Join AIGA SF as we kick off the 2022 year re-invisioning our longstanding series: Designing Products, A Not-To-Be-Missed Discussion of Bay Area Product Design Leaders.

Facing a prolonged and ongoing health crisis, we want to better understand what parameters have changed for product designers. As we come out into a new normal, what design tenets stay, which need to be reinvented and how do we imagine designing products in a post-pandemic world?

Students/educators, use this code when registering: STUDENTPASS

ABOUT Designing Products: From Ether to Bricks
Designing abstract and tangible products in a post-pandemic world

Coming out of a virtual-focused pandemic world, we face the city again. As we emerge, we are faced with questions on how Designers are thinking about ethereal digital products, their democratizing effect and also, their perils. At the same time, Designers are finding space to innovate our tangible, physical products which we all inhabit and use. What have we learned, and how do we make sense of Designing Products: From Ether to Bricks.

Designing Products is produced by Irina Blok, Product Design Lead in the Google AI/Research Team and Bea Alessio, Product Manager | AI for Design.

Moderator: Bea Alessio
Bea builds products that solve big human problems with responsible technology. With a background in design and emerging tech, Bea has focused her career on bridging Design and AI. From launching a computer vision product to radically improve PDF mobile readability for all, to developing a cognitive and emotional insight solution for seniors through storytelling and her current role leading AI for Design Products at Google, Bea believes in the power of building teams to design the next generation of equitable solutions for all, and the power of inclusion of historically underrepresented minorities in tech through mentoring and training.

Panelists:
Gabrielle Gayles UX Designer Google

Good design requires a solid understanding of what makes people tick. The trouble is, people often behave in ways you don’t expect. After all, we are creatures of emotion, not logic; of unconscious drives, not rational thought. We often don’t know know why we do the things we do. We are a mystery even to ourselves. I am fascinated by the fickle nature of human behavior (I write about it here) and I am constantly trying to understand the human experience just a little better. I believe that in order to do so, you must look at it through multiple lenses. With a major in Human Biology and a minor in creative writing from Stanford University, I view the mind as a scientist and as a storyteller; I understand both the biological basis of thought and the emotional inner life each and every one of us has. My experience making and selling art taught me about the subtle ways visual form influences us; it can distract or focus, delight or sadden, call people to action of push them to look the other way. And my time as a varsity college athlete showed me how the body and mind work together to shape experience. I combine knowledge and passion in multiple disciplines to create better UX, using my unique background to design neat things that speak to the complexity of human behavior. I particularly love creating things that broaden perspectives and motivate positive behavior change.
Good design requires a solid understanding of what makes people tick. The trouble is, people often behave in ways you don’t expect. After all, we are creatures of emotion, not logic; of unconscious drives, not rational thought. We often don’t know know why we do the things we do. We are a mystery even to ourselves. I am fascinated by the fickle nature of human behavior (I write about it here) and I am constantly trying to understand the human experience just a little better. I believe that in order to do so, you must look at it through multiple lenses. With a major in Human Biology and a minor in creative writing from Stanford University, I view the mind as a scientist and as a storyteller; I understand both the biological basis of thought and the emotional inner life each and every one of us has. My experience making and selling art taught me about the subtle ways visual form influences us; it can distract or focus, delight or sadden, call people to action of push them to look the other way. And my time as a varsity college athlete showed me how the body and mind work together to shape experience. I combine knowledge and passion in multiple disciplines to create better UX, using my unique background to design neat things that speak to the complexity of human behavior. I particularly love creating things that broaden perspectives and motivate positive behavior change.

Eric Bollman, Product Designer, Instagram
Eric Bollman’s a product design practitioner with 15+ years’ experience. He has expertise in startups, social media, ethical design patterns and building community focused products. Eric spent 4 years working on community products on the Facebook Groups team. He currently works on the Instagram Well-Being team where he leads anti-bullying efforts to reduce the prevalence of bullying on Instagram.

Arvi Raquel-Santos, Sr. Product Design Manager, Growth at Instacart
Arvi is a San Francisco based designer and educator with over 15+ years of product and brand design experiences. Arvi is currently a Sr. Product Design Manager at Instacart creating a world where everyone has access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. 🥕
Previously, Arvi was a Director at Glassdoor leading the B2C team. Prior to Glassdoor, Arvi was a Product Design Lead and Manager for Fitbit and a Product Designer at Facebook.

Arvi’s work has been recognized by a number of design shows and publications including: Graphis, AR100, Communication Arts, PRINT, HOW, the BoNE show (Best of New England), Graphic Design USA, The Big Book of Logos, 1,000 Greetings, Best of Brochure Design, Fingerprint 2 and most recently Just Design. Arvi has been invited to judge for various design shows and has spoken at various venues on the subject of the power of Design for Social Good.

Designing Products in the Post-Pandemic world