https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_fe5kJzAASTSqvB7n6SEZBQ

IIT Institute of Design (ID) invites 2020 Latham fellow Knut Synstad of Dubberly Design Office to discuss his recent experiment, using AI and computing tools to map the logos of the Fortune 500. Knut uses a neural network to analyze the logos of the Fortune 500 to find similarities and differences and displays the outcome (see Start Exploring). The result is a truly interactive visualization, where the parameters of underlying algorithms have been exposed—enabling viewers to interact with and manipulate the outcome. Knut's presentation will be followed by a Q+A moderated by ID visiting faculty member John Cain.

Knut Synstad is an award-winning designer who codes. He is a Norwegian expat living and working in San Francisco. Before his career in design, he studied electronics and served as a sub-lieutenant, maintaining electronic weaponry, sensors, and communications equipment for the Royal Norwegian Navy. He did a 6-month deployment in the Mediterranean sea as part of the NATO fleet following 9/11.

An interest in technical systems led him to Dubberly Design Office, where he designs products, services, and systems for Fortune 500 companies and start-ups—from a search engine for life science to applications for large-scale planetary analysis. Intrigued by the potential of AI, machine learning, and computing in design, Knut creates experiments to better understand how these techniques may rewrite the design process.

Knut graduated from London Metropolitan University with a BFA in graphic design and earned an MFA in graphic design from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

About the Latham lectures

Latham fellows share their emerging ideas with the IIT Institute of Design (ID) community and the wider public by giving a lecture hosted by ID and publishing freely available digital content in the form of a paper, article, or other presentation that acknowledges their fellowship. Richard Latham (1920–1991) was an influential figure in design planning and strategic design who studied design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in the early 1940s. Latham believed that the principles of design should be the core of business planning. Today, Latham Fellows connect to Latham’s philosophy and are selected because of their pioneering thinking and ability to transfer knowledge about design planning and its value.

About IIT Institute of Design (ID)

IIT Institute of Design (ID) builds responsible, cooperative, intelligent futures. Founded by László Moholy-Nagy as The New Bauhaus in 1937, ID is known for pioneering human-centered design and systems design. Today ID is home to the only US design school devoted completely to graduate students. But ID is more than a graduate school. ID is an international community of learners and practitioners who are addressing the biggest issues of our time by eliciting a power unique to humans: creativity. Learn more about ID at id.iit.edu.