Robert Fabricant Book Talk

Robert Fabricant gives a book talk at ITP/IMA.

Please join us in Room 412 on Friday, February 21st from 1 - 2 p.m. for Robert Fabricant's book talk.

A brief description of the book/talk:

We suddenly find ourselves in a world that has been dramatically re-factored before our eyes, like magic. The principles of user friendly design have seeped out of our digital devices and into every nook and cranny of our day to day lives from how we commute to how we vote to how we get pregnant. But where did these design ideas come from? Good luck asking a designer. We all think that user experience design was invented by Steve Jobs. The origin story is both more unusual and compelling, touching everything from the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster to the invention of the Princess Phone. Six years ago, Robert began a journey to capture and tell this story through the eyes of design journalist Cliff Kuang. The resulting book, User Friendly, which seeks to help everyone become more discriminating consumers of all of the new experiences being designed into their day-to-day lives. Robert will share some of the hidden stories from the book and engage students in a discussion of how they might help us better chart a course for young designers moving forward.

A brief bio:

Robert Fabricant is a product designer who has worked at the forefront of technology and user experience design for more than 25 years. He designed his first mobile and tablet apps more than a decade before the release of the iPhone and iPad. His portfolio spans everything from interactive environments, medical devices, in car navigation systems, smart infrastructure, fintech, to consumer apps for organizations as varied as MTV, Daimler Chrysler, General Electric and UNICEF. These days he leads the global design team at Dalberg, with studios in London, Mumbai, Nairobi and New York. Over the last 5 years, Dalberg Design has worked with foundations and the public sector to improve the lives, livelihoods and well being of low-resourced communities in more than 40 countries. His team recently designed and launched Digifarm, a mobile service in East Africa that reaches more than a million farmers with market information and was recognized by Fast Company as a World Changing Idea. Robert is an ITP-grad and co-author of thee recently released “User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design are Changing the way we Live, Work and Play” which was selected by Amazon as one of the Top 100 books for 2019 (#98); a New York Times, Amazon and Time Magazine pick of the month; and one of Fortune Magazine’s Favorite Books of 2019. You can learn more at www.fabricant.design and www.dalberg.design.