Home Resources News archive CALL FOR ENTRIES: IMAGINE IT 2, DESIGN FOR ALL CONFERENCE

CALL FOR ENTRIES: IMAGINE IT 2, DESIGN FOR ALL CONFERENCE

10.08.2008 News

Bologna (Italy) - Imagine iT 2 is a two-day conference organised by the Design Center Bologna in partnership with Typevents Italy, with the institutional patronage of EIDD Design for All Europe. The event, the second of its kind in Italy, comprises lectures, exhibitions and workshops and welcomes the participation of international contributors from across the creative industries, such as: graphic designers, product designers, artists; scientists, companies from the medical industry active in the field of design for all (packaging, product design), publishers and advertisers; teachers, researchers; students and those just starting out on their careers. The event will take place from 28-29 November 2008.

"Good design enables, bad design disables"
- Paul Hogan, President emeritus, EIDD Design for All Europe

The theme

"Across Europe, human diversity in age, culture and ability is greater than ever. We now survive illness and injury and live with disability as never before. Although today's world is a complex place, it is one of our own making, one in which we therefore have the possibility - and the responsibility - to base our designs on the principle of inclusion. Design for All is design for human diversity, social inclusion and equality. This holistic and innovative approach constitutes a creative and ethical challenge for all planners, designers, entrepreneurs, administrators and political leaders. Design for All aims to enable all people to have equal opportunities to participate in every aspect of society. To achieve this, the built environment, everyday objects, services, culture and information - in short, everything that is designed and made by people to be used by people - must be accessible, convenient for everyone in society to use and responsive to evolving human diversity.

"The practice of Design for All makes conscious use of the analysis of human needs and aspirations and requires the involvement of end users at every stage in the design process."

- From the EIDD Design for All Europe Stockholm DeclarationÂ©

Comparable concepts have developed in parallel in other parts of the world. The Americans with Disabilities Act contributed to the evolution of Universal Design, while Inclusive Design has gained ground in the UK.

Today, Planning and Design for All are being recognised increasingly as necessary elements in pro-active strategies for sustainable development.

How to apply
If you have a design related topic that connects to the notion of Â‘Design for All' or to the subtitle Â‘good design enables, bad design disables' and would like to talk, exhibit or demonstrate at Imagine iT 2, please send an outline proposal and a biographical note of no more than 300 words in MSWord or PDF format with (where appropriate) up to 4 digital images of no more than 300dpi to: entries@design-center.it

Closing date
28 September 2008

Selection committee
All papers will be assessed by a selection panel that will comprise of:

Avril Accolla, Designer, Vice President EIDD Design for All Europe, Vice President Design for All Italia;
Carlo Branzaglia, Professor at Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy, and manager of the Design Center Bologna;
Simone Wolf, founding partner and proprietor of Typevents Italy.

For more information, please contact:

Design Center
Bologna
Accademia di Belle Arti
Via Belle Arti, 54
40126 Bologna
T: +39 051 4226417
F: +39 051 253032
E: info@design-center.it
W: www.design-center.it

About the Design Center Bologna
The Design Center Bologna was founded and enabled by the Accademia di Belle Arti Bologna, the Region of the Emilia Romagna and Fondazione Carisbo to promote design as an economic factor to the productive industries and is situated on the premises of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Bologna which was founded 1711 to develop the arts and crafts in Emilia Romagna.

It is now one of the largest institutions of its kind in Italy, with 1200 students studying Visual Arts, Applied Arts, and Communications and Didactic of the Arts. In the Applied Arts Department, the design courses have an outstanding reputation for the quality of their teaching staff and the excellence of their public events.