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From politics to climate change: Speakers discuss 'worldbuilding' design work at School of Design Talks

Held last year as part of the School of Design Talks series, DePaul was one of only four universities selected to host the prestigious Design Incubation Colloquium in 2018. The event, which included a keynote address by Kelly Bishop, VP of product and design at The Onion, featured presentations from communication design academics and professionals across the USA.
Held last year as part of the School of Design Talks series, DePaul was one of only four universities selected to host the prestigious Design Incubation Colloquium. The event featured presentations from communication design academics and professionals across the United States. This year's School of Design Talks series kicks off on Friday, Oct. 25. (Image courtesy of Stephanie Nikolas)
On Oct. 25, DePaul will launch the 2019 School of Design Talks series, featuring leading designers who have created innovative responses to the personal, local and global challenges of the 21st century. The series is free, and members of the campus community can RSVP to events as they become available.

Organized by the College of Computing and Digital Media’s School of Design, the lectures and workshops facilitate networking, idea exchange and collaboration among students, faculty, and industry professionals. The theme of this year’s speaker series is worldbuilding—including politics, climate change and ethics in design. A diverse slate of speakers from around the globe who work in game design, graphic design and typography, user experience, and emerging technologies such as AR and VR will take the stage at these events. 

“A primary goal of the series is to highlight historically marginalized and underrepresented voices who are at the edge of something new and important,” says Heather Quinn, assistant professor in the School of Design and director of SoD Talks. 

The 2019-20 speaker series will kick off on Oct. 25 with Antionette Carroll, CEO and founder of The Creative Reaction Lab, which educates, trains and challenges Black and Latinx youth to become leaders designing healthy and racially equitable communities.

Other highlights this year include designer Scott Starrett and AR/VR artist Tamiko Thiel. Starrett, who created the powerful design behind the campaign of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, will give a talk on branding and run the workshop “Protest your Cause (Action Kit Building).” Berlin-based media artist Thiel will discuss her work on climate change, which has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

New this year, the talks will be livestreamed. For more information visit cdm.depaul.edu/designtalks.