Over the past 35 years, information has become increasingly digitalised, and this has also transformed the realm of design. In the digital era, design plays a crucial role in creating a more resilient, resourceful and sustainable society. Businesses across all industries rely on design and branding to improve their operations and respond to changes in culture, society and markets, while institutions frequently use design to express their cultural and historical values. An effective design grabs the attention of the target audience, expresses a vision and inspires change, increasing creativity and promoting innovation. All this has the potential to impact society.

In this seminar chaired by Deyan Sudjic, we will explore the role of design and innovation, and its impact on society and people. Kinya Tagawa will talk about the evolving role of design and innovation in the new digital era, presenting his current projects, approaches and challenges. Bo Linnemann will explain how the Danish design company Kontrapunkt has helped businesses and institutions, from Danish state companies to global brands, to carry out fundamental changes and gain new market positions through rebranding.

About the contributors

Kinya Tagawa is an award-winning design engineer experienced in a wide range of products including hardware, software and interactive art. He holds a BEng from the University of Tokyo and an MA from the Royal College of Art in the UK. His work has been selected for the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art from 2015 to 2018, and was made an Honorary Fellow there in 2018. Tagawa is also a member of several design-related committees of the Japanese Government.

Bo Linnemann is co-founder and Executive Design Director of Kontrapunkt. From offices in Copenhagen and Tokyo Linnemann and his company have been responsible for brand and design programmes for companies and institutions all over the world, including Mitsubishi Motors, Microsoft, IKEA, Dai Nippon Printing, Nissan, and Shiseido, as well as most of the Danish public sector and government ministries. He has influenced Danish and international design since the beginning of the 1980s, has been awarded the Danish Design Prize 17 times and has received numerous international design prizes, including 6 Red Dot Awards and Gold Awards, Type Directors Club, Tokyo. He is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and a Visiting Professor at Musashino Art University, Tokyo.

Deyan Sudjic (Chair) is Director of the Design Museum in London. His career has spanned journalism, teaching and writing. He was Director of Glasgow UK City of Architecture 1999, and in 2002 he was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale. He was Editor of Domus Magazine from 2000 to 2004, and Founding Editor of Blueprint Magazine from 1983 to 1996. Sudjic has published many books on design and architecture, including The Edifice Complex (Penguin, 2006), The Language of Things (Penguin, 2008), Norman Foster: A Life in Architecture (Orion, 2010), Shiro Kuramata (Phaidon, 2013), B is for Bauhaus (Penguin, 2014) and Ettore Sottsass, the Poetry of Things (Phaidon 2015). His most recent book, The Language of Cities, was published by Penguin in October 2016. Sudjic was made an OBE in 2000.

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