Ti Chang: Products for women, by women

When she became the first female industrial designer at Trek, Ti Chang realized that since her field had so few women, real women were underserved by the products companies create. This sparked her mission to design products for women, by women. Watch...after your kids are safely tucked into bed. For more information, visit poptech.org.

Ti Chang is the Co-Founder and VP of Design of CRAVE, a San Francisco-based company specializing in discreet and beautifully designed luxury sex toys. The DUET, Ti’s first design at CRAVE, debuted through a crowd-funding project, which ultimately secured over $100K from over 900 donors and become the world's first crowdfunded sex toy. Since then, Ti has continued to lead the concept and design for the company’s full line of products, including its celebrated foreplay jewelry. 

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Erika Hall: Asking "why?"

What is the world like now? What should it be like? Mule Design co-founder Erika Hall makes the case that the design process is simply determining the space between “is” and “should.” She argues that designers must also be philosophers, and that the question “why?” is their most vital tool. For more talks, visit poptech.org.

Erika Hall is the author of Just Enough Research. In 2001, she co-founded Mule Design Studio in San Francisco where she is the Director of Strategy. Erika speaks and writes frequently about cross-disciplinary collaboration and the importance of natural language in user interfaces. In her spare time, she battles empty corporate jargon at Unsuck It.

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George Arriola: Mashing it up

George is a hybrid with a wide-ranging background that includes roles at Sony and Apple, to name a few. Here he discusses three world-changing products that wouldn't exist without a hybrid approach. Watch and learn about what can happen when we mash things up with this hybrid mentality. For more information, visit poptech.org.

George Arriola is an entrepreneur, craftsman, product guy, (a)rchitect, type designer, nerd, otaku, sous chef, and epiphany engineer. He is currently founder and CEO at a skunk_works product design boutique known as Minimalisms, and is a Founder, President & Chief Product Officer at Monohm Inc. Monohm exists to create New Necessities™ crafted on core values: heirloom, connection, control, ecosystem - Heirloom Electronics™. Previously, as Founder / CXO at zeroº (zero360, inc.) a stealth wearable hardware and platform company. 

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Phil Gilbert: Transforming "companies of a certain age"

How does a century-old company thrive in the century to come? IBM’s Phil Gilbert believes that progress starts with people, and how he focuses on the heart of his team, not just its size.

As General Manager of IBM Design, Phil Gilbert sets the strategy for and leads the transformation of product design at IBM. His team is focused on three things: recruiting & retaining top designers, scaling the consistent practice of great design across IBM, and simplifying access to IBM’s broad portfolio of capabilities. Previously, Phil led the Business Process Management segment for IBM, where he drove the simplification of its portfolio and the ease-of-use of its products.

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Ben Fry: Design as the last line of defense

We hear a lot about big data, but less about how to make it useful. Ben Fry discusses how he puts reams of data through the filter of design to turn information into understanding.

Ben Fry is Founder and Principal of Fathom Information Design, a design and software consultancy located in Boston. He holds a Ph.D. in Aesthetics and Computation from MIT. Fry has authored and co-authored multiple books on data visualization and develops "Processing" -- the programming environment he co-created with artist Casey Reas used by designers and developers all over the world. Fast Company includes Ben on its lists of “The 50 Most Influential Designers in America” and “The Most Creative People in Business 1000.”

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Eddie Opara: The art of spectacle

Graphic designers create logos, books, brochures—and in Eddie Opara’s case, robots that make cocktails. In this talk, the partner at design firm Pentagram discusses his ambition to design awe-inspiring spectacles.

Eddie Opara studied graphic design at the London College of Printing and Yale University, where he received his MFA in 1997. He began his career as a designer at ATG and Imaginary Forces and worked as an art director at 2x4 before establishing his own studio, The Map Office, in 2005. Opara and The Map Office team joined Pentagram’s New York office in 2010. Opara is a multi-faceted designer whose work encompasses strategy, design and technology. 

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Anab Jain: Designing the Future

Anab Jain: Designing the future from PopTech on Vimeo.

Anab Jain is a designer, filmmaker, founder and director of the London-and-India-based design studio Superflux, which runs in partnership with Jon Ardern. The studio consistently produces inventive and critical work exploring the limits of emerging technologies and their implications on society and culture.

Kevin Slavin: Debunking Luck

Pioneering gamer Kevin Slavin takes the PopTech audience on a colorful tour of the history of luck in America, games of chance, gambling and mathematical formulas.

“That’s amazing, the idea that anything that seems to be built out of chance or instinct or luck can yield to a computational assault.”

As an entrepreneur, Slavin has successfully integrated digital media, game development, technology and design.

He is a pioneer in rethinking game design and development around new technologies (like GPS) and new platforms (like Facebook).

Kevin Slavin: Debunking luck from PopTech on Vimeo.

Joe Palca: NPR's "Big Idea"

NPR’s Joe Palca sits down with chemist and inventor Bryan Shaw, and biomedical engineer Maria Oden to discuss their work and what drives them to design life-saving devices for our most vulnerable populations.

NPR’s Joe Palca sits down with chemist and inventor Bryan Shaw, and biomedical engineer Maria Oden to discuss their work and what drives them to design life-saving devices for our most vulnerable populations.

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Anab Jain: Designing the Future

“This sort of speculative work explores the remarkable potential of technology and its new experiential aesthetics.” Anab Jain talks about design in a future world of insect cyborgs, mass surveillance, DNA monetization and guerilla infrastructure.

Krista Donaldson's Design Revolution

Krista Donaldson runs D-Rev: Design Revolution, which creates world class products—market and user driven—designed to meet the needs of the four billion people all over the world living on less than four dollars a day.

Simonetta Carbonaro: Liquid societies

Simonetta Carbonaro, a consumer psychologist, encourages us to think differently about consumption. She reminds us that a consumer-hungry outlook for cheaper and faster is outdated, and that we now know that consuming and producing less, in fact, creates more jobs, more free time, and more happiness.

Pop!Tech Social Innovation Fellow Emily Pilloton on Colbert

Way to hold your own, Em!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Emily Pilloton
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

Emily Pilloton wants to create things that aren't just well designed, but have a positive social impact.

Learn more about Project H and the Design Revolution Road Show taking social innovation to schools across the US.

Oh, did we mention the airstream trailer-slash-design gallery?