Guest Speaker: R. Lance Garcia - 'Digital Experiences Meet Digital Enablement'

We all focus on crafting the best experiences possible. Solutions to problems big and small that can help ourselves, consumers, or mankind. The truth is though, it's not enough. Without realizing that the artifacts that we define and design is only the tip of the iceberg, we may not be able to make the significant changes that the future needs from interaction designers.

To illustrate this terribly academic point, we will take a futuristic look into retail, where we ask: "What if a store could talk?"; and step through an in-progress creative project on the future of banking, asking "What if I had true financial partner that spoke my language?" — both of which account for the experience and larger enablement part of digital.

Hopefully you will walk away with a better understanding on how and why the meaningful experiences that we craft will require a (much) larger sense of context.

Speaker: R. Lance Garcia

Since 1996, R. Lance Garcia has designed everything from Identities & Ads to Service & Digital Experiences. He feels that design isn’t only about problem solving, but also about using every opportunity along the way to learn and grow. Eventually having the unreasonable powers of creativity help with climate change, fixing education, world's healthcare... or at least finding a better use of people's time than reality television.

At PwC, Lance is a creative director within the firm's Experience Center practice, leading teams to dream up new interaction moments and models across a wide range of products, spanning both digital and physical. These and past engagements are namely from a wide variety of leading brand giants around the world, such as: ESPN, Sony, Nike, Microsoft, Sprint, ING, ADT, Mars, MetLife, and a number of Government entities.

Education includes a MBA with a specialization in 'Customer-Focused Strategy' from Imperial College London; a BFA in Entertainment Arts/Animation from Cal State Fullerton; and an AA in Graphic Design from Long Beach City College.

By way of Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Washington D.C., Lance currently lives in Miami with his three favorite humans: wife Machiko, young daughters Adair and Siena, and is addicted to learning, storytelling, and the latest digital anything. All with an equal love of Figure Drawing and College Football.