FITC Amsterdam 2019 - Highlights
Clogs at the ready, Jack and Simon made their annual pilgrimage to Amsterdam for FITC, the design and tech event showcasing the future of innovation, design ‘and all the cool shit in between’.
FITC Amsterdam features the world’s most innovative, technical and creative talks that will inspire you to pursue your dreams and create your very best work. You’ll have the opportunity to meet and mingle with like-minded individuals who have the potential to become key collaborators throughout your career.
By all accounts this was a stellar year. Here are their highlights.
Day 1
Lauren Hom - Owner, Designer, Hom Sweet Hom
Famous for her bright colour palettes and playful letterforms, Detroit-based designer Lauren Hom has created work for the likes of Starbucks, Google, YouTube, and TIME Magazine. Not only was Lauren’s work outstanding, she was a great example of how to turn passion projects into something much bigger.
Dave Boyle - Designer / Developer, Globacore
Dave Boyle is a designer / developer at Globacore, a company who create fun and interactive installations all over the world. His work has been exhibited for clients including Samsung, Intel, and IEEE. This was an interesting look into the tech challenges as well as the myriad design decisions that got into an engaging VR experience.
Stephen Martell - VP, Creative Technology, Current Studios
In his talk, AI guru Stephen Martell discussed the problems and solutions in designing CoverGirl’s virtual receptionist — from design, to content creation, to implementing the available tech tools. Extremely exciting for the future!
Alon Chitayat - UX and Motion Designer, Google
Senior UX designer on Google Jamboard, Alon Chitayat gave an inspiring talk about the fun and creativity of drawing together, which featured some amazing drawing recognition machine learning.
Naomi Bower - Design Lead, TWG
A native of Toronto, Naomi began her adventures in tech over 15 years ago and is currently design lead at TWG. This was a great overview from the experienced “facilitator” on facilitating client meetings, persuasion, and other PM tools.
Dave Hogue - UX Design Lead, Google
Since 2013, Dave has been UX design lead at Google, coordinating collaborative efforts on Android design and research across devices to improve UX quality, cohesiveness, and consistency. This was a fantastic talk — Dave’s focus on the problem with parking kiosks resonated especially with Simon — and included an amazing chart that shows the true length of a project that results in a “simple” product.
Day 2
Sebastiaan Dorgelo - Experience Design Director, TRIMM
One of the digital craftsmen at Dutch digital agency TRIMM, Sebastiaan Dorgelo gave a great talk on user story mapping, the approach to extracting what the brief should really be, and collaborating with clients — something we’re also very keen on at Gravitywell.
Mike Hill - Designer, Mike Hill Design
Co-founder of Karakter Design Studio, Mike Hill is a designer for film & television (Blade Runner 2049, Game of Thrones) and top tier games (Call of Duty, Horizon: Zero Dawn). Mike took us on a journey through the psychology that underpins human stories that last. Examples included Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Captivating.
Mario Klingemann - Artist, Quasimondo
Mario Klingemann (aka Quasimondo) is best described by his Twitter bio — Artist, Neurographer, Coder, Data Collector, Archivist, Speaker. The multi-talented artist provided a standout moment for Simon, with his exciting presentation about artwork generated by neural networks. Surprising, human, and grotesque!
An independent interactive designer, illustrator and animator, Chris Gannon showcased his fun and amusing animated UI elements — Pop, Squeeze, Drag, Slop. He showed that just a little attention to the details can create a charming and memorable experience.
Phil Reyneri - VP Creative & Partnerships, Lightform
The exciting future of projection mapping everywhere! On your ceiling, your kitchen counter, your clock, you cupboards and even your vase! Phil Reyneri’s excellent talk covered project user interfaces, info screens, and making almost any object interactive.
Daniël Sytsma - Partner & Creative Director, Kraftwerk
Executive creative director at Studio Kraftwerk and chief design officer EMEA at Isobar, Daniel Sytsma showcased some lovely work. His gig economy platform park was a highlight — great branding, illustration and animation.
