About

Calling all Houstonians to Design for Houston with Design Thinking

The word "Design" here refers to the intent of solving problems. The design process provides a structured way to resolve the complex problems to individuals and groups.

The Design for Houston 2022 event brings Houstonians from all facets of life to find solutions to everyday problems faced by our city. For one whole day, Houstonians will come together to tackle a civic issue through the design process. City experts would be available to share their understanding of internal city processes. Participants would get a chance to utilize tools, techniques, and best practices of Creative problem solving and Design Thinking. Upon completion of the process, your ideas will be evaluated by a panel of experts and hopefully adopted and put to use by the City of Houston.

Every year we work on a theme of the civic issues, this year our theme would be "Digital Equity". We have chosen Acres Homes as our target community and to have the local citizens join us in person, we are doing our event right in the midst of the community at the Multi-service center - Acres Homes. As the research process is moving forward, we are working towards establishing the design challenge, which will be shared on the day of the event.

This event has an inherent purpose of spreading Design-mindset among Houstonians. People from all facets of life are welcome to join and learn the design process. Also, as it is a design-event is a great place for professional designers to showcase their skills on solving complex issues. All you design pros out there come and share your knowledge and create something beautiful for your city.

Design for Houston is an annual event. To get latest updates on this and all future such events become member of DT&I community.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the format of this event?

This is a one day workshop style design-a-thon event. The participants will go through step by step design process of solving a city problem.

There is also an expert track, that would let expert designers to work at their own pace in parallel to instructor-led sessions.

Are there any minimum expectations for this event?

We only ask for a time commitment of full day from participants. This is for the workshop hours of 9AM-6PM. This is intended so participants could absorb maximum benefits from the knowledge shared during event.

Is this event only for designers?

You do not have to be a designer to be part of this event. This event will useful for people from every background. As a designer you could add value to other members of your team.

What if I have a design team already?

Professional design teams are welcome! If you would like to contribute to city causes and gain visiblity, this event is for you to showcase your work for the cause. Please provide necessary details during sign-up to register your teams.

Who owns the ideas developed during the event?

The details on rules of Rules on intellectual propert of ideas generated during the event could be found here.

Are there any costs related to attending this event?

This event is intended to spread design mindset and open to public free of cost. Houstonians from all facets are welcome to participate. The participants need to bear traveling/lodging costs of their own. If you would like to support us by being sponsor of the event, please contact out team.

People


Tanveer Chaudhary
Founder - DT&I
DesignSME / Organizer
Jesse Bounds
COH - Director of Innovation
Sponsor / Partner / Judge
Lindsey Williams
COH - Complete communities Acres Homes
Subject Matter Expert
Joshua Williams
Innovation Fellow
Subject Matter Expert

Sindhu Menon
Harris County Office of Broadband - CIO
Special Guest
John Spiers
Program Manager - Office of Broadband
Subject Matter Expert
Wade Pinder
Mainline - Head of Product
Judge / Mentor
Misha McClure
Director, External Affairs - Comcast
Sponsor / Judge

Laura Alexander
Public Policy Manager
Community Partner
Federico Salas-Isnardi
Director Mayor’s Office for Adult Literacy
SME / Sponsor
Jackie Aguilera
Project Manager of the Mayor's Office for Adult Literacy
SME
Nataliya Pierara
Masthead Meritime - Managing Partner
Design SME
Summer Reeves
Kinetic Kono - Design Director
Design SME
Pierce Primm
Principal - Primm Tech
Technology Support / SME
Pierre Montana
Creative Director
Design Volunteer
Eva Oamen
Green Building - Interior Designer
Volunteer
Travis Teague
Developer Growth Lead at Nova Labs
Technology Volunteer


Sponsors

DT&I

Design Thinking and Innovation
Sponsor

COH
City of Houston - Department of Innovation
Sponsor
Acres homes

Complete Communities - Acres Homes
Sponsor
Comcast Houston

Comcast Houston
Sponsor
PDD

Planning and Development - COH
Sponsor
GHP

Greater Houston Partnership
Community Partners
huxpa
Houston-UXPA
Community Partner
BDD

BDD Houston
Community Partners
UH

Univ. of Houston
Community Partners
MOAL

Mayor's Office of Adult Literacy
Sponsors
BDO

Texas Broadband Development Office
Sponsors

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