Inquiry
I research the systems that make some things possible, and keep others invisible - questions that kept coming up in my practice, but couldn’t be answered by design alone.
Research
My research sits at the intersection of three questions: how value is understood and distributed differently across economic and social systems; how design methods need to change to work ethically and inclusively with communities rather than on them; and how tools from systems theory and mechanism design can help us understand, and intervene in, the structural conditions that shape what's possible.
Conference Proceedings
Design Anthropology and the next evolution of the design process.
In: Daniel Raposo, Nuno Martins, Daniel Br and ão (eds)
Human Dynamics and Design for the Development of Contemporary Societies.
AHFE (2023) International Conference.AHFE Open Access, vol 81. AHFE International, USA.
Artifacts as a means to investigate alternate and future realities.
In: Tareq Ahram and Waldemar Karwowski (eds) Human Factors in Design, Engineering, and Computing.
AHFE (2024) International Conference. AHFE Open Access, vol 159. AHFE International, USA.
Textile ways of thinking as a trauma-informed design tool to research and understand communities
Textile Society of America 2024 Symposium
Shifts & Strands: Rethinking the Possibilities and Potentials of Textiles, November 12-17, 2024, a virtual event
Presentations
Pathways Panel
Institute of Design, Chicago, April 11th 2025
Guest Lecture on Visual Communication
MAX 507/MSC 655– Visual Analytics: Data Analytics and Visualization Spring 2024
Taught by Prof. Elizabeth J. Durango-Cohen, Ph.D. at Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology
The Other Senses
Presented at NowHaus (Institute of Design) - Zhou B Arts Center, Chicago, March 2022
Stories of Design
Presented at FITCH Mumbai (now Landor): October 26th, 2018 and at Interbrand Mumbai: March 15th, 2019
Trends in Design
Presented at FITCH Mumbai (now Landor): March 15th, 2018
Academic Service
Reviewer, Design Research Society (DRS) Conference, 2026
Reviewer, EduCHI 2026 : 8th Annual Symposium on HCI Education
Session Chair, Textile Society of America Conference 2024
Teaching
I teach design as a practice of inquiry, to help students work across disciplines, operate in complex organizations, and think more expansively about what design is and what it can do.
Spring 2026
Design Methods for Ideating
Workshop exploring diverse thinking styles, ideation approaches from multiple disciplines, and frameworks for reframing problems and sparking creativity. Emphasized practical application through research planning, concept testing, and translating ideas into design requirements.
Design Methods for Prototyping
Workshop focused on diverse prototyping methodologies and their application across the design process. Emphasized critical reflection, empirical user testing, and the translation of research insights into actionable design concepts.
Fall 2025
Graduate seminar examining foundational and contemporary theories of leadership with a focus on design contexts. Covered attributes of effective design leaders, historical and evolving models of leadership, and critical reflections on leadership challenges in the 21st century.
Graduate-level course exploring business processes and strategic management through the lens of design practice. Topics include managing people, projects, resources, and relationships across various organizational structures. Students developed comprehensive business plans, applying management theories and tools to real-world design contexts.
Design Methods for Framing Problems
Designed and taught a course focused on developing students’ ability to critically frame complex, ambiguous problems through iterative research, reflection, and systems thinking. Guided students in constructing actionable opportunity statements by synthesizing diverse perspectives, uncovering assumptions, and applying framing strategies across domains such as public policy, business, and social innovation.
Spring 2025
Fall 2024
Wicked Problems & Sensemaking
Design Methods for Framing Problems
Case Studies
A series of original teaching cases for graduate design leadership and management courses, each built around realistic organizational situations drawn from my design practice.
Each case is designed to resist a single right answer, and to surface the tension between theoretical frameworks and the messiness of real organizations.
Design Leadership
Motivation: Managing designer frustration and retention within a large financial organization
Motivation: Operational dysfunction and leadership gaps within a design school
Conflict: Navigating a standoff at a design consultancy
Change Management: Evaluating a strategic pivot for a legacy print business
Design Management
Metrics: Designing measurement systems for an internal design function
Brand Strategy: Evaluating growth options and brand assets for an evolving family print business
Essays
Non academic writing on design. Frequently off the cuff, often opinionated; a record of how my thinking has evolved.
30 April 2023
22 April 2023
16 April 2023
10 April 2023
02 April 2023
27 March 2023
2 December 2022
11 March 2022
04 February 2022
30 September 2021
22 September 2021
13 September 2021
30 August 2021
In the Oven
Work in progress that doesn't fit neatly into research or practice; frameworks, tools, and ideas that are still being developed.
Design Frameworks & Models
Design Maturity Model
An expansion of the Danish Design Ladder, mapping organizational design maturity across ten factors in three categories (internal capability, stakeholder relationships, and macro engagement). Includes a multi-method assessment approach combining leadership surveys, employee research, and external audit.
Prototyping Taxonomy
A self-assessment framework for design prototyping, built on Williams' Taxonomy of creative thinking — mapping capability across visioning and crafting skills.
Other
Reciproca
A consent-first conversational research tool using AI to conduct ethical, longitudinal qualitative studies; where participants retain control, authorship, and voice throughout the research process.
Participatory Mechanism Design Lab
A research agenda exploring how participatory design and prototyping practices can inform the design of allocation mechanisms (the rule-based systems that govern how scarce resources and opportunities are distributed) centering trust, transparency, and the communities these systems serve.