What is the Distributed Design Academy?

The 2020 Distributed Design Academy concept will be based around up-skilling designers and makers working in digital fabrication and empowering them with a set of tools to help them meet new and emerging markets.

Students of the Academy will have peer to peer sessions guided by the expert team members at Fab Lab Barcelona: Alessandra Schmidt, Santi Fuentemilla, Milena Juarez, Marcel Rodríguez and Guillem Camprodon. Alongside this and the public talks from experts, the participants will work distributedly in interactive sessions. The Academy methodology was proudly designed by the Future Learning research area at Fab Lab Barcelona. 

Every Thursday from 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST) on Distributed Design’s Facebook Live the Distributed Design Academy will host a different speaker for the whole month of October. The speakers are experts in different fields, from business models to communication. The sessions are free to watch and definitely not to be missed! Find out who is joining us below??

Live Talks! What’s on and when?

“Building innovative business models for 2020 and beyond” with Joseph Klatt (Precious Plastic)

When? 1st October, 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST), Distributed Design Facebook Live.

Joseph Klatt is also known as the Business Guy at Precious Plastic. In this talk, guest speaker Joseph will discuss the principles of business modelling. Crafting a business model is a key component of ensuring the sustainability of you and your projects. This talk will cover the basic building blocks when you are just getting started, and walk you through the tools for you to apply to your ideas. We will also show how Precious Plastic has used these concepts to assist our community of organisations around the world and Precious Plastic itself as the umbrella organisation.

“Designers! Step aside and share the process of creation” with Katrine Hasseldahl (Royal College of Art) 

When? 8th October, 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST), Distributed Design Facebook Live.

Katrine Hasseldahl is a PhD student at the Burberry Material Futures Research Group at the Royal College of Art (RCA). In this talk, guest speaker Katrine will discuss elements of scaling production. New manufacturing technologies are enabling new methods of production, which are completely different from conventional mass production. This also changes the conventional  ‘rules’ of who can participate in production, and at what scale, where, and when production takes place. This talk gives an overview, from the perspective of a product designer, of the key ways in which new distributed methods of production are changing the industry of design. We will explore how on-demand, local forms of production affect the relationship between producers and consumers, how it is changing the role of designers, and how, if designers learn to use it wisely, it might offer more sustainable alternatives to conventional mass production.

“Crafting tech from waste” with Tom Meades (Gomi) 

When? 15th October, 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST), Distributed Design Facebook Live.

Tom Meades is the co-founder and manages product & process at Gomi. In this talk, Tom will discuss how we can design for good. Technology is one of the most polluting industries on Earth, designer and co-founder of Gomi, Tom Meades began exploring the concept of making waste valuable, through redesigning the beloved tech products of our generation. Tom co-founded Gomi in 2018 and created a team of innovators who have since brought to life a series of tech products made from locally sourced waste materials, such as non-recyclable plastic waste, and most recently reclaimed battery cells. Join the talk to find out more about how Gomi is proving tech essentials can be made sustainably, and how they are building the systems to turn waste into consumer electronic products.

“Connecting with purpose” with Emma Koubayssi (Animas Coaching) 

When? 22nd October, 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST), Distributed Design Facebook Live.

Emma Koubayssi is Head of Social Impact at Animas Coaching. In this talk, Emma will discuss how we can communicate design. For the past 15 years, Emma Koubayssi has been working with individuals and brands to develop and communicate purpose. In this session, she’ll blend her skills, passion and knowledge as a transformational coach and award-winning communicator and storyteller to deep dive into this concept. Together you’ll explore the evolution of brand purpose, the importance of understanding your why, what we can learn from brand adoption and the future of purpose.

“Form, impact, context: the design to improve life pillars” with Mariano Alesandro (The Index Project) 

When? 29th October, 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST), Distributed Design Facebook Live.

Mario Alesandro is the Head of Future Thinking & Technology at The Index Project. In this talk, Mariano will discuss how to make impact in our designs. Form isn’t enough when designing solutions to global challenges, impact and context are equally important, and perhaps even more. Together the three are the pillars of design to improve life. We’ll discuss these concepts and see some of the best design to improve life examples coming from the Index Award.

Join us!

Interested in joining our sessions? Make sure to join us every Thursday, from 15:30 – 16:30 (CEST) for the Distributed Design Academy sessions with our experts. The live sessions are free for all.

This activity was made possible with the support of the ‘Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte de España’ and acts as an additional resource for the Distributed Design Academy 2020