculty members, Ron Wakkary and Russell Taylor. The first TouchPoint event will be held at SFU Surrey, February 16 and 17. We hope that you will take time to be part of this event.

We see TouchPoint as the first in a series of annual events that will bring together expertise and opportunity in new ways. The first event will be informal. The intent of the event is to create opportunity for the constituent audiences who will attend.

For students:

TouchPoint will be an opportunity to hear what is going on in industry and professional practice from the leading companies in our field. The companies invited to attend in most cases have historically been some of the highest employers of SIAT students and graduates. Each company will present a topic in a theme, and then a panel will follow in which synergy can be pursued across the multiple views and outlooks. Students will have the opportunity (by competition) to have one-on-one interviews with those companies who are recruiting for internships or other opportunities or who simply wish to speak to our students one-on-one to gauge the potential fit of the SIAT students with their organization. A second day will provide an opportunity to show work to the companies and other invited guests, as well as the professional Interaction Design community in Vancouver who may be able to attend. On the second day any companies who wish to do follow-up interviews will have the opportunity to do so.

For the invited Industry Firms who present:

TouchPoint will provide an opportunity to connect with SIAT, SFU and the IDRC in a substantive way. To build networks and relationships. They will have the opportunity to meet our students and see their work as to the potential firm within the organization to fulfill needs and to establish working relationships through the students and graduates of the SIAT Design program. They will have the opportunity to connect to the thriving and active professional Interaction Design community in Vancouver, many of whom are graduates of the SIAT Design program. And they will have an opportunity to see what other companies are doing and thinking about.

For Interaction Design Professionals:

TouchPoint will provide the opportunity for local professionals to connect with the invited companies and network. To share ideas and to work at creating a stronger culture for exchange through the IDRC network. These individuals may find ways in which their companies may be able to connect to the IDRC, to SIAT and to SFU. And it will provide the opportunity to do professional development and connect across the culture with other professionals. SIAT graduates will find the opportunity to connect back to their alma mater and the larger networked community that has been fostered over the years.

For SIAT, SFU and the IDRC:

TouchPoint will allow us to connect to the outside world, with professionals who are on the cutting edge of processes and business opportunity. And in turn the IDRC will provide potential research, funding and platforms for collaboration with education and research at the highest level. The Interaction Design Research Centre can be a locus point for collaboration, exchange and excellence. SIAT Design can and should be at the centre of this domain.

What is The Interaction Design Research Centre?

The Interaction Design Research Centre is dedicated to enhancing the efficacy, capacity, and quality of interaction design research locally and internationally.

Key objectives for the centre include:

• Support the sharing of existing design knowledge and research with end users of technologies and designers engaged in meeting their needs;
• Advance new ideas, methods, and concepts in interaction design;
• Expand the recognition, role and scope of interaction design in industry, government, financial and other organizations;
• Promote interdisciplinary research and collaborations in interaction design;
• Engage industry, community organizations, and government on the role and opportunities for design knowledge, quality of design of interaction design technologies, systems and interaction design related research and training;
• Enhance the ability of organizations to engage with their constituencies through interaction design;
• Partner with professional interaction design firms and companies to broaden awareness of the value of interaction design research and opportunities for collaborative research and training;
• Support undergraduate and graduate training, internships and placements in interaction design related fields.

The Interaction Design Research Centre aims to embody a community engaged, socially conscious outlook, and interdisciplinary approaches that best exemplify SFU research. The centre aims to contribute to research excellence at SFU and demonstrate the relevance and efficacy of its goals and vision to the larger world. Exploring new ideas and advancing research in interaction design will be central among the key objectives of the centre. The centre will draw on research strengths of SFU researchers who have advanced new ideas in areas of mobile, wearable, ubiquitous, and tangible computing that have led to new understandings of human interaction, learning, entertainment, art, environmental sustainability, cultural heritage, design, and other areas.

Speakers:

• Crispin, Porter + Bogusky — Matt Walsh
• frog design — Matt Conway
• Habanero — Caterina Sanders
• SAP — Rock Leung
• LVL — Marie-Claude Lavoie and Richard Z'Graggen
• Adobe — Ryan Betts

Schedule

Symposium Program: Thursday, February 16

• Morning — Two theme talks x 3-4 firms each/ half day, followed by TWO panels
• Afternoon — Each company will have a chance to do their own one-on-one session, selected and screened students go to each company, show portfolio and have one-on-one time with the industry rep
• Students must submit an application for the opportunity of the Face to Face sessions, and selection will be based on fit with the Company’s domain of practice by way of evidence within an online portfolio of work.

Symposium Program: Friday, February 17

• Design showcase follows the second day. All SIAT students will be given the opportunity to have work shown but a total of only 15 team projects will be shown. The student team does not need to be available or participate in the one-on-one sessions, and vice versa. If students are selected for both, it creates the opportunity for the industry representatives to see them and their work in multiple contexts and formats. Industry reps may ask for a second one-on-one or to meet new students at the showcase. If any interviews are necessary, they can take place at this time.

Full Schedule

Face-to-face sessions: student opportunity to speak to firms

• SIX sessions with SIX design firms (during a two hour span on the Thursday). Ten minutes a piece per session, one-on-one with the firm. Thus, in two hours, that’s 12 go-sees per firm. 12 x 6 = 72 total slots. What? Portfolio, face to face time.
• Students: Students: Submit your portfolio to be considered by the symposium directors for interviews with clients. Groups may submit their projects using the online submission tool here.
• You can be considered for up to three slots. We want to match up the student portfolio to the firm. Example: Crispin Porter hires primarily for Experience Design. We want them to see a work portfolio that most clearly connects to that firm’s experience and hiring needs. This works best for the firm whose needs are primary in this session. Students to submit order of preference. A minimum 30 students will get to see at least one (3 x 30 = 90). Our goal is to provide an opportunity to show at least once for 50 students.

Please RSVP your participation in the symposium day and the showcase using the big orange RSVP NOW button