Design Jam Iasi #1: Intense, Fun & A Rip-Roaring Success, Say Over 50 Jammers!

Design Jam Iasi Logo

A guest post by local champion, Dr. Sabin Buraga.

The dust has finally settled on Summer Web 2011 and — myself and other local champions Stefan Negru, Dr. Lenuta Alboaie & Andrei Panu — have just about recovered. Phewwww!

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Background

The event, which included the inaugural Design Jam in Romania, saw over 50 keen UX & Technology people participate over 2 days. A few hundred more from across the globe remotely watched via the live stream.

Day 1 — Presentations

Day 1 comprised of a number on engaging presentations. These included:

Day 2 — Design Jam

Day 2, was the actual Design Jam itself with the topic focused around designing a ‘Mall Guiding Assistant’. After 6 or so hours of intense fun the following team outputs were produced:

  • MallMasters – Bogdan Dumitriu, Mircea Serediuc, Sergiu Filip
  • Concentrico – Alexandru Andronic, Emanuel Martonca, George Teiosanu
  • Keep It Simple – Dumitru Emciuc and Mihai Sterpu
  • Bird Mall – Alexandru Chelariu, Adrian Trefas, Nicu Spinu
  • Oomba – Vlad Manea, Stefan Enache, Bogdan Gâza, Andreea-Diana Stanciu

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Feedback

Just some of the quotes from participants:

Cristi Bârlădeanu
“The word of the day for Design Jam Iasi was for sure “inspiration”. The mix’n’match of ideas coming from people with different background and complimentary perspectives on what design and UX should be modeled like laid a rock-solid foundation for creativity and innovation. That’s how we got a robot, augmented reality and paper tablets as solutions for the same challenge – ) A big thumbs up for the local champions and congratulations for all the attendees, looking forward to see the same enthusiasm and passion brought together to Design Jam Iasi #2!”

Marius Ursache
“Great fun and great ideas at Mozilla DesignJam Iasi #djiasi. Looking forward for the next edition!”

Silviu Savin
“I was honored to mentor @designjamiasi /If you missed #1, you should come to #2. #djiasi was inspiring, fun, a great experience. Congrats!”

Andreea Buraga
“Design Jam supported by Mozilla Labs was a cool initiative and I encourage all the design enthusiasts to sign up in the future because it is a great learning and idea-generating experience in a relaxed and fun manner. I was impressed with the creative and innovative solutions offered by the participants. I was hoping to see actual designers participating to this event (I mean as “jammers”), but on the other hand it is great seeing people from diverse backgrounds giving a real interest and dedication to this field. I hope this is a first step in starting a community of designers and attracting more people in this field and this type of events – maybe try making Iasi a leading creative center of Romania, for example?! I am very happy and honored I was invited to Design Jam and looking forward to the next editions!”

Bogdan Gâza
“Had loads of fun at #djiasi. Looking forward for the next iteration of the event. Many thanks to the organizers!”

Thanks

We are really grateful for the support provided by Mozilla Labs, The Red Point, Faculty of Computer Science, UAIC Romania, and ASII (The Association of The Informatics’ Students from Iasi).

Mentors included Sînică Alboaie, Andreea Buraga, Alecsandru Grigoriu, Alecsandru Grigoriu, Silviu Savin & Marius Ursache.

Also a huge thanks to student volunteers: Sabina Bolboceanu, Victor Panaite, and Adriana Schiopu. Live streaming services were kindly offered by MEDIAEC.

Till next year!

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What Are Design Jams

They are one-or-two-day design sessions, during which people will team up to tackle an engaging User Experience challenge. Similar to developer ‘hackdays’ the aim is to get enthusiastic local UX professionals, designers, and developers from both local technology and university sectors together to learn and collaborate with each other while working on a design problem.

Upcoming & Past Design Jams

Other scheduled Design Jams going forward include:

Past Design Jams since the inaugural event back in November 2010 include:

Want To Bring Design Jam To Your Town?

We’re actively on the lookout for more local champions around the globe!

Be sure to keep an eye on the global Design Jam Wiki for news of upcoming jam near you. If there isn’t one listed & you’d like to champion and run your own Design Jam please register your interest or email cyberdees[at]mozilla[dot]com.


Design Jam Iasi #1 — Romania

Design Jam Iasi #1 — Romania

Summer Web 2011 poster