2018 International Design Conference with Gabriel Ruegg
Gabriel Ruegg is an industrial designer who has worked in a number of industries, including pet products; toys; food-service hardware; and, most recently, mass-market, consumer kitchen products. His practice includes nuts-and-botls product design sustainability, strategy, design research, patent/ip research, branding, marketing, and UI/UX. His clients include retailers such as Williams Sonoma and Kohl’s, and brands such as KitchenAid and Martha Stewart.
Before becoming a faculty in the Product Design Major here at MCAD, Ruegg taught in the industrial design programs at Pratt Institute and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. It is also there where he received his MID (Master of Industrial Design).
source: https://www.internationaldesignconference.com/
This past September, Ruegg had the opportunity to attend and represent the Arts Entrepreneurship Department at the 2018 International Design Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. Here are some answers to what his experience was like!
1. What was the purpose of IDC and did you find the event to be successful?
IDC is the annual, national conference of the Industrial Designers* Society of America (IDSA), the primary professional organization for Industrial Designers. The purpose is to bring together the global community of designers and top creative minds each year for a few days of connection, inspiration and exchange.
The event took place in September in New Orleans. There were about 550 cross-disciplinary designers in attendance. The format consisted of presentations and skill-building workshops. Presenters responded to the prompt, “What do you design for?”, presenters shared their perspectives on topics spanning: Death, Creative Leadership, Diversity, Confrontation, Healthcare, Inclusion, Technology, Climate Change, Dystopia, Empowerment and more. As a professional organization, it’s also a network event, and in fact, I met a designer there who will be coming to speak at MCAD as part of the Visiting Artist Lecture series.
There was also a full day of presentations on design education, which was very helpful to me personally, as I develop the new Product Design major here at MCAD. So, yes, I’d consider it very successful!
2. Why did you attend the iDC?
Networking, inspiration, learning about design education.
3. What was it like to attend the conference? Can you tell us some detail about your experience?
The event was held in a former sugar mill that has been converted to an event space. The days started off with coffee and casual conversation, then a series of in-depth presentations. For lunch, the conference brought in a few different food trucks each day, so attendees had some delicious local food options. The only downside was that it was in the 90s and humid, so standing in line at the food trucks was kind of brutal coming from Minnesota! The afternoons consisted of a series of shorter presentations and workshops. Evenings were unscheduled and attendees gathered informally in small groups for dinner or exploration in the French Quarter and surrounding neighborhoods.
4. What were the key takeaways from the conference?
I guess I’d say the main thing for me was talking to other design educators about what works in their classrooms, and what doesn’t.
5. What inspires you to be a part of the MCAD community and teach product design?
The opportunity to be involved in starting a new major is a pretty rare thing. The field of industrial/product design is going through some big changes. For example, as more and more products include digital components, and the critical role designers can play in shaping the conversation about sustainability in all its forms.
The 2019 International Design Conference will be held in Chicago, Illinois. For more information on the conference visit their website at https://www.internationaldesignconference.com/
