Upcoming Event
Wednesday, June 11 2025
6:00–8:00 pm
Fresh Dialogue
The Mindboxing of Design
Wednesday, June 11 2025
6:00–8:00 pm
Fresh Dialogue
The Mindboxing of Design
As designers, are we losing ourselves to the efficiencies of the corporate machine?
Over the past decade, design has become increasingly commoditized as an engine for business growth rather than nurtured as creative fuel. This gradual, and lately quite swift, change has made it challenging to understand and grow our own individual perspectives amidst corporate ambition.
As a result, design and creative processes have become flattened in favor of efficiency—the uniqueness of individual designers and their creative journeys lost. We’re feeling less and less connected to our own work—and worse, our work is becoming less and less differentiated from everything else out in the world.
Our ideas are being mindboxed and timeboxed as the design industry becomes more “efficient,” with the introduction of new collaborative tools, the segmentation of our practice, unrealistic client expectations, the rise of AI and algorithmic echo chambers, and a divided political climate.
The truth? The design process needs space for divergence that is contingent on unique and varied perspectives. Right now, it’s hard to break out of our current constraints.
But constraints have always bred new kinds of creativity. The time is ripe for designers to guide us there.
Join SYLVAIN’s Chief Design Officer, Michael Ian Kaye, Partner of Design Daniel Edmundson, and designers across levels in guided discussion around how we got here, and what we can do about it. You’ll leave the session with new perspectives, tactics, and tools to navigate the constraints all designers are facing in their day to day.
Event Series: Fresh Dialogue
These events are critical discussions that focus on current events, personal experiences, issues of cultural relevance, and emerging topics in the world of design.
Tickets
We are committed to keeping events accessible to all participants. Your ticket and donation supports AIGA NY and costs associated with events such as speaker honorariums, productions costs, and venue fees. If ticket cost is a barrier, please contact Stacey@aigany.org.
Schedule
- 6:00 pm Doors Open (mingle)
- 6:30 pm Event begins
- 8:00 pm Event ends
Tickets
- Non-members $40.00
- AIGA Members $30.00
Facilitators
Michael Ian Kaye
Michael Ian Kaye is the Chief Design Officer at SYLVAIN, working with clients including Walmart, Meta and The Information. His work in design and communications has helped shape, define, and impact many well-known brands and institutions across categories, including Target, Microsoft, Marriott, AB inBev/Stella Artois, Diageo, Oscar, IBM, Wired, Calvin Klein, IMG New York, Fashion Week and American Express. He is most well known for his iconic designs for books like Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, which have left an indelible impression on American culture. His work has also received numerous awards and resides in the permanent collection of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.
Daniel Edmundson
Daniel is a Partner of Design at SYLVAIN, where he leads the development of the design practice. Previously, he founded and headed the strategy practice at the design and branding studio Gretel, clarifying brand behavior and building identity systems through core strategy and cultural forecasting. Prior to that, he was a strategy director at Mother Design in New York, contributing writer at PSFK and design researcher and writer across the world.
With experience at both creative agencies and brand consultancies, Daniel’s focus lies at bridging the gap between strategy and design, applying his thinking globally with the likes of Apple, Nike, the New York Times, IBM, PayPal, Calvin Klein, Marriott and Noma. He frequently comments on the structures and systems of design, business and strategy across publications, conferences and podcasts.