CAMD Associate Professor Kristian Kloeckl, Program Head for the Experience Design graduate offerings, and Assistant Professor of Experience Design Miso Kim were recently invited to the Experience and Principles of Design, an international working conference. They attended the session from May 16-18 at Tongji University in Shanghai – and were among a small group of internationally regarded design experts invited to participate.

According to the event’s co-chairs, the goal of the summit was to explore how to discuss principles and human experience and their influence on professional practice and design education. The three-day event challenged the invited design experts to reflect on the variety of principles in the Experience Design field, and provide an in-depth expression of the nature of principles and their implications for design practice in the new technological and economic environment of our time.

“This has been an exceptional working conference that brought together key figures from around the world that significantly move forward the field of experience design in academia, industry, and public sector,” said Professor Kloeckl. “Among the things that emerged from our discussions was that the 21st century is seeing a radical shift away from viewing humans as ‘behaving objects’ and towards humans as ‘experiencing subjects.’ This realization is part of why we see such an interest in the field of experience design.”

The conference was a confluence of diverse beliefs and values in the design and arts community. The ultimate outcome is expected to be a book of position papers that promote further discussion in the design professions and in education generally. The goal of this publication is to help professionals and students think clearly about how values and principles guide decision-making in the creation of new products in business and industry.

The event was organized by: Kaja Tooming Buchanan, Ph.D., Director, Experience Design Lab, College of Design and innovation, Tongji University and Richard Buchanan, Ph.D., professor of design, management, and information systems, Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.