D.Talks is an ongoing series of panel discussions presenting practical information about current trends and hot topics in the world of design and business. Our goal is to foster robust dialog and critical thinking, so crowd participation is an integral part of each event.

How do you communicate design to non-designers? Learn how in-house creatives convey their worth to management.

Light refreshments will also be served before the seminar. RSVP today and check out the topics to be presented throughout 2009. Josh Levine invites everyone to grab a beer and talk business at The Tunnel Top, after May’s D.Talks. More Info.

Moderator/Host:
Josh Levine
Josh Levine is a Design Strategist and former board member of the San Francisco Chapter of AIGA. For over ten years Josh has helped global brands engage consumers and empower employees through design, strategy, and marketing programs.
His new firm, The Matter Collaborative, brings those same benefits to creative entrepreneurs, agencies, and their clients, helping them get the work they want by creating more value through positioning, messaging, and touchpoint design.

Panelists:
Kumi Akiyoshi
Kumi is a visual practice lead at Adaptive Path. She has more than ten years of visual design expertise with mobile devices, interactive platforms, and desktop applications. An integral part of her design philosophy is to bring humanity to high-tech product design and create meaningful experience that communicates emotionally with people.

Prior to joining Adaptive Path, Kumi served as the Creative Lead at Microsoft. There, she led efforts to refresh the visual identity system for MSN to create a cohesive brand expression that reinforces its positioning for global market. She also established the new visual identity system for Windows Live.

Past clients and employers include Nokia, Dorling Kindersley, Microsoft, and Philips Interactive. In addition to her project work, Kumi teaches interactive visual design workshops and created innovative ambient music media work exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London.

Ben Blumenfield
Ben Blumenfeld is the Communication Design manager at Facebook. With over 200 million active users, Facebook is fundamentally changing the way people share and communicate with each other. Ben’s team communicates Facebook’s brand and mission through product experience, web properties, and offline channels.

Prior to Facebook, Ben was a design director at Varien where he helped build Varien into one of the leading e-commerce firms in the world. He also worked as a designer at CBS where he designed sites for such shows as CSI, Survivor, and the Late Show with David Letterman.

Amos Klausner
Amos Klausner is a Brand Manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers, a firm with 30,000 employees providing audit, tax, and advisory services to many of the nation’s largest companies. He is also a writer and independent curator and is currently planning an exhibition about the work of Edith Heath and Heath Ceramics opening on May 30, 2009 at the Pasadena Museum of California Art.

Identity by Shawn Rosenberger, Thermostat
Event photos by Kyu Che, www.kyuche.com

1 Comment

On 5 May 2009 @ 11:18am, 11:18am Christine Arthur wrote:

Love the seminar subject. Wish I could attend but have a previous commitment. I hope it will be repeated again. Thanks.