The Art of Collaboration: SEGD's Annual Exhibition & Experience Design Symposium

The Art of Collaboration, an initiative of the Society for Environmental Graphic Design(SEGD), will explore the impact of Multi-disciplinary collaboration from the perspective of clients, designers, fabricators, and educators. The one-and-a-half-day symposium will gather exhibition and experience designers, media software developers, graphic artists, architects, fabricators, clients, educators, and students for a focused dialogue on how collaborations work, why they sometimes fail, and how members of design teams can best work together to create a successful outcome.

"The most inspired design is created by multi-disciplined, innovative co-conspirators working together toward a unified purpose: to elevate the user experience," commented Cybelle Jones, Principal and Studio Director for Gallagher & Associates and Chair of the symposium. "We're using this event to gather those co-creators and compare best practices, understand effective processes-and even collaborative failures-to expand our views through honest dialogue."

The Art of Collaboration will feature a diverse range of speakers from all aspects of experience design, including Kenneth Luker, AIA, Principal of The Freelon Group in Durham and President of NC State College of Design's Design Guild Board of Directors; exhibit designer and SEGD Board member Jen Bressler, Hunt Design; and graphic designer and NC State alumni Susan May, Pentagram.

The symposium will launch with case studies of two Raleigh exhibition projects that benefitted from the art of collaboration: the Institute for Emerging Issues at the new Snøhetta-designed Hunt Library at NC State (opening Fall 2012) and the recently opened Nature Research Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Anita R. Brown-Graham, Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, will lead a tour of the Hunt Library and in-progress installation of the IEI Commons prior to her presentation with her team of experience developers: Cybelle Jones, Gallagher & Associates; Julie Beeler, Second Story Interactive; and Eric King, 1220 Exhibits.

Roy Campbell, Director of Exhibits and Emerging Media for the Museum of Natural Sciences, will lead a tour of the museum and introduce the team he assembled to conceive and create new museum exhibits. Exhibition designer Andrew Merriell (Andrew Merriell & Associates), multimedia designer Linda Batwin (Batwin + Robin Productions), lighting designer David Weiner, and A/V system designer Yiannis Cabolis (Electrosonic) will share the challenges of working collaboratively.

The symposium will also address how design educators can best prepare students for the demands of working with complex collaborative teams. Meredith Davis, Professor of Graphic Design and Director of Graduate Programs in Graphic Design, will share how NC State has evolved its curriculum to address the shifting multi-disciplinary aspects of the design profession.

Students and faculty in NC State's Graduate Program in Graphic Design will also participate in the symposium, presenting their work on museum projects including a user experience study and a media element for the Hunt Library.

The symposium will begin Thursday, October 4, with an afternoon behind-the-scenes tour of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, followed by a pre-symposium reception and registration. Friday's full-day symposium will kick off with a tour of the Institute for Emerging Issues, followed by symposium sessions at the College of Design.