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Jeremy Alexis Jeremy Alexis is an assistant professor at the IIT Institute of Design. He holds both a bachelor of architecture and master of design degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He currently teaches the Research and Demonstration (year long capstone) class, as well as classes on economics and design, concept evaluation, design decision making, and problem framing. |
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Jerome Caruso Jerome Caruso follows his philosophy that some products are best conceived and directed by a single mind and executed by a team. Caruso personally executes all design work for major clients, moving easily between the two worlds of products and furniture. He is called “The Man Behind a Kitchen Revolution” by BusinessWeek magazine. His initial vision for Sub-Zero in the mid-80’s became an American icon, waking up the entire industry. In the mid-90’s, he invented integrated refrigeration, Sub-Zero’s system of drawers and cabinets -- refrigeration without borders. In 2002, Caruso’s complete line of 25 cooking appliances was launched for Wolf, Sub-Zero’s new companion company. On the furniture side, his invention of composite-spring, control technology for Herman Miller Inc. presently drives four of their task-seating groups. Celle is the most recent -- a highly-sustainable chair series which features his invention, the patented surface called “Cellular Suspension.” |
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Walter Herbst Walter Herbst's strong technical background coupled with professional management skills has resulted in the successful growth of the firm since he founded it in 1962. Herbst LaZar Bell Inc. is the largest independently owned design firm in the country. Herbst's specific responsibilities include his role as chairman, where he reviews HLB's strategic business plan, while maintaining hands-on responsibilities as a senior account supervisor. His specific research and expertise have culminated in HLB being recognized as "Experts in the Process of Product Development." He holds over 85 patents in hardware, housewares and medical products. He is listed in "Who's Who of American Inventors," as well as other "Who's Who" publications. Mr. Herbst is a frequent contributor of articles in various trade journals and is a co-author of the PDMA Handbook of Product Development, which has become the industry standard. Amongst his numerous design awards, he was recognized by BusinessWeek magazine and the Industrial Design Society of America as one of the "Best of the Decade" for his design work with the Gillette Company. He is on the faculty of Northwestern University, where he serves as the director of the Master of Product Development program and is a clinical professor in the mechanical engineering department of Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He also serves as a faculty member in the Marketing Department at Northwestern's, Kellogg School of Management. |
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Greg Holderfield Greg believes that great products have to aspire to be so from the beginning. In an increasingly commoditized world, products that don’t lead have no place to go but to the bottom of the pricepoint barrel. Greg’s user and customer-inspired design philosophy has resulted in innovative market successes. He is experienced in designing products that inspire consumer passion and loyalty and, in some cases, even save lives. Greg manages Herbst LaZar Bell’s industrial design group in Chicago. His responsibilities include program management, client liaison, and maintaining a cohesive relationship between strategy, research, engineering, and design. Prior to HLB, Greg served Zenith Data Systems as a senior industrial designer where he provided design expertise and leadership for all computer development business units including Desktop, Server, Portables, and Mobile Base. Greg also worked as a senior design consultant to several leading design firms and working with such clients as IBM, Rubbermaid, Motorola, 3M, Sunbeam, Colgate, and others. Additionally, Greg serves on the advisory board for the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also guest lectures at universities throughout North America. He holds a master’s degree in product development from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. |
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Bruce Mau Mau is the creative director of Bruce Mau Design, Inc., which he founded in 1984. The firm has designed everything from brand identities and print media to exhibits and museums. Mau is also the founder of the Institute Without Boundaries, a twelve-month interdisciplinary postgraduate program that aims to produce a new breed of designer. The Institute’s inaugural project, Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in Fall 2006. The exhibit’s tagline, “It is not about the world of design. It is about the design of the world,” drives much of Mau’s work. From 1996 to 1999, Mau was the Associate Cullinan Professor at Rice University School of Architecture in Houston. He has also been a thesis advisor at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design; artist in residence at California Institute of the Arts; and a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. He has lectured widely across North America and Europe, and currently serves on the International Advisory Committee of the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. Mau is the William and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. |
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Stephanie Munson-Tharp Stephanie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in mechanical engineering, and upon graduation took a job at Ford Motor Company as a product development engineer. After two years with Ford, she returned to school to study at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she received her master's in industrial design. She is currently an assistant professor and program chair of industrial design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has lectured, exhibited, and published nationally and internationally. She runs a design studio, materious, with her husband Bruce M. Tharp. |
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Don Norman Don Norman spends half his time as professor at Northwestern, half with the Nielsen Norman group, half writing, and the remaining half serving on advisory boards, such as the editorial advisory board of Encyclopedia Britannica and the Industrial Design Department of Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and technology (KAIST). He is a fellow of many organizations and former lots of things, including VP at Apple Computer, professor at University of California, San Diego, and even president of a startup. He has honorary degrees from the University of Padova (Italy) and the Technical University Delft (the Netherlands). In 2006 he was awarded the Benjamin Franklin medal in Computer and Cognitive Science. He is the author of The Design of Everyday Things and, most recently, The Design of Future Things, discussing the role that automation will play in our everyday lives. He lives at www.jnd.org. He is co-director of the newly formed major in design of innovation in the MMM program, a joint MBA/Master of Engineering degree offered by the Kellogg School of Management and the McCormick School of Engineering. He is also co-chair of the newly founded Segal Design Institute at Northwestern. |
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Helen Maria Nugent Helen Maria Nugent is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Designed Objects (AIADO) at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is currently the coordinator for undergraduate and graduate programs in Designed Objects and was the director of SAIC’s First Year Program from 1997 to 2001. Previously she was the co-director of the W.A.R.P. Program (Workshop for Art Research and Practice) at the University of Florida. At SAIC she teaches a wide range of studio and seminar courses including Design with Light, Apt Objects, Porcelain Production for Designed Objects, and thematic design courses such as Dwelling, Consuming and Light in Conjunction. Together with colleague Doug Pancoast, she established an Advanced Projects studio focused around collaborative, multi-disciplinary practice. The work from this studio was awarded Best Exhibition by a Design School at the 2005 International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. Helen Maria is a graduate of Glasgow School of Art in Scotland where she received a BFA with honors in Environmental Art in 1990 and a Master of Design in 1992. In 1995 she established HAELO Design with architect Ron Kirkpatrick. The company’s work includes client-based and speculative projects ranging from utilitarian objects and furnishings to conceptual multi-media installations. HAELO’s projects merge traditional craft fabrication, digital technologies and experimental material research. HAELO recently produced a set of unique educational tools for use by visually impaired visitors at the Art Institute of Chicago. These ‘TacTiles’, translate the essential 2-dimensional elements of a given artwork into a 3-dimensional form that can be understood through touch. |
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Tom Stat Tom Stat is associate director of IDEO’s Chicago office where he acts as senior client liaison for major clients and helps direct new relationship development efforts across all IDEO practice areas globally. In his relationship development efforts, Tom helps identify new relationship and project opportunities and launch new projects. As importantly, he nurtures and sustains great client relationships by marrying interesting and challenging projects with the passions and capabilities of IDEO’s design community. Tom has a multidisciplined background that includes aerospace engineering studies at Purdue University, a Bachelor of Science in Social Psychology from Boston University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and executive MBA studies at Stanford University. Tom has been involved in a wide range of innovation initiatives for IDEO clients including AT&T, Motorola, DaimlerChrysler, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), SEIU, Starbucks, Eli Lilly, McDonalds, American Express, and Bayer, among many others. In addition to acting as a senior client liaison, Tom is a frequent speaker at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, DePaul University and at a variety of global industry, trade and company sponsored conferences. |
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Jim Wicks Jim Wicks, vice president and director of consumer experience design at Motorola, is responsible for user interface and industrial design of Motorola personal communications products. Jim joined Motorola in 2001 as director of user interface design and human factors, and functioned in this role until 2004 when he was appointed to his current role. Jim spent many years in Japan, first as a designer for GK Design associates and then with Sony Corporation. He later joined Sony’s design group in the U.S. with a focus on personal communications, computing and new audio products, culminating with his establishment of the Sony innovation and design center in San Francisco. |













