I was invited to developed and chair the third International Integrated Design Camp 2020, commissioned by KIDP in August 2020. Unfortunately, the camp was almost cancelled due to the pandemic due to the COVID 19. But instead, KIDP decided to host the event online. Eleven design professionals and professors were invited as tutors and 72 students from ten different time zones and 40 different colleges participated in the two-week-long camp online. Despite the challenge, including time differences, the camp was extremely successful and resulted in eleven intriguing concepts fighting the pandemic. The outcomes include a design solution for more resilient small business, sustainable and smart protection kits for travelers, hygiene around hands, safe subway experience, improved work-from-home experience, new-normal nursing home life, on-demand mobile clinic, reducing disposable mask wastage, safety at elementary schools, new face-to-face communication, and a space for collaboration.

I shared my thoughts on discovering the invisible and turning them into new mobility design opportunities at the Toyota Design Center in Japan in June 2018. Misono Hideich, former president of Techno Art, a subsidiary of Toyota invited me and Tokuo Fukuichi, a former Executive General Manager and Simon Humphries, a new Executive General Manager were among the audience.

This was the second year of International Integrated Design Camp, commissioned by KIDP (Korea Institute of Design Promotion). I was invited to plan, organize, and chair the camp (IIDC 2019) in Korea. The camp invited some 100 students and tutors from 13 countries and was held from June 24 through 29, 2019.

The theme for this year was Towards Inclusivity: Sustainable and Smart Cities, which is to conceive creative solutions to make cities better place to live and work while addressing UNESCO’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Students from design and engineering majors from a number of universities worked under the lead of professional designers in a short yet intensive workshop.

I delivered a keynote titled Design and Cities to show how cities were born and failed, and what we can learn from them to make them smart, sustainable, and inclusive. Student teams conducted deep-dive investigations into current situations in Seoul and Sungnam and worked days and nights to come up with brilliant concepts.

I appreciate all professional designers who worked as tutors – Paul Hatch (Teams Design), Emmanuel Wolfs (Wolfs+Jung), Thomas Garvey (Carleton University), Alan Yip (Yip Design), Michele Aquila (Domus Academy), Hideichi Misono (JIDA/Toyota), Nick Ross (Teague Design), Ilgu Cha (Molekule), Taewook Cha (Sypermass Studio), Sangwoo Cho (Sigma Connectivity Group), Junghoon Lee (BMW Designworks), Nathan Matthews (Fourpeople Ltd.) Bora Shin (ArtCenter), and Hwasung Yoo (ByMars).

I also thank all students participants for working so hard (many of them worked through the night before the presentation). I am sure that they brought lots of beautiful memories and connections back home.

I was invited to give a workshop at Donghua University in Shanghai, an institution known for design and fashion design from September 27 to 29. The topic was the Development of Successful Commodity Products, in which I focused on how to develop convincing design concepts and criteria. Students developed concepts for products that can help to improve the life of the elderly. It is always a joy to teach those who are eager to learn!

I had a great time giving a public lecture and a design workshop at Hunan University, one of the leading design schools in China on September 25, 2018. The topic for the workshop was Be a New Henry Ford and the topic for the public lecture was Design and Designers: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Although it was Fall Festival day, which is a national holiday, the level of enthusiasm from the students and the audience was very high.

I enjoyed visiting and giving a talk at the Toyota Design Center in Japan on June 23, 2018. The talk given to the senior designers was titled “Finding New Mobility Opportunities from the Invisibles.”

Commissioned by KIDP (Korea Institute of Design Promotion), I organized and chaired International Integrated Design Camp 2018 (IIDC 2018) in Korea. The camp invited 60 students and tutors from 10 countries including Korea and was held from June 27 through 30, 2018. The theme was A Better Future By Design + Emerging Technology, which is to address UNESCO’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals by encouraging students from design and engineering to collaborate in a short yet intensive workshop.

The camp commenced with my keynote titled Makers of the Future to urge students to have a bigger vision and to prime them for the workshop. Students worked in teams of students from diverse major, gender, country of origin and specialty led by 12 tutors, who are design professionals and professors.

 

Nine industrial designers from Hangzhou, China attend the Professional Design Camp, an intensive, culture-immersive design workshop provided for professional designers, from March 3 through 14, 2018. While attending the camp, the designers take a workshop, Core-Shift Design Innovation Process, a proprietary workshop module developed by Professor Sooshin Choi.

The designers, representing 8 different design consulting companies located in Hangzhou, a city with a rich industrial design industry, spend days and nights gaining new insights about developing innovative products. They also get chances to explore an American cityscape and culture by visiting the city of Detroit and significant areas in its vicinity, museums (Detroit Institute of Arts, The Henry Ford Museum, and Ford Piquette Plant), and other places.

Designing is all about flying and landing. More precisely, it is about flying high (so that we can find a new land) and land elegantly (without crashing). The Modus Design is taking off to help designers and businesses so that they can fly high and land elegantly. So please join us, fasten the seatbelt, relax and enjoy the flight!