UNITE @ Boston Globe Event Offers Peek Inside the News Icon

[Sam Aquillano]

On October 6, 2011 design fans gathered at The Boston Globe’s Headquarters for our latest UNITE event. Together with co-hosts Boston World Partnerships and AIGA Boston a diverse group came to learn about Design Museum Boston and hear from Globe designers about the new BostonGlobe.com. Attendees packed a beautiful event space to mingle and enjoy food and drink graciously provided by the Globe.

Museum founders Derek Cascio and Sam Aquillano began the evening’s presentation, welcoming attendees and giving an overview of Design Museum Boston’s goals and mission followed by detail on upcoming events and programs. They screened a video for the museum’s Designing A Difference program; a project which they’re trying to fund through Kickstarter, in collaboration with Boston-based nonprofits smallbean and Newton-Tanzania Collaborative to build a solar-powered computer lab in Tanzania and bring sustainable energy to the developing world.

Next, Dan Zedek, the Globe’s Assistant Managing Editor for Editorial Design and Miranda Mulligan, Digital Design Director, gave a behind the scenes look at creating, designing, and developing the new BostonGlobe.com. They spoke of the need for a new business model in online news and how through smart design, intelligent content, and unparalleled usability they were able to produce an online news portal which people are willing to pay for. Miranda spoke of responsive design, a technique designers use to develop an extremely flexible website that uses one layout and one base of code across all types of browsers and mobile devices.

After the presentation and great questions from the audience, Design Museum Boston prize-packs were raffled off, with three attendees going home with museum gear. Dan then brought folks on a tour of the Globe offices for a very unique peak at the paper’s newsroom.

Design Museum Boston is grateful for the sponsorship of The Boston Globe, who’s staff produced an amazing event. The event couldn’t have happened without the support of our co-hosts, volunteers, and attendees. Thank you to all who attended and stay tuned for the next event in our UNITE series.