Events
Dave Franchino, president and principal of Design Concepts, was invited to share his product design experiences on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on February 7th. Dave was pleased to return to his alma mater to speak at The Lindbergh Lectures. The engaging topic focused on the questions “What is innovation?” and “Where does innovation come from?” Seventy Mechanical Engineering graduate students attended the lecture in which Dave examined the steps and techniques necessary to ensure unique product designs that are highly successful in the marketplace.
Hosted by the UW-Madison Mechanical Engineering department, The Lindbergh Lectures is a series of weekly seminars that features presenters from business, government and academia.
Design Concepts is pleased to co-sponsor the UW-Madison Design Summit II. The second annual interdisciplinary event brings together design leaders throughout campus to explore enhancing the study and practice of design. Faculty, staff and students involved in an array of design-related disciplines join together for the evening. Individuals from landscape design, graphic design, interior design, product design, medical device and healthcare design to filmmaking, research and patent law, to name only a few from the wide-ranging University design community, galvanize their efforts and share in the steps they’ve taken to advance design education.
This year, in addition to a brainstorming exercise for all guests to participate in, there will be an opportunity for seven to eight people to present their individual or departmental initiatives using a Pecha Kucha format.
Design Summit II
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery
October 25, 2012
4:30 – 6:30 pm
Learn more about the UW-Madison Design Summit II
This fall, Design Concepts is heading back to the classroom teaching two courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ami Verhalen, vice president of design, and Stefanie Norvaisas, director of strategy and research, will be teaching Design Thinking for Business. This graduate course of the Wisconsin School of Business, Center for Brand and Product Management, introduces students to design thinking, a powerful approach to resolving problems and defining opportunities.
Also on campus, Dave Franchino, president, and Craig Conner, director of human factors, will join Professor Frank Fronczak in teaching Product Design, a course of the Mechanical Engineering Department. The interdisciplinary, project-oriented class explores the product development process from problem identification through validation.
It’s exciting and inspiring to connect with students and faculty at UW-Madison. We’re looking forward to a great semester!
Design Concepts is a proud sponsor of the 7th annual Maddie’s Miracle, a fund-raising event of a very special local non-profit organization that raises funds in support of the American Family Children’s Hospital (AFCH). Ever year, Design Concepts has been thrilled at the chance to work with the Maddie’s Miracle organization to bring a family-friendly children’s carnival to the community.
Again this year, Design Concepts’ staff are joining together with friends, family, community members, clients and colleagues to honor the memory of Madeline Rose Hunter, daughter of Design Concepts’ director of information services Mark Hunter and his wife Robin. The many people who come out and support the event by taking part in the fun and games reflect Maddie’s joyous life and loving family.
Date: Sunday, August 19, 2012
Time: noon – 5:00 pm
Where: Keva Sports, Middleton, WI
Map to Maddie’s Miracle
There will be plenty food and fun at this beach-themed event which features an obstacle course, bean bag toss, cake-walk, coconut bowling and even a Silent Auction.
This year we will have tickets available for games, food and drinks. Tickets are $.50 and help raise funds for the AFCH hospital.
Join us at Maddie’s Miracle!
Throughout the month of July, we’ve been welcoming individuals from the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering outreach programs. As we’ve done in previous years, we welcomed 8th grade kids from Camp Badger and 10th and 11th grade students from the Engineering Summer Program (ESP) and the Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE). We were thrilled to have met more than 65 kids this summer who took part in the tours and presentations and shared some great ideas in our student brainstorming sessions.
This year we had the pleasure of meeting educators teaching courses to middle school students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) participating in the inaugural year of Camp Badger for Teachers. It was great to hear from the teachers working in the trenches getting kids involved and excited to learn more about design and product development.
The students and educators were a terrific example that the future looks very, very bright.
