Digital conference I-Design leaves London Design Festival

I-Design will appear at London Design Festival as an evening lecture and at digital event Futurising in June, where event founder Malcolm Garrett will chair a panel comprising designer and founder of Mag Culture Jeremy Leslie, creative director and founder of consultancy Airside Fred Deakin, and Poke design director Fred Flade.

A pared-down version of the main event in February, the Futurising debate, to be held on 29-30 June, will look to advise students and recent graduates on breaking into the interactive design industry over the two-day festival. Garrett says the main event has shifted ’to give us more chance to plan’, but says, ’The ironic thing is although LDF is a great platform it’s a very busy week, and although we were successful last year, there were still a lot of people who didn’t get to go.’

On the LDF line-up, Garrett says, ’It’s very easy to get lost’. ’A big part of our target audience is made up of students, and they’re not around in September,’ he adds. The main event in February is yet to have any speakers confirmed, although Garrett says he is in contact with several potential speakers.

’A very human theme’ will be explored at the event, Garrett says. He adds, ’[The event] will not be so much about technology, but more about usability and interface. I am interested in the way that interactive technology influences individuals and society.’

Funding for the event has previously come from organisers, ticket sales and sponsorship, ’which is partly why we’ve had to rethink the timings’, says Garrett, who believes shifting I-Design to February will boost the event’s profile and ticket sales. The learning and business information resource New Media Knowledge, which is funded by the University of Westminster and the London Development Agency, has helped to organise I-Design since its foundation in 2007, with ’practical support’ provided by Garrett and his consultancy Applied Information Group.

’External funding’ came from Skillset in 2008 and the Arts Council in 2009, according to Garrett, who says ’AIG is picking up the future development of I-Design’, and that NMK’s involvement ’is now historical’.