Can’t wait to get started? Wednesday’s Pre-Conference Workshops and Backstage Boston Tours are open to Conference participants, but require separate registration and fees. Beginning at 2:00 p.m., attend one of two deep-dive workshops or tour one of five Boston jewels.

In the evening, the Conference begins with a night at the movies. Join us for the First Annual SEGD Film Festival! You’ll be treated to two design-focused films that will both inspire and motivate you. It’s free, and we’ll bring the popcorn and hotdogs.

Sponsor: Akzo Nobel
"Patient experience" is the gold standard for hospitals in this day and age. Spend the afternoon exploring the relationships between a hospital's operational strategy, its brand identity, and its EGD program. What goals are hospitals looking to achieve with their design programs and what are their overall resources? How are hospitals using architectural design, interior design, sign systems, and digital communication tools to energize their branding and wayfinding systems? We'll discuss the hottest issues affecting healthcare design—including multi-language signage and the complexities of multi-hospital management—from the perspectives of both environmental graphic designers and sign fabricators. The design world is getting greener all the time. Are you advancing the sustainable design movement through your own work? Should you prepare yourself for the accreditation exam and position yourself for leadership in this emerging discipline? Build the foundation you need to understand the system and the credits, help prepare for the accreditation exam, and learn how to use the system in your projects. Develop an understanding of how to budget for the soft costs of doing this work, how to incorporate rating systems into overall project management, and how to be strategic about design approaches. (In our Saturday workshop, continue the conversation with a tactical discussion focused on materials, finishes, construction, fabrication, recycling, and life cycle factors.) We've arranged a special behind-the-scenes tour of the MIT Media Lab, the pioneering center that focuses on the study, invention, and creative uses of digital technology. This is a unique opportunity to see a facility that is not open to the public. Learn about Hiroshi Ishii's Tangible Media Group, John Maeda's Physical Language Workshop, and other mind-blowing initiatives that will most certainly affect you and the work you do!  CLOSED
This award-winning federal building on Boston Harbor, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners with environmental and interpretive graphics by Roll.Barresi Associates, has served as a catalyst for commercial development in the underutilized surrounding areas. The city continues to implement a master plan designed to reconnect residents with the waterfront and interpret the history of the area in compelling ways. The dramatic new Institute of Contemporary Art, located on Fan Pier just a block from the Conference hotel, is the city's hottest ticket these days. With a stunning design by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and minimal environmental graphics by Malcolm Grear Designers, the ICA provides a continuous, shifting perspective of Boston Harbor from its galleries, public spaces, and gorgeous mahogany deck.
Reinvigorated and elevated to world-class status with a new Moshe Safdie-designed addition that speaks to its Pilgrim roots and built heritage, America's oldest continuously operating museum houses intriguing exhibits. Across the street is a provocative EGD application: the Salem Witch Trials Memorial includes 20 stone benches, each representing a person executed in the infamous 1692 trials. No visit to Boston is complete without a retreat to the Public Garden, established in 1837 as America's first public botanical garden. Designed by George V. Meacham (who won a prize of $100 for his work), the 24-acre park features its famed swan boats, sculptures, fountains, lagoons, and a notable diversity of botanical life. Experience open space as an essential element of Boston's past and a critical component of its future as a walking city. You don't need to be a type geek to love this feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture. It focuses on the proliferation of the typeface (which turns 50 this year) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. A Q&A with filmmaker Gary Hustwit and Paula Scher (who was interviewed in the film) will follow the screening.

She may be small in stature, but Sara Little Turnbull is a giant in design and widely regarded as "the mother of invention." Her career spans over six decades as a design consultant to major American corporations around the world, and she was founder of The Center for Design Research and The Process of Change laboratory while at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. In this filmed interview, Turnbull shares her philosophy of a life lived by design. To be introduced by designer, producer, and SEGD member Paula Rees of Maestri.

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