IxDA North East Launch

Their aim is to bring design thinking out of the studio and to apply our methods to all areas of society.

Interaction Design for the Community

We are really excited about our first meetup, its going to be a good one! For our launch we will be focusing on how Interaction Design has helped the community in innovative ways. We will also be getting to know you guys and what you want from us as a group. We are going to have 2 great speakers, VR headsets, beer and pizza! We look forward to meeting you all!

Start - 6:00

6:00 - 6:30 : Networking, beers and soft drinks

6:30 - 7:00ish : Talk, Dr Phillip Veal

Phillip is a Human Centered / Empathetic Designer. He is also the owner of Silbo (http://www.silbo.co.uk/) Ltd and Board member of the international NGO No Strings International.

He currently runs Silbo ltd, an agency that specialises in design thinking, agile production methods and a human centric approach all under the banner of the term “Empathetic Design”.

Silbo ltd was established in 2000 and has worked with The Sunday Times, British Airways, Virgin Holidays, Drum PHD, Channel 4 and the United Nations amongst others.

Their aim is to bring design thinking out of the studio and to apply our methods to all areas of society.

7:00ish - 7:30 : Break - Pizza, Networking + VR Experiences

There will also be VR headsets to play with! Two Oculus Rifts and a Google Cardboard.

7:30 - 8:00ish : Talk, Shaun Allan - VR

Shaun Allan from Vector76 (http://vector76.co.uk/ngsl/) talking about his company's VR and AR projects including drink and drug driving awareness and mental health destigmatisation.

Shaun has been a digital creative for over 30 years. Studied graphic design at Newcastle College of Arts and Technology in the early 80's, started his own 8-bit games company in 1984, founded Hardware Records dance record label early 90's and went on to head up online development at Global Underground record label in 1995.

He studied 3D Masters at Teesside University, worked for Eutechnyx (developing triple AAA videogames) until 1999. Joined the University of Sunderland as web development manager for 10 years then co-founded virtual reality company Vector76. Based in VRTGO Labs Gateshead, Vector76 have been developing VR experiences since 2007.

Shaun has spoken at various events including Thinking Digital and Rise & Design.

8:00ish - ? : Networking, social, trip to the pub?!