DesignAday

My name is Jack Moffett. I am an Interaction Designer with over ten years of experience. According to Herb Simon, that makes me an expert, so I must have something worth sharing. I have started this venture as an exercise to spur critical thinking about my chosen profession. I hope that others may find it thought provoking as well.

DesignAday will present a brief thought about Design every weekday.
Feb 12
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Schwag Bag

One of the most important questions to be answered about any conference is, of course, “What’s in the schwag bag?” Interaction 08 delivered in spades.

  1. The Bag - Black (of course) canvas tote with the conference logo and requisite smattering of sponsor logos. Pretty standard stuff.
  2. T-Shirt - Black (of course) with the conference logo tastefully centered high across the chest and a small IxDA logo on the back, centered just below the neckline.
  3.  Sketchbook - 100% recycled post-consumer waste (but it was shrink-wrapped in plastic!). 75 sheets. Ecojot. Very nice.
  4. USB-Powered Vacuum - 2 interchangeable attachments, small light, branded by CP+B.
  5. Intuit Promo - small folder containing card stack, each featuring an element contributing to experience design (e.g. sketch, moderate, stories). Nicely designed.
  6. SCAD Promo - Short, 5.5 x 8.5 booklet about their School of Design. Good photography.
  7. Cooper Promo - Envelope containing six 5.5 x 8.5 cards, each featuring an intriguing photo (sometimes overlaid with a computer dialog) that illustrates a basic rule for good design. Extremely clever. These are going to hang on my cube walls.
  8. Frog Design Mind - Hefty book featuring short essays about green design and beautiful images. Two thumbs up.
  9. Interactions - The first edition of the redesigned magazine published by ACM. I’ve been thinking about subscribing—now I can give it a test drive.
  10. Throw-aways - Ugly postcard for CHI 2008 (3 typefaces!). Giant card from madpow (ho-hum layout). Two bookmarks (boring). Crappy brochure about Axure.
  11. Conference Program - Clean, sensible layout. Nice use of color. I wish I had used the list of attendees in the back as a checklist, marking those that I met.