Many community groups and organizations hire a social impact designer or futurist to help create a more prosperous, flourishing future. However, the designer or futurist often creates a future the community doesn't want or own, and any initiative created from the work either leaves the current situation unchanged, worsened, or only temporarily advanced or resolved. Many futurists tools do not work for underutilized communities.

For some, “Keep Portland Weird” is more than a bumper sticker. It’s a mandate, a clarion call, akin to the forces that guided many of us to the design community. It’s a directive to diverge from the mainstream and overcome functional fixedness. It also thrives on some of the same principles that guide design. Hear a series of short stories about the Whackadoos, a local band of merry pranksters who deeply valued creative chaos, understood their role in making it happen, and produced it lovingly for many years.

Join us for an inspiring session with Matt Rhoades as he shares key insights on the intersection of design, strategy, and innovation. He’ll explore how personal experiences shape creativity and problem-solving, and inspire you to apply design thinking to your own projects.

Join us for an inspiring session with Dee Sadler on how measuring user experience is easier than you think. For the individual, measurement falls squarely on the UX leader's shoulders. Do they have the correct information from you, the team, and the larger team, and do they understand what leadership wants and needs, as well as the user's needs?

NEW DATE! This lecture has been moved from Wednesday, September 3rd to Thursday, September 11th and will be virtual! Join us for an inspiring session with Matt Rhoades as he shares key insights on the intersection of design, strategy, and innovation. He’ll explore how personal experiences shape creativity and problem-solving, and inspire you to apply design thinking to your own projects.

History is a complex web of intertwined forces acting together over time. Conventional methods of understanding history—text, line graphs, and maps—cannot convey complexity. For that, you need the Historigraph.

Join CHIFOO for The Design of Change: How Heroes, Monsters, and Rituals Shape Transformation. Discover how the Rite of Passage—a timeless framework for navigating change—shapes the way we grow, adapt, and create meaning. From real-world shifts to the imaginative worlds of role-playing games, Thor Madsen will show how transformation follows a design we can learn, practice, and apply to what comes next.