How to Design with Quantum Principles | Brooks Atwood, Multidisciplinary Designer Futurespaces 2026-09-21 | How to Design with Quantum Principles | Brooks Atwood, Multidisciplinary Designer
Translating the Physical + Digital with Sasha Wallinger, MIT Museum Futurespaces 2025-10-17 | How do museums, galleries, and brands evolve when the physical and digital worlds continually reshape one another? Join Sasha Wallinger, inaugural Marketing and Communications Director at the MIT Museum, for an exploration of creative storytelling across physical and virtual spaces—from retail experiences to museum exhibitions.Drawing on her work spanning fashion, art, and technology, Wallinger will share how the MIT Museum’s Remembering the Future exhibition embodies this evolution. Through projects that blend material and experiential design, she’ll reflect on how the museum continues to innovate—inviting visitors to move fluidly between physical and digital encounters that expand what it means to engage with art and science today.About our SpeakerSasha is a global business growth expert who bridges fashion, sustainability, and technology to shape forward-looking strategies and brand narratives. A former Chief Marketing Officer for award-winning global brands, agencies, and start-ups, she now advises leaders through interdisciplinary research, strategy, and the design of commercial products and campaigns that define the future of business and culture.An accomplished keynote speaker, journalist, and author, Sasha reports for Forbes’s CMO Network on how emerging technologies are transforming brand–audience relationships.As Director of Marketing and Communications at the MIT Museum, she is leading efforts to elevate the Museum’s global profile through a unified communications and brand strategy—developed in collaboration with design firm Pentagram—and works across MIT and the global STEAM community to advance its mission in public science engagement.
Making ⇄ of ⇄ Meaning with Jussi Ängeslevä, Art+COM Futurespaces 2025-10-10 | About this TalkHow do spatial experiences and digital media carry meaning through their making, and how do we design them that resonate beyond their material form? This talk explores intersecting domains of meaning-making: cultural transmission, physical materiality, and embodied interaction—where the act of interaction itself becomes inseparable from bespoke meaning. Drawing on ideas of technological inheritance, network theory, and the Arts & Crafts ethos Jussi Ängeslevä examines how to craft meaningful balanced communication at the intersection of art, technology, and design.Through cases spanning large scale art installations, museum exhibitions, and research projects, he reveals the collaborative dynamics and stakeholder tensions inherent in interdisciplinary practice, navigating between understanding technology, its aesthetics, and employing it in practical and robust spatial experiences.The talk closes with provocations on emerging computational tools: how to employ them enactively, as instruments for embodied thinking, rather than surrendering our agency to automation.About our SpeakerJussi Ängeslevä is a designer, media artist, and educator whose work bridges emerging technology, interaction, and spatial experience. As Creative Director at ART+COM Studios, he has led the creation of kinetic and immersive installations that fuse hardware, software, and physical form to communicate meaning through motion, light, and interaction.Alongside his practice, Jussi is Honorary Professor at the Berlin University of the Arts and has served as Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art in London. His academic work focuses on digital materiality and embodied interaction, exploring how aesthetic narratives and technological insight can shape the future of design.His contributions have been recognized internationally by institutions including the Royal Society of Arts, NESTA, BAFTA, the Art Directors Club of Europe, D&AD, Ars Electronica, and ZKM. Beyond his own practice, he has supported the field as a juror and academic board member worldwide.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
A Main Title for A Space: How Entertainment Taught Me the Meaning of Atmosphere, Anthony Vitagliano Futurespaces 2025-10-03 | About this TalkThrough many years of designing main titles for television, I learned that tone is the secret language of story. Every show arc has a unique genius, an essential spirit waiting to be revealed, and changes in tone transform how we experience its introduction. Each title sequence taught me that distilling story into a core feeling reveals something important: atmosphere isn't just decoration but the fundamental force that brings a story's true spirit to life. This understanding translated directly to experience and spatial design, showing that whether crafting opening credits or physical environments, the same invisible architecture of tone shapes how we connect to place.About our SpeakerAnthony Vitagliano designs experiences for entertainment, hospitality, and public space that create a sense of belonging.He works with brands to uncover their origin story—not just why a brand came to be, but why it deserves to be felt. He explores the edge of a narrative and builds new experiences that communities can belong to.Anthony established his creative roots in emotional storytelling, filmmaking, animation, and digital design. After 17 years of leading creative teams at Digital Kitchen he became the Vice President of Exhibitions for the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. His work has earned numerous industry awards, two Prime Time Emmy nominations for main title work, an Effie, and a Design Grand Prix at the Cannes International Creativity Festival.He has led world-class projects for diverse clients such as Warner Brothers, HBO, Amazon Studios, Target, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, West Elm, Showtime, Carnival Cruise Lines, and Mercedes Benz. In 2021, after a one-year bout with cancer, Anthony launched TONOS, a creative experience studio focused on timeless, story-driven experiences for brands.Using his deep creative expertise and genuine understanding of human emotion, Anthony creates experiences across any medium that build meaningful connections. He values open-minded collaboration with people whose measure of success equals his – to create experiences that change the face of a company, brand, or industry at large.
Making Moves: Brand Design Beyond the Logo (Mike and Chara Smith, founders of Smith & Diction) Futurespaces 2025-09-26 | What does it look like to design a brand? This conversation will take you past the polished case study and into the messy middle of brand building. Join Mike and Chara Smith, the founders of Smith & Diction, for a look into the many different types of creative moves that might go into a distinctive brand library.Right now, the tools in a designer's toolkit are changing dramatically, with AI rapidly altering the landscape of what's possible. This conversation will talk about a broad range of tools and brand moves, discussing how the Smith & Diction team uses AI not for speed or shortcuts, but to explore new creative territories and solve brand challenges in unexpected new ways.About our SpeakersMike and Chara Smith are the co-founders of Smith & Diction, a Philadelphia-based branding and design studio that specializes in creating thoughtful identities for imaginative clients. Mike leads all things design at Smith & Diction, working both as creative director and a lead designer on every studio project. Chara, meanwhile, leads all the diction, crafting brand strategies, verbal identities, and brand messaging for Smith & Diction's wide range of clients. Smith & Diction is perhaps most well-known for their team's rebrand of Perplexity, and for sharing their live design files publicly on the internet.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Bridging Worlds: Designing Digital Apps for Physical Experiences with Will Simon, Product Designer Futurespaces 2025-09-19 | About this TalkIn a world where our phones can so easily consume our attention, what role should digital products play in supporting the lives we actually want to live? This talk explores Bridging Worlds: Designing Digital Apps for Physical Experiences — how thoughtful design can move beyond screen time and instead help us connect more deeply with the real world.From cultivating presence in meditation at Headspace, to discovering and navigating the outdoors with AllTrails, to finding community in galleries and exhibitions through Artwrld, Will Simon will share how apps can be designed as tools for lived experience rather than distractions from it. Through stories and design lessons from these projects, Will will explore how products can guide, enhance, and extend physical experiences - whether in nature, art, or daily life - while ensuring that the phone never gets in the way of the moment itself.About our SpeakerWill Simon is a product designer who helps companies create digital interfaces that support real-world experiences. He has worked with teams like Headspace, AllTrails, and recently Artwrld, to design user-friendly products that help people connect with themselves, with nature, and with in-person communities.As a design partner for early-stage startups and established companies alike, Will has developed a blended skillset that thrives in small, fast-moving teams. His focus is on building intuitive, human-centered tools that enrich life beyond the screen.Will currently lives in Los Angeles, where he continues to collaborate with teams across industries to shape digital experiences that make the physical world more vibrant, not less.Download Artwrld here:artwrld.com
The Honest Question: Using Bravery and Craft to Find the Heart of the Story with Jonathan Cohen, G&A Futurespaces 2025-09-12 | About the TalkCreating quality, memorable experiences that build the deepest possible human connection means challenging both visitors and also ourselves as designers. G&A’s Jonathan Cohen will reveal how G&A designers push themselves out of their creative comfort zones to create the agency’s best work, including signature pieces from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the International Spy Museum, and the St Louis Holocaust Museum. Jonathan will explain why we champion craftsmanship for immersion, detailing work from the National Museum of African American Music, the Saint Nicholas National Shrine, and the Navy SEAL Museum.About our SpeakerJonathan Cohen has spent over twenty years as a technologist and creative leader, creating innovative experiences for the world’s leading firms in culture, education, television, automotive, and retail, such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, CBS, Citibank, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, General Mills, McGraw-Hill, Smith & Nephew, and others. Alongside the talented team at G&A, he’s fashioned complex topics into powerful experiences for museums, attractions, parks, brands and cultural centers – including the Alamo, the International Spy Museum, the National Medal of Honor Museum, the National Museum of African American Music, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Sazerac House, and the Saint Louis Holocaust Museum.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Designing the Unforgettable in an Age of Distraction with AJ Goehle, CEO, Luci Futurespaces 2025-08-29 | As screens, algorithms, and AI filter most of our lives, the unpredictability and sensory richness of real presence is disappearing from our lives. Authentic immersion gives us the opportunity to reclaim the everyday —through experiences that activate the senses, stir emotion, and leave a mark.This talk explores Imprint Experiences — identity-shaping moments felt in the body, anchored in emotion, and impossible to forget. From the stillness of a phone-free retreat to the shared energy of a live concert, AJ Goehle will share how designing for touch, sound, scent, and human connection can ensure experiences aren’t just consumed, but lived.About our SpeakerAJ Goehle is the CEO of Luci, an experience design studio for museums and brands. With visionary leadership and a passion for transformative storytelling, AJ guides Luci in creating unforgettable "imprint experiences" that shape how visitors understand themselves and the world around them. She serves on the Board of Directors for the American Alliance of Museums, on TEA’s North America Eastern Board, and on the Titan 100 CEO Board. AJ has been twice honored as a global top 50 museum influencer by Blooloop. Her TEDx talk, “Leaving Imprints: The Transformative Power of In-Person Experiences,” highlights her belief in the power of multi-sensorial environments.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Measuring (and Making the Case for) Real-World Experiences with Jim Babb, CEO, Part and Sum Futurespaces 2025-08-22 | In a world of endless noise and ever-evolving consumer expectations, traditional metrics fail to paint the full picture when it comes to measuring the value of IRL experiences. But effective measurement can cut through the noise, setting brands and organizations up for success, before, during, and after major events.In this talk, Jim Babb, CEO of Part and Sum, joined by Michael Fullman, Chief Creative Officer of VTProDesign, will break down key highlights from the recently published Return on Experience report, and discuss how to plan, scale, and measure experiences that are emotionally resonant, culturally relevant, and reflected by business growth. We’ll show how to map Return on Experience value across five dimensions (Brand, Engagement, Sales, PR/Storytelling, Organizational Insight) and three time horizons (Before, During, After) and some case studies where this has been done really well.If you want a preview of the report ahead of the discussion, you can download it here.partandsum.com/return-on-experience-the-business-case-for-branded-experiences About our SpeakerJim Babb is the founder and CEO of Part and Sum, a strategic growth partner designed to maximize brand, product, and marketing investments. He is also a member of the leadership team at Residence, an interdisciplinary network that bridges the gap between clients and creators. Jim is an experienced leader and entrepreneur, who has brought new and innovative products to market, scaled them, and helped enterprises uncover opportunities of their own. He specializes in design and systems thinking, uncover insights, helping organizations think bigger, more clearly and ambitiously. He’s a lover of systems in all shapes and forms, from economics, to game design, to fermentation. He’s had the opportunity to serve organizations of all sizes from startups to non-profits, to Fortune 500 enterprises, including: Target, Google, BuzzFeed, Nike, the United Nations, and The Nature Conservancy. He has also deeply explored his passion for game design, selling hundreds of thousands of his games as well as teaching Game Design at Hunter College in NYC.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Music Festivals as the World-Building Frontier, Ryan Cenicola, Lead Innovation Producer, Coachella Futurespaces 2025-08-15 | Music festivals are a canvas for creativity - dynamic storytelling platforms where culture, technology, and artistry collide in real time. In this session, Ryan Cenicola, Lead Innovation Producer for Coachella, shares how festivals are evolving into worldbuilding engines - designing immersive experiences that span physical and virtual space, giving artists new tools of expression, and connecting with fans across the globe.From launching the world’s largest mobile AR campaign to producing the first-ever live augmented reality music broadcast, this talk explores how festivals are now functioning as living R&D labs - playgrounds for prototyping emerging tools like AI, AR, web3, and live virtual worlds. Through a behind-the-scenes look at projects across 3D worlds, mobile apps, livestream special effects, and onsite experiences, Ryan shares the frameworks and philosophies that make this work possible and what they reveal about the future of transmedia storytelling with real-world stakes.
The Rhythm of Our Spaces: with Michael Luck Schneider, CEO, Volvox Labs Futurespaces 2025-08-08 | The Rhythm of Our Spaces : Augment.Enhance.TuneTechnology is our contemporary cultural medium. Access to this medium has been primarily restricted to screens (and small movements of our hands), with huge investment going into these experiences and the associated data generated. This has resulted in the creation of a parallel digital world much of whose success is dependent on convincing us to spend our time in there. Meanwhile, a number of smaller industries including experience design, live entertainment, theater, themed entertainment, exhibit design and new media art, have continued to advance the technological medium designed to augment our real world. With the investment and focus on physical AI, and the potential for more nuanced and personalized human-computer interaction there is an opportunity to bring our cultural medium into this world. Let's not miss this opportunity.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Strangers Need Strange Moments Together: 15 Years of Daily tous les jours Futurespaces 2025-08-01 | We crave living in environments that support us, nourish us, and inspire us. We dream of places to go through our lives together, inclusively and tolerantly. Can we re-enchant the raw material of our collective daily experiences?Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat are the duo behind Daily tous les jours, an award-winning studio whose interactive art and narrative experiences in public spaces around the world have been described as “infrastructure for the human spirit.” Using music, dance, and other mediums to emphasize the joyful, whimsical, and unexpected, their work creates moments of connection and care between strangers.In this talk, Andraos and Mongiat mark the 15th anniversary of the studio by reflecting on its most transformative urban projects and the spring 2025 release of their first book, Strangers Need Strange Moments Together.About our SpeakersMouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat founded Daily tous les jours in Tiohtià:ke Mooniyang Montréal in 2010. The award-winning art and design studio works in an emergent field of practice combining interactive art, storytelling, performance, and urban design to reinvent living together for the 21st century.With permanent and temporary installations created in more than 60 cities around the world, their work encourages citizens to play an active role in the transformation of their cities, with the public spaces we share every day as their canvas. The studio has garnered numerous recognitions, including a UNESCO Creative Cities Shenzhen Design Award (Grand Prize), Winner of the Knight Cities Challenge, and Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Award.Mouna holds a Bachelor’s degree from Concordia University, where she is currently an adjunct professor, and a Master’s degree from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). She is also a member of the Société des arts technologiques (SAT)’s board of directors.Melissa holds a Bachelor’s degree from UQAM’s École de design and a Master’s degree from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK, where she co-founded a research unit focused on responsive environments. She is a visiting lecturer at UQAM, Concordia University, and Central Saint Martins, and is also a member of the board of directors of the Centre de Design de l’UQAM, Molior, and Xn Québec.
Creative Intelligence for a Living World with Marcus Wendt, Founder of FIELD.IO Futurespaces 2025-07-25 | Marcus Wendt founded FIELD.IO in 2009 on an instinct: creative intelligence would fundamentally transform how brands live in the world. From generative art experiments to today's dynamic brand systems + tomorrow's spatial AI experiences—each project explores what happens when intelligence meets imagination.Marcus leads a global practice dedicated to creative intelligence for a living world—reimagining how brands connect with people through systems that learn, adapt, and surprise. Where others see technology as automation, he sees it as a creative medium that can develop intuition and respond like living things.He's championed an approach that treats every project as both a technical challenge and an emotional opportunity. His vision drives FIELD's exploration of generative systems, real-time storytelling, and spaces that respond to their inhabitants—work that's earned recognition from Nike, Chanel, and IBM.From witnessing the Berlin Wall's fall to exploring remote territories like the Atlas Mountains by bike, Marcus has spent his life seeking spaces where old rules no longer apply and new possibilities emerge—a philosophy he now brings to helping global brands discover their own uncharted territories.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Words and Worlds: Shaping Immersive Experiences with Matt Earp, Meta Reality Labs Futurespaces 2025-07-18 | To understand what the metaverse is (let alone build it), humans need to pull in inspiration from across fiction, modern culture, all kinds of technology, and from every corner of design. This talk draws back the curtain on how these ideas come to life in the language and concepts of Meta Horizon, Meta’s social, spatial operating system and immersive experience for VR and mobile. As a Horizon designer, Matt pulls in insights from music, event production, writing, science fiction, and mindfulness, showing how the words we choose shape the worlds we build. Even when those worlds don’t quite exist yet.About our SpeakerMatt Earp is a Lead Content Designer for the metaverse in Reality Labs. He currently builds Meta Horizon, Meta’s next generation immersive social platform. He works at the intersection of writing, art, sound, UX design, creative tech, brand and storytelling to make the metaverse simple, straightforward, human, understandable, safe, and delightful. He builds on a background of 20 years of experience in event production, journalism and editorial, information and system design, digital activism, and technology. All filtered through his deep love of electronic music and the culture that forms around it — with nearly 30 years DJing as Kid Kameleon.
The Invisible Craft with Emily Webster Bagdatli, ESI Design Futurespaces 2025-07-15 | The Invisible Craft, What Does It Mean to Design an Experience?When we talk about Experience Design, we're not just referring to the visible, tangible elements of a product or service. We're delving into something far deeper – a craft so nuanced that, when done exceptionally well, it often goes unnoticed. This is "the invisible craft" of XD...and it's also why it is so difficult to define.This talk will not give you one perfect, rigid definition of what an experience is. Instead, it will discuss ways to think about XD, considering ways to communicate the value of our industry.About our SpeakerEmily Webster Bagdatli is the Executive Creative Director at ESI Design, a pioneering experience design studio known for crafting immersive, story-driven environments. With deep expertise in creating intuitive and engaging experiences, she leverages architecture, social capital, and multimedia technology to expand brand perception, drive audience engagement, and activate underutilized spaces.Emily has led the creative direction for some of the world’s most iconic public destinations, including the White House Tour, the Statue of Liberty Museum, and the arts and graphics program at LaGuardia Airport’s Terminal C. Her design philosophy is shaped by a dual background in architecture and dance, giving her a unique ability to choreograph how people move through and interact with space—transforming static environments into vibrant, multisensory experiences.She holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Colorado and a Master’s from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Earlier in her career, she worked with acclaimed creative forces such as WET Design, photographer David LaChapelle, the Independent Film Channel, and artist Jim Campbell, exploring the intersection of art, technology, and the built environment.A frequent speaker on design innovation, Emily has shared her insights on brand transformation, dynamic storytelling, and immersive media environments at major forums including SXSW and the Fast Company Innovation Festival.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Designing From the Middle of the Atlantic: Lemke Meijer Futurespaces 2025-07-07 | What does it mean to design experiences from a place where your nearest neighbours are arctic seabirds and lava fields? For Gagarín Interactive, based in Iceland, physical isolation has become a creative advantage. In this talk, Lemke Meijer shares how designing on the edge shapes their approach to content, interaction and storytelling.With three decades in digital media—and a specialisation in interactive exhibitions—the studio creates award-winning work known for its tangibility, clarity and emotional depth.Lemke Meijer is Partner at Gagarin Interactive, an Icelandic experience design studio where she is responsible for concept work in the studio. Here, her work centers around creating tangible, interactive experiences where she encourages visitors to explore new perspectives and uses design qualities such as seduction, immersion, anticipation and others to play with the senses and create contexts for emotional experiences. She works alongside scientists, researchers and educators in a co-creation process to disseminate complicated information into comprehensible and enjoyable narratives.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Strategy Before Spectacle: Balancing Design & Technology with Chad Hutson, Dimensional Innovations Futurespaces 2025-06-27 | In this talk, Chad will reflect on the personal and professional milestones that have shaped his decades-long career in experience design and share key insights on what makes impactful experiential work. He’ll explore why utilizing generalists and deploying strategy—both often overlooked assets—play a foundational role in delivering successful installations. Offering lessons from his time as a business owner, he will also highlight the value of adaptability in the face of hard reality. Lastly, as a staunch advocate for creative technologies, Chad will make the surprising case for why you shouldn’t always use them.Chad Hutson is an experience design leader who has spent his career helping shape environments that connect people through visual storytelling and creative technology. As Chief Strategy Officer at Dimensional Innovations (DI)—an experience design, technology and fabrication firm—Chad supports teams across disciplines to foster innovation and growth for corporate, cultural, transportation and entertainment clients. DI’s current projects includes Atlas 9, a forthcoming immersive art experience it's co-developing in Kansas City, slated to open this fall. Prior to joining DI, Chad co-founded and served as CEO of creative agency Leviathan, where his leadership led to award-winning interactive work for Airbus, Nike, Disney, McDonald’s, T-Mobile, Universal and others, as well as recognition from the likes of Wired, Fast Company, Forbes, Event Marketer and Communication Arts.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Inquiry, Immersion, and Maybe Transformation with Tom Rockwell, CCO at the Exploratorium Futurespaces 2025-06-20 | This talk will offer a stroll through projects and practices from San Francisco’s Exploratorium, as well as other creative work. Along the way, Tom Rockwell, Creative Director, will reflect on how we seek to facilitate authentic moments of inquiry, experiment with different forms of immersivity, and—maybe, if we’re lucky—set the stage for meaningful, life-changing moments. Drawing on his 20 years of experience in experience design at the Exploratorium, as well as work in other science museums, playgrounds, and somatic practices, Tom will share insights into what it takes to create spaces that invite curiosity and reflection. The talk will conclude with some musings on what the future of meaning-rich, contemplative spaces might look like at this point in history.Futurespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Designing Emotion Through Technology with Leigh Sachwitz, Founder of flora&faunavisions Futurespaces 2025-06-17 | How do we keep stories alive and resonant in a fast-moving digital world? Leigh Sachwitz, Founder and Principal of the award-winning studio flora&faunavisions, believes the answer lies in emotionally-driven, immersive design. In this Futurespaces session, she’ll explore how technology can be used, not just to captivate but to connect, preserve, and pass on stories to new generations.Drawing on four significant projects — namely, The Ring Cycle, Genius: Da Vinci, Utopian Garden, and Flying Apsarus — Leigh will share how her team uses immersive storytelling, interdisciplinary collaboration, and digital innovation. Each project is a case study in designing emotion-led experiences that sit on the forefront of technological advancement.Attendees can expect a deep dive into Leigh and her team’s process, along with fresh insights into the future of narrative design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the power of technology to keep human stories front and center in a digital world.About LeighLeigh Sachwitz is the founder and creative director of flora&faunavisions, the Berlin-based studio renowned for crafting emotionally resonant, tech-driven immersive experiences. She is an internationally accomplished artist, designer, curator, and creative director. Trained as an architect in Glasgow and shaped by the experimental energy of 1990s Berlin, Leigh began by transforming the city’s post-wall spaces with ephemeral installations that fused light, sound, and architecture. What started as underground interventions evolved into genre-defining work across performance, music, art, and brand experience.Today, she leads a multidisciplinary team pushing the boundaries of storytelling through technology—creating everything from 360° projections and live 3D mapping to large-scale interactive environments. Whether directing for iconic venues like Volksbühne or building sensory journeys for global audiences, Leigh brings vision, precision, and a deep understanding of how to move people through space and feeling.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Adland to Animation: The Making of History Hacks with Laura Cortes, Co-Founder of Spoonful Futurespaces 2025-06-14 | What happens when a creative director burned out by campaigns and content calendars pivots to making a claymation kids’ show—with AI?In this candid and visually rich talk, Laura Cortes shares her journey from 15+ years at the intersection of advertising, interactive media, and emerging tech to launching History Hacks, an irreverent, imaginative AI-powered claymation series for kids. Born out of a desire to escape the churn and reconnect with meaning, the project blends handcrafted stop-motion with generative tools to reimagine how history is told to young minds.Laura unpacks how her experience designing immersive campaigns for Google, CERN, and NFB laid the foundation for a new kind of storytelling—one where imperfection, play, and automation coexist. She’ll walk you through the founding of Spoonful Studios with Mikko Martikainen, the creative principles that drive History Hacks, and how burnout, motherhood, and a passion for impact seeded a fresh creative language.About LauraLaura Cortes is an executive creative director, immersive storyteller, and innovation strategist working at the intersection of entertainment, technology, and design. With over 15 years of experience leading cross-functional teams in advertising, VFX, and interactive media, she has helped shape award-winning experiences for major studios, global platforms, and visionary directors including SS Rajamouli.Her work spans AI-powered creative tools, spatial storytelling, and narrative worldbuilding, with standout projects such as The Boys AR first-person shooter for Amazon Prime, The Mandalorian AR immersive experience, and AI lyric video for Muse as Head of Digital at Warner Bros. Records UK.Recently, Laura co-founded Spoonful Studios, an AI-driven transmedia production house, partnering with animation studios and startups on bridging AI with traditional pipelines to shape the future of storytelling.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
The Future of Immersive: A Live Roundtable Futurespaces 2025-05-22 | Join us for a special Futurespaces session led by Josh Goldblum! Instead of our usual speaker format, Josh will guide us through an engaging presentation and conversation about the future of immersive experiences.We’ll kick things off with a quick overview of how immersive experiences have evolved over the past few years, from the pre-COVID era to now. We’ll explore the rise of projection-based experiences like the Van Gogh exhibits, the boom of experiential spaces such as the Museum of Ice Cream and Meow Wolf, and the innovation of interactive play centers like Two Bit Circus, CAMP, and Beat the Bomb. We’ll also delve into super high production installations, like the Museum of the Future, SUPERBLUE and teamLab.Throughout the session, we’ll examine both economic and experiential trends, identify the qualities that make an immersive experience successful, and discuss where these trends are heading.This won’t just be a presentation; it’s a lively, interactive conversation where we’ll bring in voices from the community and past Futurespaces speakers. We want this to be a dynamic discussion where everyone can share insights, ask questions, and dissect this fascinating topic together.
Vibe Coding 101: Workshop with Pujarini Ghosh Futurespaces 2025-05-19 | Whether you are a creative, a designer, a beginner to coding or a technologist who loves quick prototypes, vibe coding is a great way to bring your ideas to life. You do not need to be a software engineer; basic coding knowledge and curiosity are enough. In this workshop, we will use Cursor (free trial available). You will learn to set up your project. We will delve into the technical details of vibe coding, exploring how to prompt AI effectively, navigate toward your design vision and apply these methods to front-end development. You will learn simple tips and tricks for working with AI while maintaining full control of your code. By the end, you will build a simple game and leave ready to explore vibe coding on your own.To get the most out of the session, please download Cursor (free trial available) and Node.js ahead of time.Pujarini Ghosh is a Brooklyn-based Creative Technologist. She has extensive experience in experiential creative technology, transforming data into immersive, emotionally resonant web experiences and installations. By blending code, sensors, illustration and generative visuals, her multidisciplinary work explores themes of identity, culture and technology. Through storytelling and interactivity she crafts scroll-stopping digital narratives and sensory environments that invite reflection and connection.
Quantum Metaphors and Other Weirdness with Stewart Smith, Advanced Projects Group Futurespaces 2025-05-16 | Stewart Smith is an award-winning creative technologist, artist, writer, and speaker. He’s led innovation teams across ten time zones, and wields wisdom accrued from his years with Google, Amazon, and Unity. Educated as a graphic designer (MFA, Yale University), his work is multi-disciplinary by nature and has spanned quantum computing, artificial intelligence, spatial computing, aerospace, and fine art. He recently co-founded the Advanced Projects Group (APG)—an enigmatic organization creating magic with companies you’ve heard of for projects you wouldn’t believe.Join our Futurespaces talk as Stewart presents career highlights that led to APG, and expounds on a subject that continues to fascinate him: quantum computing. (Contrary to pop-science hype, our quantum reality isn’t “mystical” or “spiritual” in the least. But it is super-cool.) Come for the design inspo. Stick around for a quick explainer on qubits and superposition—no physics required.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Making Space: The Art of Local Impact with Kevin Collins, Secret Walls Futurespaces 2025-05-12 | At Secret Walls, live paint battles are the front door—a high-energy, accessible way to invite people into the world of contemporary art. These events aren't just entertainment—they're curated cultural experiences that highlight local talent, build community, and create lasting connections between artists and audiences. In this session, Kevin Collins, CEO of Secret Walls, will share how these moments are designed to feel both grassroots and world-class, and how that approach scales into broader creative platforms, partnerships, and artist development. It all starts with making space.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Interaction & The Fantastic with Theo Watson, Design I/O Futurespaces 2025-05-12 | Design I/O has been creating large scale, experimental interactive installations for over 15 years. Their work often starts quite experimental in nature, but through their iterative process and exploration it is transformed into something seamless, magical and completely new. Co-Founder Theo Watson will share his approach to building interactive installations: from initial concept and prototypes, to the final experience. He will dive into novel techniques for experimental, full body interaction as well as approaches to support open exploration and inclusive design. He will also talk about some of their recent work using AI models and ML techniques, sharing the pitfalls and moments of delight that come in developing experiences that live on the edge of the impossible. About TheoTheo Watson is an award winning interactive artist whose work is born out of the curiosity and excitement of designing experiences that come alive and invite people to play. His work has been shown at the Tate Modern, Ars Electronica and is in the permanent collection of MoMA. Theo Watson together with Emily Gobeille lead creative studio Design I/O, an interactive design studio that was the 2020 winner of the Cooper Hewitt’s National Design Award for Digital Design. Design I/O has been at the leading edge of immersive interactive installations and new forms of storytelling for over 15 years. Their recent work includes an emotion driven interactive robot arm as well as the world’s first live streamed, VR music video album. Their clients include Adobe, The New York Hall of Science, The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Tech Interactive, Bell Labs and the Toronto International Film Festival. Theo is also the co-founder of the openFrameworks project, an open source library for writing creative code in C++.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Beauty, Function, and the Space Between with Jonathan Kim, Rare Volume Futurespaces 2025-05-07 | Jonathan Kim’s path from commercial design to co-founding Rare Volume reflects not just a personal drive for creative purpose, but a deeper conviction that design as a discipline holds untapped potential beyond its traditional roles in advertising and tech. His journey is rooted in a desire to help carve new paths where visual design serves not only as inspiration but also as a tool for real-world utility, education, and impact.He’ll share how Rare Volume’s focus on exhibit design, data visualization, and content automation is driven by a passion for merging visual storytelling with technology in service of something more enduring. Central to this approach is an intentional balance: a studio culture where design and engineering operate on truly equal footing. This foundation allows Rare Volume to cultivate the adjacent possible — the space where beauty and function converge into something greater than the sum of their parts.Jonathan Kim is the co-founder and executive creative director of Rare Volume with expertise across visual, motion, and experience design disciplines.About Our SponsorBlack Ink Business Services partners with business owners to provide clarity, structure, and support across operations, accounting, HR, and management. By delivering clear, intelligent insights into business health, they help clients focus on growth, strategy, and what makes their business unique. Whether launching, scaling, or optimizing, Black Ink handles the details so owners can focus on their vision.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Mindsets and Misconceptions on AI with Dré Labre, Future Creative & Co-founder of Never Futurespaces 2025-05-05 | In this talk, Dré Labre—future creative and co-founder of Never—shares a fresh perspective on how AI intersects with creativity. Rather than focusing on tools or techniques, he explores the deeper shifts in thinking required to work meaningfully with generative technology.Starting with Mindsets, Dré looks at the values and attitudes that help artists, designers, and strategists stay curious, human, and in control when working with AI. next up in Misconceptions, he unpacks some of the most common fears and false assumptions about AI—like the myth that it’s here to replace creatives.Drawing from years of hands-on experimentation in AI art, animation, and storytelling, Dré offers a grounded, optimistic lens on what’s possible when we approach these tools with intention. Whether you’re skeptical or sold on AI, this talk will reframe how you think about your role in an increasingly intelligent creative landscape.Dré Labre is a future creative and co-founder of Never, an AI-driven art, animation, and activation studio based in Toronto and Paris. With a background in advertising and a long-standing curiosity for emerging tech, Dré works at the intersection of storytelling, design fiction, and generative workflows.His studio, Never, specializes in turning unconventional ideas into compelling experiences—whether that’s building a photobooth that transforms portraits using AI, animating speculative futures, or collaborating with brands to create content that surprises and resonates. Dré’s work spans film, interactive installations, and branded content, often blurring the line between what’s real and what’s next.He’s the voice behind Design Fiction Daily, a bite-sized exploration of future artifacts, absurd inventions, and provocative prompts that imagine harder about the near future.Dré has spoken at conferences and workshops across North America and Europe, always advocating for human-centered uses of technology, and how AI can be a brush and not just a button.When he’s not prototyping futures, you’ll find him 3D printing odd inventions, writing and performing music, or experimenting with vegetables in a vertical garden.Dré is here to share lessons learned from the creative frontier, and hopefully spark a few ideas worth stealing.About Our SponsorBlack Ink Business Services partners with business owners to provide clarity, structure, and support across operations, accounting, HR, and management. By delivering clear, intelligent insights into business health, they help clients focus on growth, strategy, and what makes their business unique. Whether launching, scaling, or optimizing, Black Ink handles the details so owners can focus on their vision.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Building Global Brand Experiences w/ Inessah Selditz Futurespaces 2025-04-25 | Inessah Selditz is a creative executive and brand experience strategist who has led global initiatives at the intersection of architecture, technology, media, and culture, with leadership roles at LAB at Rockwell Group, Huge, A_DA, and Superfly.How do bold brand ideas become immersive experiences for 21st-century audiences?In this talk, Inessah Selditz shares real-world insights and best practices from her years leading creative at top NYC agencies and studios—shaping global brand platforms, complex physical and digital environments and immersive campaigns.From reimagining public space at Hudson Yards to developing global experiential strategies for Nike, Inessah will unpack how she’s helped brands define a top-down strategic vision and translate it into compelling, human-centered experiences.She’ll explore the questions creative leaders, strategists, and experience designers face every day:How do you build a strong narrative strategy and framework at the brand and global level?What does it take to choreograph a cohesive journey across physical, digital, and narrative touchpoints?What are the best practices—and common pitfalls—when aligning vision and execution across complex stakeholder groups?Expect actionable frameworks, creative challenges, tips and tricks learned along the way, and stories from the field—from navigating C-suite strategy to building experiences that resonate on a human and emotional level.About Our SpeakerInessah Selditz is a Creative Executive and Brand Experience Strategist who has led global initiatives at the intersection of architecture, technology, media, and culture. A creative leader and executive at top NYC agencies and studios—including LAB at Rockwell Group, Huge, A_DA, and Superfly—she has helped shape the future of brand experience for clients across industries. Inessah has worked with brands like Nike, Microsoft, Netflix and Meta to define their core proposition and bring it to life across platforms, built environments and campaigns.About Our SponsorBlack Ink Business Services partners with business owners to provide clarity, structure, and support across operations, accounting, HR, and management. By delivering clear, intelligent insights into business health, they help clients focus on growth, strategy, and what makes their business unique. Whether launching, scaling, or optimizing, Black Ink handles the details so owners can focus on their vision.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Inside Winning Experiential Projects (Funding to Finish) with Kitae Kim, Co-Founder at Foveate Futurespaces 2025-04-22 | Ever wondered how some artists and designers are able to pull off mega-scale projects, secure funding, and maintain creative soul autonomy? In this talk, Kitae Kim, Cofounder of Foveate, will give you a look behind the curtain of some amazing experiential projects from his time at Studio Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, answering questions like;"How can an artist build such massive works?""How do you fund these kinds of installations?""What makes good media art or an interactive experience truly memorable?"Kitae will dive into these questions, sharing his experience as both an experiential architect and as a design entrepreneur, showing how business and creativity can go hand in hand at the highest level. He'll also show what he's doing now with Foveate to help creatives secure a client's confidence in their most ambitious projects.About Our SpeakerKitae Kim is an Experiential Architect and Design Entrepreneur. He's worked on massive public art projects around the world, both permanent and touring, at institutions like SFMOMA, Superblue, The Whitney, and more. He's also worked on immersive projects for brands like Snap and Meta.He is currently the cofounder of Foveate, an interactive platform for architects and experiential designers to pitch, present, and sell their creative ideas better.About Our SponsorBlack Ink Business Services partners with business owners to provide clarity, structure, and support across operations, accounting, HR, and management. By delivering clear, intelligent insights into business health, they help clients focus on growth, strategy, and what makes their business unique. Whether launching, scaling, or optimizing, Black Ink handles the details so owners can focus on their vision.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.User Uploaded Image
Disruption’s Cute Until It’s Not with Liya Safina, Google XR Futurespaces 2025-04-18 | Liya Safina is an award-winning digital designer working with Google’s XR team. This event is sponsored by Black Ink Business Service.We’re living through a moment where innovation and design are finally making eye contact — but trust?Public trust is eroding, and people are overwhelmed. As emerging technologies accelerate at an unprecedented pace, how do we ensure they create real, tangible change?How do we design tech that lands with purpose and persists through complexity? This talk offers five principles — not commandments, not a TED Talk in disguise, just a field guide — for designing innovation that lands. Tech that does something. That cuts through the noise and stays useful, long after the hype dies down. It’s about building systems that are thoughtful, resilient, and actually worth trusting.Because disruption is cute, but only when it works.About Our SpeakerLiya Safina is an award-winning digital designer working with Google’s XR team and previously with Altoida (AR Alzheimer detection), Toyota’s Woven City, and Björk’s upcoming virtual reality music projects. Liya brings a design-for-impact lens grounded in spatial computing, AI, and healthcare innovation. With over a decade of experience in digital innovation, her vision is to build a future where technology serves human needs, instead of humans serving revenue models.About Our SponsorBlack Ink Business Services partners with business owners to provide clarity, structure, and support across operations, accounting, HR, and management. By delivering clear, intelligent insights into business health, they help clients focus on growth, strategy, and what makes their business unique. Whether launching, scaling, or optimizing, Black Ink handles the details so owners can focus on their vision.blackinkservices.com About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.futurespaces.comFounded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
The Gold-Rush Era of Experiential Hospitality with Isaac French, Founder of Live Oak Lake Futurespaces 2025-04-16 | How a $950 Instagram Giveaway Saved This Micro-Resort Startup (and Led to a Record Exit)Three years ago, at just 24 years old and with $20,000 in savings, Isaac French set out to bring a bold vision to life. Within a year, he opened Live Oak Lake—a design-forward micro-resort in Texas. But success didn’t come easy. When Airbnb suddenly shut him down, it nearly cost him everything. A $950 Instagram giveaway turned things around in a way no one could have predicted. One year later, he achieved a record-setting exit. In this talk, Isaac shares the pivotal lessons learned and explores the massive potential in experiential hospitality.About the SpeakerIsaac French is a hospitality entrepreneur, designer, and the founder of Live Oak Lake, a celebrated landscape hotel in Texas, and Experiential Hospitality, a community dedicated to the next generation of hospitality builders and innovators. Known for creating immersive, design-led properties that connect guests to nature, Isaac brings a distinct vision to the world of hospitality. He currently lives on a farm in central Texas with his wife Helen and their two sons, Lucus and Ezra.About FuturespacesFuturespaces explores the future of experience design—highlighting how innovation, storytelling, and technology can deepen human connection. Founded by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet), Futurespaces offers live webinars that reveal the creative strategies behind today’s most compelling experiences.
Give It All Away: Creative Technology and Community with Blair Neal Futurespaces 2025-04-12 | Creative Technology spans diverse disciplines, creating unique challenges for practitioners and their organizations. Community and knowledge sharing are at the core of what drives the success of the space, but there is a lot of untapped potential. This talk will touch on the multifaceted nature of the field and will discuss how developing common languages can help bridge disciplinary divides. Artist, creative technology leader and researcher, Blair Neal will conclude with examples and actionable suggestions for how organizations and individuals might find new ways to participate and nurture the ecosystem to collectively achieve more creativity, diversity, and community.About our SpeakerBlair Neal is an artist and creative technologist passionate about crafting innovative, human-centered experiences and installations. Since 2010, he has led over 80 award-winning projects, including permanent installations and activations for clients like Google, Meta, Netflix, and Nike. His work has earned Cannes Lions and helped his agency win Ad Age Small Agency of the Year. As a new media artist, Blair creates experimental light art, authors widely-referenced creative tech resources, fosters Arts+Tech communities, and is always trying to find something new to research, obsess over and create with.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Futurespaces | Experience Design Crit 001: A Live Review with Industry Experts Futurespaces 2025-04-08 | In this first-ever Experience Design Crit session, we brought together a panel of top industry experts to offer live feedback on three powerful projects from rising designers in the field of experience design. Held in front of a live Zoom audience, this session offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at how leading practitioners assess creative work, offer guidance, and elevate new talent.Featured Designers & Projects🔹 Sara Celidonio (Parsons Design & Technology MFA) – My Grandmother’s Bedroom🔹 Aditya (Adi) Somaiah (NYU, MS Integrated Design & Media) – Altered Realities🔹 Paul Mendoza (DMBA: Design Strategy MBA, California College of the Arts, ‘22) – Emnate StudioExpert Panel💡 Jasmin Jodry – Award-winning Creative Director & immersive experience designer💡 Dominick Gokgoz – Design Director at Figure-8, creators of the Museum of Ice Cream💡 Julian Rad – Creative Director blending tech and storytelling across immersive formats💡 Carla Diana – Designer, author, and educator exploring the future of product interactionModerated by:🎙 Josh Goldblum – Founder & CEO of Bluecadet, and host of FuturespacesThis session offered a powerful blend of inspiration, constructive critique, and fresh perspective—an opportunity to witness how experience designers refine their craft and communicate creative intent in a dynamic, real-world context.👉 About FuturespacesFuturespaces explores the evolving world of experience design, with a focus on how design and technology intersect to create more meaningful human connections. Founded and hosted by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet), Futurespaces hosts live webinars and in-person tours featuring today’s leading creatives in immersive, interactive, and spatial design.🔔 Subscribe for more sessions, insights, and creative inspiration from the future of experience design.futurespaces.com
The Basic Financial Skills Creatives Need with Colin Barnhart, CEO Black Ink Business Services Futurespaces 2025-04-04 | Running a creative practice isn’t just about doing great work—it’s about making that work profitable. In this session, we’ll remove the noise and get back to financial basics: how to price and sell your services, set bill rates, and track project profitability. You'll learn practical strategies to ensure every project contributes to your bottom line, not just your portfolio. We’ll also discuss common financial pitfalls agencies face and how to avoid them. Whether you're a founder, manager, or creative lead, this talk will give you the tools to build a more financially stable and successful agency.Colin Barnhart began his career on Wall Street, gaining expertise in finance and operations before shifting to the hospitality and music industries. As COO of a growing nightclub group, he played a key role in expanding the business, overseeing finances, building operational systems, and managing multiple locations, including seasonal ventures in the Hamptons. By 2006, he was managing financial and legal operations for several hospitality and music partnerships.Recognizing a gap in financial services for creative founders, Colin launched Black Ink Business Services in 2007. Since then, he has helped agencies and entrepreneurs build more profitable and financially stable businesses. With a focus on pricing strategies, operational efficiency, and financial controls, Colin specializes in guiding creative companies to improve project profitability and avoid common financial pitfalls.Join us live for "Financial Health by Design: The Basic Financial Skills Creatives Need" on Thursday, April 3, at 11:00 AM PST.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
IP Development: Ownership, Design, and Collaborative World-Building with Rebecca Barkin, Lamina1 Futurespaces 2025-03-28 | For decades, independent creators have faced a difficult choice—maintain full ownership of their IP or sign deals that restrict their creative control and disconnect them from their fans. Web 3.0 poses a challenge to the status quo. By leveraging decentralized tools, creators can now develop, expand, and monetize their IP while retaining full rights. This shift isn’t just about technology—it’s about the power in creative freedom, fair compensation, and the collaborative and agile design methodologies that allow us to imagine and build new worlds in concert with our communities. Rebecca Barkin is Co-Founder and CEO of Lamina1 alongside legendary sci-fi author and technologist Neal Stephenson. Lamina1 is a creator-owned platform and new economy for IP incubation, distribution, and monetization. An expert in immersive design, she’s spent 20+ years leading creative and technical teams at some of the world’s most ambitious experiential projects, including the Mukaab, Madison Square Garden Sphere, Magic Leap, Nod.AI, Genius Products, Dell, and EMI Capitol Records.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Pattern Recognition with Frank Rose, Digital Anthropologist and Author of The Art of Immersion Futurespaces 2025-03-24 | In The Art of Immersion, Frank Rose's book about narrative thinking, he makes the point that stories give us patterns—they help us make order out of the chaos of everyday existence. The problem is that the patterns they provide don’t always hew to reality. The brain is a pattern-seeking organ, but there are times when almost any pattern will do—and what stories lack in logic they can easily make up for in emotional appeal. When the brain’s pattern-seeking mechanism goes haywire—when it spies an image of the Virgin Mary in the condensation on a window or in a cloud hovering above the ocean—there can be no stopping it. Thus we’ve had the story that tuberculosis is a signifier of the victim’s romantic psyche, that AIDS is a punishment from God, and, in 2020, that the coronavirus was a conspiracy against Donald Trump. The word for this is apophenia—the tendency to find patterns where none exists. And it’s becoming all too clear that, with the proliferation of digital media and their propensity to promote stories that often have no grounding in reality, apophenia is characteristic of the age we are living in. This is hardly the first time that humans have left reality behind, but the chaos and confusion it can cause are the antithesis of the clear thinking we will need to get us through such challenges as the climate crisis, the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the ethical complexities of bio-engineering. Colonies on Mars, anyone? Frank Rose is the author of The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World and The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation is Remaking Hollywood and Madison Avenue. He is a senior fellow at Columbia University’s School of the Arts and teaches strategic storytelling to global business executives. Frank's work explores how stories shape our understanding of the world, especially in the digital age where patterns often blur the lines between fact and fiction. He has spoken at major conferences like SXSW, ad:tech Sydney, and the Film4 Innovation Summit, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, and Vanity Fair. Through his writing, speaking, and consulting, Frank examines how storytelling influences the narratives we create—and the ones that are created for us—in an increasingly complex world.
Emerging Technology at The Met with Brett Renfer Futurespaces 2025-03-14 | What does it look like to embrace new technology at a 155-year-old museum? How does a large organization stay nimble and iterative? Brett will discuss The Met museum's emerging technology strategy, and share the what, why, and how for their most recent project: the blockchain-powered casual game, Art Links.Brett Renfer is an experience designer and maker, with a focus on narrative-rich, novel uses of new technologies in the cultural sector. As Senior Project Manager, Emerging Technologies in the Audience Engagement Group at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brett is helping the institution collaboratively explore and define the future of the museum experience, and technology’s role within it.
Mythology, Technology & Nature: New Thresholds in Experience Design with ARAMIQUE Futurespaces 2025-03-14 | As a kid I grew up in a house with the entire collection of Joseph Campbell’s Power of Myth VHS set under my television. Years later, when I wanted to write and direct movies, I rediscovered Campbell’s work in The Hero With A Thousand Faces and was surprised to learn my mom’s weird videos had shaped so much of Hollywood and modern storytelling.For the majority of my career as an artist, director, and creative director, my work has been shaped by the intersection of mythology and technology. Looking at timeless archetypes and novel modes of expression and interaction to create new kinds of experiences with universal human resonance. But five years ago, things changed. At the beginning of Covid, I moved from France to Costa Rica, abandoning the city for the jungle. Since then, my work has been dramatically influenced by nature and permaculture design, and the way I see the world and my output will never be the same. In this talk, I will share how I’ve worked with mythology and technology to design experiences and installations for brands, tv shows, and festivals and how working with nature hands-on every day has changed my ambition for the future and my perspective on all my past projects.
Immersive Engagement in Five Steps w/ Sarah DiLeo Futurespaces 2025-03-09 | Immersion is about going deeper — it creates a state of flow, play, and revelation. Enabled by trust, it takes people to places they haven’t been before, facilitating new experiences and growth.True immersion creates the deepest form of engagement, essential for the relationships designers want to create between people, places, and organizations. In today’s attention economy, how can designers drive and sustain meaningful engagement in immersive experiences?Through research findings and real-world evaluation, we'll explore the five-step user journey to achieve true immersion.About Our SpeakerSarah is the Head of Studio, NY for Omnicom Production, a new practice area bringing together Omnicom’s global production capabilities, driving craft that works. She was formerly Studio Director for Gensler’s multidisciplinary digital experience design & production studio, creating unique experiences at the intersection of architecture, design & technology. Sarah is a multidisciplinary business builder and hands-on production director, with deep expertise in content production, immersive/experiential storytelling & emerging technology. She has produced immersive experiences, feature films, VR/XR, documentaries and commercials, and has worked in partnership with global brands in telecom, fashion, CPG, transit, automotive, education and social good.Work that she has been fortunate to produce has been shortlisted for and won awards including Cannes Lions, Webbys, Imagens & Emmys; screened at Davos, Aspen Ideas Festival & Sundance; sold to Amazon & Sony for global distribution; and received critical acclaim from Roger Ebert, Leonard Maltin, The LA Times, Variety, Adweek, Ad Age & The NY Times.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
Pursuing Joy Through Authentic Experiences with Myles Bryan Futurespaces 2025-03-07 | When the world feels off-balance, how do we keep creating experiences that lift people up? Let's talk about how to blend immersive design, tech, and storytelling to bring real moments of joy to life. We’ll look at how to turn uncertainty into fuel for innovation, and how building spaces that invite wonder can become a powerful call to action. Let us explore why pursuing joy isn’t just about personal resilience—it’s about lighting the way forward for our communities.Currently serving as Managing Director and Creative Director at Potion (now part of Hyperquake), Myles Bryan champions forward-thinking innovation and collaboration, ensuring purposeful environments, bridging the gap between storytelling through interactive design in both physical and digital spaces, while building cohesive departments across design and technology disciplines and leading successful projects.
This Should All Be Fun: Michael Fullman with Chief Creative Officer at VTProDesign Futurespaces 2025-02-28 | In this talk, Michael Fullman, Chief Creative Officer at VTProDesign, reflects on the ever-evolving creative journey—sharing the lessons, challenges, and pivotal moments that shaped his career. From mistakes made along the way to the importance of not taking things too seriously, Michael dives into the mindset behind innovation and growth.VTProDesign is an experience company that seamlessly blends technology, creativity, and production to craft unforgettable brand experiences worldwide.🔹 Insights on balancing business and creativity🔹 Lessons from past mistakes and reinvention🔹 A fresh perspective on creative leadershipWatch now and get inspired to push boundaries and rethink your approach to creative work!
Comfy UI: AI Video Workflow Breakdown with Skylar Thomas, CTO of Playbook 3D Futurespaces 2025-02-22 | Join Playbook 3D’s CTO, Skylar Thomas, for a hands-on session exploring the future of AI video generation with ComfyUI and cutting-edge open-source models like Hunyuan, CogVideoX, and LTX Video.This session will cover everything from installation and setup—using Playbook’s browser-based Comfy platform with provided credits—to mastering the ComfyUI interface and comparing different AI workflows.You’ll gain practical experience with text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation using Hunyuan, a model redefining open-source AI video with more control and comparable quality to closed-source alternatives like Runway and Sora.
Quantum Narratives (SXSW Sneak Peek) w Stephanie Riggs Futurespaces 2025-02-21 | In her new book, internationally acclaimed creative technologist, experiential innovator and author Stephanie Riggs exposes our narrative dependency on Aristotelian Poetics and introduces a framework for combining principles from the physical sciences with today’s generative tools to perhaps, at last, overcome the problematic narrative paradox. Revolutionary, research-backed, and actionable, this talk will transform everything you think you know about storytelling and radically reframe how interactive and spatial storytellers approach narrative.Stephanie Riggs is regarded as one of today’s most influential pioneers in immersive technology and narrative innovation. A former Disney Imagineer with over twenty-five years of groundbreaking experience in film, theater, virtual reality, augmented reality, game design, and artificial intelligence, she has been called “the renaissance woman of the immersive era” and “a 21st century Marshall McLuhan.”
Making Space for Purposeful Play w. Kevin Young, Wētā FX, The Mill, FutureBrand Futurespaces 2025-02-15 | Kevin Young isn’t satisfied with a project unless he can push the medium forward—whether through the thoughtful application of new technology, a fresh interaction, or a playful experiment that sparks conversation. He believes the best ideas emerge from exploration, and making space for this requires intention, persistence, and sometimes a little rule-bending.In this talk, Kevin breaks down the practical ways he integrates purposeful play into his process. He shares how small, quick prototypes help test ideas, gather feedback, and build both team confidence and client trust. He also reveals the tools and techniques that help him balance creativity with structure, make creative breakthroughs, and pursue innovation—even under tight deadlines.🔹 About Kevin YoungKevin Young is an award-winning Creative Director and Creative Technologist specializing in interactive media and immersive experiences. His work spans projects for The Guardian, Samsung, Ford, and Hyundai, with showcases at Sundance, TriBeCa, The White House, The Future of Storytelling, and CES.Starting in the London music industry, he built digital experiences for bands like Oasis and The Mighty Boosh before moving into film and TV marketing, creating interactive campaigns for Disney, HBO, and Lionsgate. As The Mill London’s first Head of Creative Technology, he led a diverse range of award-winning projects.Now based in Wellington, New Zealand, Kevin is part of Wētā FX’s Special Projects team, where he leads Creative Technology initiatives, exploring new ways technology can bring stories to life.
R&D in AI-Powered IoT with John Anderson Futurespaces 2025-02-15 | John Anderson, a software and hardware engineer with 20+ years of experience, leads the technology team at Smart Design, specializing in edge computing, AI, and smart sensors. His work has earned recognition at CES, SXSW, and the Webbys. He has collaborated with top brands like Google, Samsung, and PayPal, combining cutting-edge tech with user-focused design. A technologist-in-residence at NYU Stern, John is also a frequent speaker at global events like Adobe’s 99u and the Fast Company Innovation Festival. Passionate about accessibility, he designs impactful, socially driven products.Over the past 20 years, screen technologies have shifted from creative branding to user-focused designs, paving the way for back-end innovation at the intersection of AI, IoT, and contextual data. In this talk, John will draw on his experiences like creating the Gatorade Sweat Patch, and explore how physical and digital design converge in today’s AI-driven world, emphasizing how unique data fuels our design-thinking and prototyping process.
Deeper into building custom AI tools with Jameson Procotor Futurespaces 2025-02-13 | As generative AI reshapes creative workflows, the need for purpose-built tools has never been greater. In this follow-up session, Jameson Proctor takes a deeper dive into the strategies, challenges, and opportunities of building custom AI-driven design tools.Expanding on concepts introduced in the previous talk, we’ll explore real-world applications of tailored generative systems, examining how they can enhance efficiency, unlock new creative possibilities, and redefine the relationship between human intuition and machine intelligence.About Jameson ProctorJameson Proctor is the CEO of Athletics, where he brings over 20 years of leadership in creative technology, design, and brand innovation. His career path—from chef to coder to studio leader—has led him to spearhead transformative digital projects for clients like the New York Review of Books and Square, creating purpose-built tools that bridge technology and creativity. A lifelong tinkerer, Jameson experiments with synthesizers, microcontrollers, and other tools that merge art with engineering. His distinctive journey reflects his core belief that technology, like any craft, flourishes where purpose meets play.
Crafting Immersive Worlds: Creative Direction Strategies w Josue Ibañez Futurespaces 2025-02-10 | Josue Ibañez has led design and technology teams for nearly two decades, creating immersive experiences worldwide, including recent projects for The Sphere in Las Vegas and Tiffany Wonder in Tokyo. In this session, he will reveal a methodology for crafting immersive experiences that blend art, technology, and storytelling.Josue will share his creative direction approach to conceptualizing, designing, and producing experiences that emotionally connect with audiences. We will explore narrative and best practices from creative intent to execution.Instagram: @josue_ibanezWebsite: www.josueibanez.com
How We Built An Interactive Game Show w. Dave Rife and Gabe LibertiDave Gabe Edit Futurespaces 2025-02-01 | For the past decade, experience design duo Dave Rife and Gabe Liberti—known as Dave & Gabe—have pioneered projects that merge custom tactile interfaces, multi-channel spatial audio, and volumetric LED sculptures.After years of pushing the boundaries of experiential marketing, they turned their focus toward building their own social entertainment brand, leading to Game of 1000 Boxes—a groundbreaking interactive game show experience.In this deep dive, Dave and Gabe share their creative and technical journey, from early prototyping to large-scale implementation. They’ll explore the intersection of 3D modeling, custom PCB electronics, and TouchDesigner, revealing how they designed a framework capable of supporting 40 simultaneous players. From concept development in their studio garage to real-world playtesting, this talk showcases how innovation and iteration come together to create next-generation immersive experiences.
Breathing Life Into Machines: The Illusion of Sentience in Robots and Beyond w. Madeline Gannon Futurespaces 2025-01-31 | Breathing Life Into Machines: The Illusion of Sentience in Robots and BeyondAfter 50 years of promises and potential, robots are beginning to leave the lab to live in the wild with us. But how should we coexist with these intelligent, autonomous machines? In this talk, Dr. Madeline Gannon shares how her flavor of art, design, and robotics can push robots beyond their limits as tools of automation, and explore new models of companionship between humans and machines.User Uploaded ImageDr. Madeline Gannon is a multidisciplinary designer and inventor forging new futures for human-robot relations. Also known as "The Robot Whisperer", Gannon blends techniques in art, design, computer science, and robotics to convince robots to do things they were never intended to do: from transforming giant industrial robots into living, breathing mechanical creatures, to taming hordes of autonomous machines to behave like a pack of animals.Gannon believes that technology is a cultural medium, and tunes her work to engage with communities across science and society. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Copernicus Science Centre, and has been exhibited at international cultural institutions, published at academic conferences, and profiled in global media outlets, such as the BBC, the Guardian, FT, the Science Channel, WIRED, FastCompany, Dezeen, and The Verge.Dr. Gannon is a World Economic Forum Cultural Leader, a Knight Foundation Awardee, a former Robotics & AI Researcher at NVIDIA, and a former artist in residence at ETH Zurich, Autodesk Pier 9, and the Carnegie Mellon STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. She is known as one of the 'Top 10 Women in Robotics Industry' and 'World’s 50 Most Renowned Women in Robotics’ according to Analytics Insight. Gannon holds a Master of Architecture from Florida International University, and a Ph.D in Computational Design from Carnegie Mellon University.
AI: Roundtable & Interactive Discussion: Moderated by Dav Rauch Futurespaces 2025-01-28 | oin Dav Rauch for a candid, interactive conversation about how creatives are using (or hacking) AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, ElevenLabs, MidJourney, etc) in creative and professional contexts.This session is all about sharing practical insights — what works, what doesn’t, the insights, failures, and surprises about how these tools are shaping our own workflows and outcomes. Whether you’re ready to dive in with examples, have questions to explore, or just want to sit back and listen, you’ll leave with fresh ideas and perspectives from Dav, Josh, and fellow participants.If you have a hack you'd like to share, click the "Contact the Host" button to the left to tell us about it!About Dav RauchDav Rauch is a design leader with a talent for pushing boundaries in both physical and digital experiences. From shaping the visitor journey at the Museum of the Future in Dubai to crafting consumer experiences for spaceflight with Blue Origin, Dav has worked at the intersection of innovation and human-centered design at IDEO and as a consultant. His projects have included everything from developing platforms for therapeutic devices to designing interactive technology for blockbuster films like Avatar and Ironman. Known for his collaborative approach and strategic vision, Dav thrives on turning bold ideas into reality while navigating the complexities of emerging technologies. This session reflects his passion for exploring how tools like AI can transform the way we work and create.
Purpose-Built Generative Design in the Age of AI w. Jameson Proctor of Athletics Futurespaces 2025-01-27 | In the evolving landscape of creative technology, purpose-built tools offer creators precision and focus over endless possibilities. This talk explores how tailored generative systems like Sesame, a motion design platform developed by Athletics, empower individuals and small teams to produce high-quality, scalable design. By embracing simplicity and constraint, these tools foster experimentation, remove friction, and bridge the gap between technology and craft—ultimately elevating the creative process and opening new opportunities for creators.About Jameson ProctorJameson Proctor is the CEO of Athletics, where he brings over 20 years of leadership in creative technology, design, and brand innovation. His career path—from chef to coder to studio leader—has led him to spearhead transformative digital projects for clients like the New York Review of Books and Square, creating purpose-built tools that bridge technology and creativity. A lifelong tinkerer, Jameson experiments with synthesizers, microcontrollers, and other tools that merge art with engineering. His distinctive journey reflects his core belief that technology, like any craft, flourishes where purpose meets play.About FuturespacesFuturespaces delves into contemporary experience design, with a specific focus on how innovations in design and technology can meaningfully enhance human connection.Founded and led by Josh Goldblum (Bluecadet) Futurespaces offers live webinars and in-person tours that provide valuable insights into the creative process of creating contemporary experiences.
