Event Report
Politecnico di Milano
Design Workshop Week 2024
Following last year, the head of Creative Center, Daisuke Ishii held a workshop as a Visiting Professor of Politecnico di Milano, School of Design with several designers in February. The workshop was a one-week course, which saw talented students from different countries with a variety of skills such as Integrated Product Design and Digital and Interaction Design. The theme of the workshop was "Evolution and expansion of furniture for the future," and each group came up with a holistic approach to propose a new user experience in which technology supports our daily lives.
Politecnico di Milano Design
Workshop Week 2024
- Date:
- February 12-16, 2024
- Theme:
- Evolution and expansion of furniture for the future
- Output:
- Furniture for home/office/public space for 2025
Product, UI/UX, customer journey and branding. - Participants:
- Students of Politecnico di Milano
Integrated Product Design
Digital and Interaction Design
Workshop Outputs
- Grand Award: Group 4 'Oasis Hub'
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As remote work is increasing, Oasis Hub focused on personalization and adaptability in shared workspaces. Through UI/UX, the workspace can be easily customized to suit personal preferences. The layout can be altered thanks to its modular design.
- Product Design Award: Group 1 'hydria'
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It is sometimes difficult to maintain boundaries between work and personal time when telecommuting. HYDRIA is an ambient projector that solves this problem. The images projected from the water-motif projector encourages one to relax.
- Spatial Design Award: Group 2 'OKAERI'
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A smart coat hanger that provides a refreshing and comfortable space upon returning from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Going beyond the conventional functionality, OKAERI greets you by projecting gentle and relaxing images on the ceiling. It also deodorizes your coat when hung.
- Visual Design Award: Group 3 'mem - More Enhanced Memories'
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A proposal to enjoy memories by combining nostalgic photos with fragrance, light, and sound to enhance the experience. The round shape and operation of mem resembles that of a vinyl record.
- Strategy Design Award: Group 5 'LANDESCAPE'
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A proposal that explored how technology can improve the quality of life. Land/Escape, which aims to expand comfortable and attractive interior spaces in the home, embodies the concept "calm technology" that the team had from day one.
- UIUX Design Award: Group 6 'OPAL'
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A proposal for a device to connect distant colleagues and friends while working remotely, which at times makes us feel isolated. A suitable interaction can be selected from touch screen, voice recognition, and auditory feedback.
Design Talk
Workshop Week
Workshop Week 2024 featured workshops by several companies, including Sony. During this week, a Design Talk was hosted, where professors of each workshop introduced their thoughts and answered questions from the students about the current and future role of design, and the possible impact of design culture in an ever-changing society.
Aside from Daisuke Ishii heading Sony's design team, the speakers included Prof. Francesco Zurlo, Prof. Venanzio Arquilla from the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano, and international designers and researchers who lectured the other workshops such as Mr./Ms. Duy Phong Marie-Thérèse Cassidy, John Thackara, and Pieter Desmet.
Prof. Venanzio ArquillaProgramme Board Coordinator of the M.Sc. in Integrated Product Design
Politecnico di Milano - School of Design
The Politecnico di Milano Scuola del Design has always believed in the model of workshops, week-long project activities with international designers and companies, who bring a brief or a real theme that give students the opportunity to experience a real-life design situation as they approach the world of work.
The collaboration with Sony represents one of the peaks of excellence for the quality of the themes proposed, the competence and passion conveyed by Daisuke Ishii - sensei and the involvement of the members of the design team who make the students feel the multidisciplinary and open atmosphere of a design team of international level.
The concepts developed and the students' satisfaction, despite the complexity of the theme and the short time available, certify the value of the formula but also the opportunity for the company. Specifically, the workshops provide an original insight into the new generations that will be the users of the future. Designing with and for these generations in addition to the results themselves always generates a return in terms of understanding the generational dynamics linked to new customs and habits. Finally, it also allows the company to identify possible young talents.
We are extremely honoured to be able to collaborate with Sony and hope to continue in this direction in search of new scenarios to humanise technology.
Photos and workshop presentation material by courtesy of Politecnico di Milano, School of Design.