"Design Autumn" will be hosted by the Trentini Group on October 24th, 2023, and organized by the Latvian Design Centre. This year's final design news event will focus on user experience (UX) design, and it is open to all interested designers, design clients, manufacturers, media, and design enthusiasts. The event will take place at the Trentini showroom, located at 8 Strēlnieku Street in Riga.
User Experience UX design has been garnering increasing attention in recent years, and for good reason. From a business perspective, UX design is a practice that facilitates enhancing users' interactions with a product or service, thereby creating an easy, efficient, comfortable, and enjoyable experience that fosters long-term user loyalty to the product or brand. This principle applies not only to the physical properties of a product, such as designing an ergonomic chair, but also to the convenience of services, such as ensuring a seamless online payment process, or delivering immersive entertainment experiences. Developing such experiences necessitates strategic planning and meticulous organization of every user interaction with the brand," says Dita Danosa, head of the Latvian Design Center.
The event offers attendees an opportunity to listen to presentations by designers from three distinct fields, who will discuss their current projects and various aspects of user experience design. Participants will also have the chance to ask questions and engage in informal discussions about topics of interest.
The first speaker, Aldis Circenis, an architect, entrepreneur, and the creator of RIGA ChAIR™, will discuss the rebranding of the Riga Chair Factory. "It's long been understood that a good chair can make a significant difference, but the Riga Chair Factory aims to push boundaries even further and explore new horizons. Henceforth, it will operate under a new name - ARTICUL," comments Aldis on the brand change. Since its establishment in 1999, the company has prioritized the well-being and health of every chair user. Over the past two decades, ARTICUL's product range has expanded to include tables, shelving systems, sofas, poufs, and more. The company has consistently expanded into new markets and can now be found in numerous public and private interiors across Latvia. ARTICUL furniture adorns spaces such as Riga airport, various concert halls, theaters, offices, and countless homes.
Second speaker, user experience designer Santa Paegle will talk about the My.t money financial app created by the design agency UXDA. The app won two Red Dot Design Award: one for the «Financial app design» and the other for «User experience design». My.t money was developed for Mauritius Telecom, the largest telecommunications company in Mauritius, to facilitate the daily life of Mauritians by combining receiving both financial and other services in one app, without overloading users with information and ensuring a smooth user experience. UXDA has become the first user experience design agency in Latvia to receive the Red Dot Design Award, the IF Design Award and the A’ Design Award.
The third speaker taking over the stage will be the co-owner of wind tunnel manufacturer Aerodium, Ingus Augstkalns. They created an unprecedented attraction in the world - Beat The Storm where anyone can experience a storm of varying strength in safe conditions. Adults can even attempt for a Category 2 hurricane, where gusts reach up to 165 km/hour. The visitor of the Beat The Storm attraction has two challenges - to reach the end of the tunnel and press the button in a maximum speed, or the to discover the wind by playing and completing various tasks. At the moment, the attraction is presented in Danish science park Universe, while Ingus is working to ensure that this adventure will soon be available in other science and amusement parks, including Latvian ones.
Program:
18.00–18.10 Ievadvārdi: Latvijas Dizaina centrs & Trentini;
18.10–18.30 Current affairs of the Latvian Design Award of the Year;
18.30–20.00 Design news, presentations by professionals
- Aldis Circenis about the new brand identity of Riga Chair Factory;
- Santa Paegle par UXDA finanšu lietotni My.t money;
- Ingus Augstkalns about AERODIUM and Beat the storm;
20.00. Formal and informal chit chat.
Anyone interested is invited to the event. Free entry, but pre-registration is mandatory, because the number of places is limited. Registration link here.
The venue of the Design Autumn - Trentini salon on 8 Strēlnieku Street, a renovated 19th century building that opened its doors in the summer of 2020. The author of the interior design of Trentini’s showroom is architect Zane Tetere-Šulce, who looks at every detail of the design as part of the whole ensemble and believes that it is not enough for a design to have a function, it must also be given a personality. Trentini is a guide to modern interior design. A place where anyone can fulfill the dream of living or working in an aesthetic, modern, and high-quality environment. Here anyone can meet sustainable design, learn about the latest trends, and receive personal consultations.
The event is organized by the Latvian Design Centre in cooperation with creative industry communication platform FOLD and Trentini. The event is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia.
The National Design Award of Latvia is the highest recognition in the field of design in Latvia. The purpose of the award is to identify, evaluate and promote the best achievements of Latvian designers, advance the use of design created in Latvia and the development of the Latvian design industry. Submission of works for the Latvian Design Award of the year 2024 will be open in two periods: Autumn application for the competition runs from October 1 to October 31, 2023 and winter application - from January 2 to January 31, 2024. More information about the award https://dizainabalva.lv
Latvian Design Centre is a member of the Bureau of European Design Associations (BEDA) and an official partner of the European Commission's New European Bauhaus Initiative. Latvian Design Centre is involved in design policy making, research and education, and initiates cooperation and strategic partnerships with other design organizations, designers, companies and design users. With the support of the Ministry of Culture, Latvian Design Centre maintains the creative industry communication platform FOLD.