2020 Schedule
Join the Austin creative community November 9-13 for the fifth annual Austin Design Week and get inspired by a variety of free workshops, talks, and presentations hosted by Austin creatives and showcasing the best in Austin design.
Design-a-thon Kickoff + Mini-pitch Competition
- NOVEMBER 7, 2020, 1:00PM-4:00PM
- Attend the kickoff to participate in the fourth annual Design-a-thon. In this multi-part event, teams will compete to improve outcomes of Austin’s biggest problems.
Virtual Event
Hostile Design in the Built Environment
- NOVEMBER 9 - NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 8:00AM
- A self-guided tour around Austin to study examples of everyday design decisions that impact usability, with particular emphasis on “hostile design”, or design that is intentionally exclusionary.
Self-Guided Tour
P A R K S P A C E: Reimagining Our Parks for Physical Distancing and Access for All
- NOVEMBER 9 - NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 8:00AM-5:00PM
- Join the Austin Foundation for Architecture and community partners to learn about P A R K S P A C E, a social distancing intervention for Austin-area parks.
- Virtual Event / Various Locations Around Austin
Designing a Field Hospital for COVID-19 Patients
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 9:00AM - 10:00AM
- In April 2020 the City of Austin began designing an Alternate Care Site for COVID-19 patients in the Convention Center. Learn how various departments came together to plan, build and test the Alternate Care Site.
Virtual Event
Designing for Equity in Education
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 10:30AM - 12:00PM
- Rethinking equity in communications between vulnerable communities and K-12 public school districts.
- Virtual Event
Force Majeure: An International Design Ideas Competition for Modern Crisis
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 12:00PM - 1:00PM
- The Force-Majeure Ideas Competition poses the simple question of what the appropriate design response to a health crisis that requires physically separating people is.
Virtual Event
Do Better, Hire Better: Building Teams That Reflect Our Communities
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 12:30PM - 1:30PM
- How do we change industries to represent the communities we live in? And most importantly, how do we do it ethically and legally? We'll be learning right alongside you as we talk to experts about the way(s) forward.
Virtual Event
Designing Equitable Communities
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 2:00PM - 3:30PM
- In this workshop, you’ll hear from community change-makers who are breaking down oppressive systems, and you'll create and explore strategies for developing a systems mindset that contributes to equitable and inclusive communities.
Virtual Event
Embracing Equitable Decision-Making: Using Design Techniques to Get S*** Done—At Work, At Home, In Life
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 4:00PM - 5:00PM
- Learn design techniques to help you make tough decisions by building radically collaborative environments— creating equitable spaces for all voices to be heard, reaching shared outcomes, and removing leadership biases.
Virtual Event
ADW20 Opening Event: Keynote & Happy Hour
- NOVEMBER 9, 2020, 5:30PM - 7:00PM
- Help us kick off the 5th annual Austin Design Week! Hear from ADW organizers and opening keynote, Stacey Chang. Stick around to connect with folks from the ADW community.
Virtual Event
Antiracism Activation Kit
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 8:30AM -10:00AM
- Deepen your personal antiracism journey with a guided workbook where you learn antiracism fundamentals and walk away with a personalized action plan.
Virtual Event
Exploring Context to Inform Design: An Austin Tour
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 10:00AM -11:00AM
- Re-engage with your city and surroundings in new ways in this virtual cycling tour and discussion exploring the historical, geographical, and architectural factors that have shaped the city’s built environment and how they shape current buildings and the work of Matt Fajkus Architecture.
Virtual Event / Self-Guided Tour
Turning on a Dime: Pivoting Your Business to Empower Communities During Times of Crisis
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 10:30AM - 11:30AM
- In tech, rapid change is inevitable. But in rare instances, you hit inflection points where your business can be changed in ways that uplift your community. This talk will focus on the challenges of designing products and services in these moments.
Virtual Event
Within 6 Feet: How a re-imagined student mentorship program allows those suffering from Alzheimer’s to have a space for connection
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 12:00PM - 1:00PM
- Listen to a panel from Alzheimer’s Texas on the needs of our elder community members during Covid-19. Come learn how local area students, paired with architecture and build firms were able to design Visitation Booths for connection, relief and comfort to some of our most vulnerable populations.
Virtual Event
Art and Architecture, Embracing Artisans and Craftspeople to Design Memorable Experiences
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 12:00PM - 1:00PM
- Artisans and craftspeople have the power to transform a place into an experience that represents its community. This presentation explores how architecture can and should embrace diverse artists in design.
Virtual Event
Allied Voices: Designing for Marginalized Communities
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 1:30PM - 2:30PM
- How do you use your storytelling powers to amplify the voices of the marginalized? We will walk you through a case study of how a six-person team designed Allied Voices, a platform to help users handle race-related incidents, both as victims and allies.
Virtual Event
Designing for a Sustainable Future: A Circular Design Workshop
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 3:00PM - 4:30PM
- Design sustainably not just for today, but for tomorrow’s uncertain future. This workshop will use circular design principles and “provocatyping” to redesign a product with its long life in mind.
Virtual Event
More than Elevating Voices: Changing Power Structures Within Design
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 5:00PM - 6:00PM
- How does one become a designer? What about growth within your practice? Join AIGA Austin to explore how education, professional networks and hiring practices perpetuate an exclusive and inequitable design industry—and what we can do about it.
Virtual Event
Austin’s Transit Moonshot: The Making of Project Connect
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 6:30PM - 7:30PM
- Hear the methods, lessons, and stories from the minds behind Project Connect: Austin's multigenerational transportation plan. Embracing Austin's maturity meant a more equitable, sustainable, and enjoyable way to get around.
Virtual Event
Precise Poetry: A Cinematic Journey Through Italian-Brazilian Architect Lina Bo Bardi's Architecture
- NOVEMBER 10, 2020, 6:30PM-7:30PM & 8PM-9PM
- Amidst the urban architecture of downtown Austin, experience a drive-in screening of Precise Poetry, a film about one of the 20th century’s most original and influential woman architects, Lina Bo Bardi, introduced by UT School of Architecture Professor, Dr. Fernando Lara.
- Blue Starlite Mini Urban Drive-in - Downtown
- 300 San Antonio St
- Austin, TX 78701
Design Circle
- NOVEMBER 11 - November 13, 2020, 8:30AM - 9:30AM
- The Design Circle is a non-hierarchical and unfacilitated conversation about Design that will be held outdoors in a socially distanced format. This event is open to anyone interested in a new type of community dialogue about Design.
- Springdale General: 1023 Springdale Road, Austin
People Helping People: Design’s Role in Elevating and Understanding Human Needs in Crisis Response
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 8:30AM - 9:30AM
- Join the Dell Medical School's Design Institute for Health team in a talk exploring three COVID-19 response initiatives where human-centered design has illuminated opportunities for service, systems and space design to support health and well-being.
Virtual Event
Embrace the Stretch
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 9:00AM - 10:30AM
- “Embrace the Stretch” is about using your strengths to expand what you think is possible. We will have a panel discussion about our experience using soft skills such as self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and communication skills and how to use those skills to be resilient and flexible.
Virtual Event
Embrace Unlearning: How Changing Our Language Can Reframe Our World
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 10:00AM - 11:00AM
- In design and tech, we are often careless about our language. We use terms like 'master', 'whitelist' and 'war room' despite their connotations and impact. This talk will help designers avoid repeating discriminating terms and enable them to become active shapers of language.
Virtual Event
From Parking Lots to Parks – a Catalyst of Transformation at Highland ACC
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 11:30AM - 12:30PM
- This session focuses on the two signature gateway parks within the Highland Mall redevelopment. The parks are prime examples of “parking lots to parks” and reinforce the role and importance of open space and environmental performance in these times of social distancing.
Virtual Event
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Design Community
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
- Join a diverse group of Austin Designers and Architects for a discussion on Equity and Inclusion in Design Firms, the Design Process, and Professional Organizations.
Virtual Event
Embrace Universal Design in Education to Reimagine a More Equitable System
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 2:30PM - 3:30PM
- Explore how universal design has helped education leaders turn the COVID crisis into an opportunity to re-imagine the school experience.
Virtual Event
Ready, Set, Animate! DIY Animation Workshop For All
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 4:00PM - 5:30PM
- Learn simple techniques for creating simple, but impactful hand drawn animations using our Gonzo Viz process and ubiquitous or DYI design tools. Great for folks of all skill levels and backgrounds
Virtual Event
Becoming Digital Sherlocks: Uncovering Insights in Remote Research
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 5:30PM - 7:00PM
- What can we learn about others via remote research? In this workshop, we will teach attendees to hone the art of observation via digital interaction. Together, we will use design research practices to uncover insights from each others’ physical environments and everyday artifacts as seen through our laptop lens.
Virtual Event
Aeroderivative: Retooling Design Methodologies in Aviation
NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Join us for a discussion on learnings for adapting design methodologies for airlines around the world. As aviation spans the globe, how do designers at GE Aviation, Boeing, or Apple design within a domain-specific context while still utilizing the design research methodologies that provide great insights?
Virtual Event
Design Improv - Introduction to Industrial Design Process
- NOVEMBER 11, 2020, 7:30PM - 9:00PM
- In this workshop we will be combining the fun of Improvisational Theater with the Industrial Design process! Join us to learn how Industrial Designer's embrace the unknown to generate ideas, and find creative solutions to everyday problems.
Virtual Event
Embracing Uncertainty: Using Strategic Foresight to Examine What's Next
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 10:30AM - 11:30AM
- Being prepared for the future is more important than ever before. Learn how using strategic foresight and speculative design can impact your organization.
Virtual Event
Failure Resume Workshop
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 11:00AM - 12:30PM
- Join ATX Fail Club as we embrace vulnerability together by exploring how our failures have led us to where we are today.
Virtual Event
Embrace and Amplify
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
- What happens when you combine the forces of an architecture firm dedicated to creating people–centric spaces with a technology company that develops software platforms to empower creators across industries? Join us as we share how IA and Unity Technologies are embracing new ways of virtually making a physical place.
Virtual Event
Proximity in a Season of Distancing
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 1:30PM - 3:00PM
- The best strategy to engage communities is by getting as close as possible to the community. This is called Proximity. This conversation is about embracing change, virtual engagement and maintaining our sanity.
Virtual Event
Stake Out: What’s on the table for BIPOC designers in this era?
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 2:30PM - 3:30PM
- Join us as we host a roundtable discussion with emerging Austin BIPOC design creatives. This conversation will be centered around the challenges and opportunities encountered by designers of color.
- Virtual Event
Embrace Community Through Cross-Cultural Design
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 4:00PM - 5:30PM
- Join Yiying Lu, one of the "Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business", to hear how we can use design to empower us as creative global citizens to bridge divides, bring people together, and engage with cultures around the world.
Virtual Event
Dear Austin ... Embracing Identity Through Policy: Erasure and Displacement of Black and Brown Communities
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 6:00PM - 7:00PM
- Join Latinos in Architecture as we bring ADW a unique panel of local leadership shedding light on the historic racial divide within the black and brown communities of Austin.
Virtual Event
Embrace Your Colors: Code-Switching While Working Remote During a Pandemic
- NOVEMBER 12, 2020, 7:30PM - 8:30PM
- Due to the pandemic, the "new normal" presents unique challenges for those working remotely. In this panel, we will unpack code-switching at work with individuals working remotely during a pandemic.
Virtual Event
CreativeMornings/Austin
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 8:00AM - 9:30AM
- Join CreativeMornings at ADW! CreativeMornings/Austin is a free monthly speaker series based on the belief that everyone is creative and everyone is welcome. This month's theme is Radical and we'll hear from Adraint Bereal, creator of The Black Yearbook.
Virtual Event
A Remote Prototype Workshop for COVID Future Experience Design
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 10:00AM - 11:30AM
- We will create COVID-Future Experience Design to identify short-term changes that can become long-term solutions in the City of Austin.
Virtual Event
Blueprint for the Future of Work
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 10:30AM - 11:30AM
- How the blending of remote work, culture, technology and wellness are colliding to create the new multi-faceted, flexible working experience.
Virtual Event
Unmute: How to Design Engaging Digital Events
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 12:00PM - 1:00PM
- The Capital Factory team is here to share what we've learned about what separates a dull zoom from an engaging digital event experience.
Virtual Event
Candid Career Conversation: How to Advance in Your Design Career
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 1:00PM - 2:00PM
- Hear strategies and lessons learned from design leaders who have advanced in their own careers and mentored their teams to do the same. Join a breakout room with one of the speakers for a small group discussion.
Virtual Event
Reshaping the Face of Design
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 1:30PM - 2:30PM
- Design has a diversity problem. The 2019 Design Census by AIGA reported that 71% of designers are White and only 3% are Black. Reshaping the face of design, starts with design education. In this discussion, Nashville Design Week and Austin Design Week join together for the first time to explore efforts to increase diversity and access in design education across two cities and multiple design disciplines.
Virtual Event
What Designers Need to Know About Disability
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 3:00PM - 4:00PM
- Did you know texting originally started out as a tool specifically for people who are hard of hearing or deaf people? Now, we have many industries and cultural appreciation surrounding this form of communication. What many people see as a taboo, or point of pity in the topic of disability in reality, has a invaluable input into mainstream design and our ways of relating to one another.
Virtual Event
Design-a-thon Final Pitches
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 3:30PM-5:00PM
- Cheer on our Design-a-thon finalists as they pitch their research and possible solutions to a panel of judges.
Virtual Event
Is This Event For Everyone?
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 4:30PM - 5:30PM
- In this talk, the organizers of Interfaces will talk candidly about the practical ways in which the group designs events using an IDEA (inclusion, diversity, accessibility, and equity)-conscious framework to include marginalized people from the community.
Virtual Event
Embracing Our Roots
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 5:30PM - 7:00PM
In this panel of creative foodies of different diasporic identities, speakers will share their experiences and discuss the meaning behind reclaiming their culture via food. The first half of the panel will be a multicultural discussion, and the second half will be a fun food demo that viewers can follow along with!
Virtual Event
Where are the Black Graphic Designers?: 50 Years of History and Advocacy
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Design legend Cheryl D. Holmes Miller shares the legacy of 50 years of Black Graphic Design History and her own role in that history as a Black, female designer, scholar, writer and business owner.
Virtual Event
Soundcheck: Closing Event and Mobley Concert
- NOVEMBER 13, 2020, 7:00PM - 8:00PM
ADW 2020, it's a wrap (party)! Celebrate the learnings, connections and community gained over the week with a closing thank you and a free concert by local musician Mobley. Brought to you by our friends at Six Square as a part of their Soundcheck series, tune in as we wrap the week and close it out with an incredible performance you won't want to miss!
Virtual Event