a glance at french interaction design
DESCRIPTION
From a talk given by Benoît Drouillat, President, *designers interactifs*, France’s leading professional organization for the digital design industry, at the Cumulus Digital Culture Session on May 19, 2011 in Paris, France.TRANSCRIPT
Interaction design in France: an overview
Cumulus Digital Culture – May 19th 2011
1st interaction design professional organization in France
600 members¶ 51 design/web agencies¶ 20 design org. & schools¶ 529 designers
Our missions¶ advance the interaction design profession in France, ¶ define and professional practices,¶ build a networked community¶ demonstrate the benefits of interaction design
Paris & Lyon¶ conferences¶ networking opportunities¶ publications (+ review)¶ exhibition
CumulusDigitalCulture
A few words about the context
¶ France: a rather unique position in the digital design world¶ French interaction design (IxD): firmly anchored in the country's strong culture of decorative and applied arts¶ France's technology-driven design culture is still deeply rooted in engineering¶ 1st problem: the business world’s cloudy perception of who digital designers are and what they do ¶ 2nd problem: interaction design is struggling to be seen as a legitimate profession
At the crossroads of several disciplines
Interaction design
Advertising & Marketing
Applied Arts
Social Sciences
Human Factors
Industrial Design
Graphic design
Giuseppe Attoma
Attoma
France’s industrial history has resulted in technology-driven design rather than user- or service-driven models
Initiatives
A selection of French interaction design projects
AR Drone, ParrotParrot, France, 2010
DIA, ParrotNoDesign, France, 2010
Nao, AldebaranAldebaran, France, 2012
Gostai JazzGostai, France, 2011
Les Éditions volumiquesFrance, 2011
Ereader Cybook, BookeenFrance, 2010
Watt'Time, EDF R&D Design et François Brument Collaboration graphique Sonia Laugier, France, 2007
Efficient Home, Schneider ElectricMathieu Lehanneur, France, 2010
An invisible profession (?)
¶ IxD began to emerge as a profession in France a decade ago¶ But it does not officially exist in the French economy¶ IxD: poorly represented in the official list of occupations published by the French national statistics agency, INSEE¶The strategic advange of IxD have not been clearly identified¶ Not on the agendas of French government ministries¶ No comprehensive public policy to address the needs of promotional actions for design
A profusion of terms
¶ The lack of a common vocabulary¶ The profusion of terms is more a reflection of divergences in strategy than in theory (S. Vial, Court traité du design)¶ *designers interactifs* glossary
design numériquedesign d'interactiondesign interactifdesign d'interactivitédesign for interactionuser experience design
Diverse yet fragmented interaction design education
¶ IxD: becoming an attractive career option in France¶ The number of degree and certificate programs has increased considerably since the early 2000¶ IxD is at the crossroads of several different academic and business cultures¶ IxD is taught at fine and applied arts schools, at design schools, and at universities
Emerging programs and academic research
¶ French design schools are getting more involved in research¶ Combining research, design, technology and partnership with business and industry¶ Strate Collège Research: designer-led applied research¶ Nantes Atlantique Design School: READi, applied research in IxD¶ Atelier de Design Numérique (ADN), Ensci: founded in 1999 by Jean-Louis Fréchin¶ EnsadLab: founded in 2007. Themes: mobility, interactive ad virtual environments
IxD market taking form
¶ Professionnals operating in the industry must create their own market and continuously educate clients¶ IxD is the 3rd leading type of design used by business in France (Study on the design economy, APCI, IFM, Cité du design, 2010)¶ More than half of all design firms offer digital design services¶ Service design is offered by just 11% of design firms¶ Most design firms are located in Paris (60%)¶ Most designers (39%) work at firms with fewer than 5 employees¶ Average budget for a digital project = €10,692, a business' second-largest design expense after space design
IxD market taking form
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
131
22
35
98
1112
1827
3233
3752Industrial design
Space designGraphic designStudiesBrand designPackaging designSignage designService designMultimediaInteraction designTextile DesignFashion DesignSensorial designFood designSound designOthers
17%
D'après l'étude menée en 2010 par l’APCI, l’IFM, la Cité du design de Saint-Etienne à la demande du ministère de l’Économie, de l’Industrie et de l’Emploi
Average amount of interventions by field
0 1400 2800 4200 5600 7000 8400 9800 11200 12600 14000
57505200
48066621
40096549
71487753
836186018709
10 27410 692
12 513Space designInteraction designService designStudiesPackaging designIndustrial designBrand designAverageSignage designGraphic designMultimedia Textile designSensorial designFood designSound design
An optimistic employment outlook
¶ Employment remains focused on web design in France¶ Just 5% of the designers stated IxD as their profession¶ No data available about the number of IxD designers¶ Extremely broad range of professional situations: interactive communication agencies, design studios, IxD agencies, mobile app development firms, freelances, in-house designers...¶ Mc Kinsey report: Internet contribution to France's GDP estimated at € 60 billion in 2009 and accounted for 1.15 million jobs in 2010¶ compared to design use rates in France (40%), IxD should offer high potential for employment in the future...
Where French digital design professionals work
6 %
34 %60 %
Paris Regions Abroad
Different professional situations
20 %
32 %
48 %
Agency Freelance In-house
Most represented expertises
43 %
5 % 9 %
19 %
24 %
Web Designer Interactive Art DirectorProjet Manager Web DeveloperOthers
Employment trends in FranceCompany / did you recruit in 2010?
37 %
63 %
yes No
Employment trends in FranceCompany / what profiles have you recruited?
8 %
24 %
36 %39 %
designer developer marketing administrative
Employment trends in France5 most required expertises
15 %
17 %
23 %
23 %
37 %Web Developer
Front-Office Developer
Web Designer
Motion Designer
Interactive Art Director
IxD in France: what works
¶ Design schools, practitionners, organizations are taking the lead¶ Shaping an IxD industry with a number of strengths¶ French IxD perceived as holistic, cross-disciplinary, more conceptual than IxD in English-speaking countries¶ A very active industry, running a full slate of lectures, meetings, exhibitions...¶ Foreign firms have demonstrated a clear affinity for French-born and French-educated designers
Initiatives
10 most influencial french IxD companies
Initiatives
10 most influencial french interaction designers
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Jean-Louis Fréchin
NoDesign
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Giuseppe Attoma
Attoma
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Remy Bourganel
Orange Vallée
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Etienne Mineur
Éditions volumiquesphoto © Ivo Näpflin, Lift Conference
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
David Bihanic
FXDS
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Yves Rinato
Intactile Design
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Dominique Sciamma
Strate Collège Designer
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Grégoire Cliquet
École de Design de Nantes Atlantique
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Virginia Cruz & Nicolas Gaudron
IDSL
CumulusDigitalCulture
10 most influencial french interaction designers
Jean-Jacques Birgé
Sound designer