Hello From the Pluriverse (The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University)

Julia Lang is the Assistant Director for Career Education at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center at Tulane University. She leads two major programs here: "Taylor your life" and the Changemaker Institute. Julia is all about teaching students to embrace a design thinking mindset towards your work and your life. A design thinking mindset has not only been used by Julia in her programs, but also in her life; showing just how design thinking can help designers and non-designers to re-examine and restructure your life.  

 

Connect with Julia Lang: 

LinkedIn 

Phyllis M. Taylor Center   

Dr. Woodrow Winchester III is a professor of Systems and Industrial Engineering at Kennesaw State University and a design educator. His work within engineering focuses on interactive technologies and using connections between technology and design. Specifically, Dr. Winchester examines the connection between technology, design, health, and fitness; like his work on using interactive technologies in order to improve health outcomes, especially in underrepresented groups. Dr. Winchester also works to increase diversity and inclusion within the field of design, and he consistently is encouraging his students to think holistically and to use design thinking with other design approaches.  

 

Get to Know Dr. Woodrow Winchester III: 

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter: @woodtres 

Dr. Lesley Ann Noel has explored design opportunities all around the world, taking risks to find spaces and opportunities that she is passionate about, and making opportunities work for her. While she was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Noel has had opportunities to explore design around the world. She received training in industrial design in Brazil, was an adjunct and eventually full-time faculty member at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. She has also taught at Stanford University and North Carolina State University. She has a Master of Business Administration from the University of the West Indies, and she has a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University. At the time of this interview, in Fall 2019, Dr. Noel was a Professor of Practice and the Associate Director of Design Thinking for Social Impact at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking.  

 

Connect with Dr. Lesley Ann Noel: 

LinkedIn 

Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking 

College of Design - North Carolina State University 

“Terrence Moline’s passion is infusing people’s stories with images to create art.”  

 

Terrence Moline is a director, designer, illustrator currently based out of Austin, Texas. He also builds communities and transforms stories with illustrations to generate art that conveys meaning. He is the founder of the community "African-American Graphic Designers" as is committed to uplifting and amplifying the voices of Black designers and creative professionals. 

 

Connect with Terrence: 

LinkedIn 

terrencemoline.com  

Instagram: @tmoline  

Behance 

"Whatever the thing is, it doesn't have to be perfect." 

 

Rebecca Otten is a Professor of Practice and the Director of Strategy & Engagement at the Taylor Center. She facilitates the Taylor Center’s field leadership, campus and community partnerships, and program assessment. She also teaches "Introduction to Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship” as well as “Cultivate your Inner Changemaker" and works with GrowDat Youth Farms, a local organization that nurtures a diverse group of young leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. 

 

Connect with Rebecca:  

LinkedIn  

Tulane School of Architecture  

Professor Tsai Lu Liu is head of the Department of Graphic Design and Industrial Design at North Carolina State University, where he and his students have been working on user research and product design projects for companies such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Lowes, Under Armour and more. Before teaching, Professor Liu managed new product/service design and marketing for 12 years in the toy, healthcare, gaming, semiconductor and communications industries. Professor Liu holds an MBA in marketing from Georgia State University and a Master of Industrial Design from Auburn University. 

 

Connect with Tsai Lu Liu: 

LinkedIn 

North Carolina State University College of Design 

 

Michael Bonnick is the founder and Chief Design Consultant at MELB DESIGN Ideation studio and he is also a lecturer at the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica. Formally trained in Industrial Design in London, Michael's design influences and career have taken him from Jamaica to London and back to Jamaica again, stimulating design spaces and carving out niches within Jamaica's own developing market.  

 

Connect with Michael Bonnick: 

LinkedIn 

MELB Design Ideation Studio 

Dr. Laura Murphy is the Associate Director of Research and Scholarship at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University. She is also a professor in the Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences department teaching critical development theory at the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Dr. Murphy has spearheaded several design thinking workshops and training classes during her time at Tulane, like the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (SISE) minor, SISE 2010 Design thinking course, SISE 4050 Senior seminar course, and the "Fast 48" Weekend bootcamp. Dr. Murphy is constantly thinking about her students and how she can better design a classroom that meets their needs and maximizes the opportunities for learning. 

 

Connect with Dr. Laura Murphy: 

LinkedIn 

Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking 

“A designer is programming society when they create public images.” 

 

Dr. Renata Marques Leitão is an adjunct professor teaching graphic design at OCAD University in Toronto. Born and raised in Brazil, but formally trained in design in Montreal, Renata’s work is shaped by her upbringing and her training resulting in an identity uniquely her own. After her receiving an education and training that was rooted in European-Anglo standards, Renata has worked to understand how design can reflect and have the power to create culture and social change.  

 

Connect with Dr. Renata Marques Leitão: 

 

LinkedIn 

Instagram: @renataml 

Gisele Raulik Murphy is the Co-Founder and Partner at DUCO Design Intelligence based in Brazil. In March of this year, Gisele founded WIM Angels, which stands for Women Investment Movement, a network of angel investors that invests in high-impact startups founded by women in tech. Gisele is passionate about collaborative work that helps groups to co-create innovative solutions, particularly in the context of public policies and cultural change. Gisele has a PhD in public policy for design and innovation from the University of Wales and a Masters in Strategies for Design and Innovation from Brunel University. 

 

Connect with Gisele Raulik Murphy: 

LinkedIn 

WIM Angels  

DUCO  

While she may be an engineer by trade, Dr. Christina Harrington identifies herself as a designer. She has a background in electrical engineering and industrial design and focuses her design skills and research on the areas of universal, accessible design. Specifically, she has looked at how to use design in the development of assistive products for older adults and individuals with differing abilities, and how to use design to center communities that have been historically been at the margins of mainstream design. Based out of Chicago, Dr. Harrington is the Assistant Professor in the School of Design at DePaul University and serves as the Director of the Equity and Health Innovations Design Research Lab.  

Connect with Dr. Christina Harrington: 

LinkedIn 

Christinaharrington.me 

Twitter: @adapperprof 

 

"Develop empathy for others and make things tangible as fast as possible.” 

 

Glenn Fajardo is a design educator at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (also known as the Stanford d.school). He also curates TEDxPeacePlaza, has contributed to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and is an independent consultant working with nonprofits.  Glenn has been considered "the messy problems guy" as he has been the go-to person in his work to solve problems by using design and design thinking.   

 

Connect with Glenn Fajardo: 

LinkedIn 

Twitter: @muzzygator 

Rafe Steinhauer is a design educator and a designer. Currently he is a visiting assistant professor at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, but he has also been a visiting assistant professor with the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University in New Orleans and a lecturer at Princeton University. Introduced to design thinking in his graduate studies, Rafe has incorporated it into his classes to help his students experience the type of growth he had when he first learned about design thinking. Design educator is not the only role Rafe plays though; community design work has created opportunities for him to step into the role of designer where he can work with communities to create programs that resonate with the needs and wants of those community members.  

 

 

Connect with Rafe Steinhauer: 

LinkedIn 

Marlon Darbeau is a designer, the Founder and Creative Director of By-Making, and a collaborator at the Alice Yard art-space initiative.  

 

Based in Trinidad and Tobago, Marlon’s identity is rooted in his culture and his upbringing. He consistently integrates techniques his father taught him into his own physical designs, not only incorporating his identity and his family into his work, but also working towards striving to bring his local Caribbean culture into the present and future.  

 

 

Connect with Marlon Darbeau: 

 

• LinkedIn 
• Website 
• Instagram @marlondarbeau
• Instagram: @bymakingdesign
• By Making  

"I think that just taking a little bit of time to understand just a bit more will change the outcomes that we have" 

 

Lorenzo Hodges has built a career using design methodologies and his own design aesthetic. While he may not have got to school for design, Lorenzo learned, practiced, and incorporated design into his work. Based in Trinidad and Tobago, Lorenzo is an innovation strategist and designer. Currently, Lorenzo is the Chief Executive Officer at Ferreira Optical Limited, and he is also the Founder and Managing Director of Plain White Table, Inc., the Business Development Manager at Teleios Systems Ltd., and the Founder and Managing Director of Circulate Life. Influenced by his upbringing in Trinidad and Tobago and his exposure to European and American design elements, Lorenzo's design aesthetic is uniquely his own.  

 

Connect with Lorenzo Hodges: 

LinkedIn 

"How can we create an environment where EVERYONE is able to thrive?"    Marielle Ednalino is a San Francisco-based entrepreneur, and alumna from the University of California, Davis. She is also a self-taught computer scientist and started her own Girls Who Code chapter where she taught computer science skills to over 50 girls ranging from elementary through high school. Since then, she has gone on to start her own nonprofit, htm.elle, where her mission is to create the next generation of female founders. She works with young women from low-income and underserved communities. Marielle also serves as a Venture Associate for Initial Capital. She describes her career as focused on finding imaginative and innovative solutions for complex problems— specifically, closing the gender gap in the entrepreneurial/venture capital ecosystem and creating more equity, social impact, and opportunities for marginalized and underrepresented communities.  Connect with Marielle:  Website LinkedIn

Dr. Maille Faughnan is an instructor for the Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Minor Program at Tulane University and is a research fellow at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center. At the Taylor Center she also does community outreach programming and helps with the scholarship initiatives at the center. Dr. Faughnan has collaborated on local and international research projects, from New Orleans to Central America to East Africa, spanning topics like gender and social entrepreneurship, cultural development, design thinking for reproductive health, and the diffusion of design-thinking through capacity building.  

 

Connect with Dr. Maille Faughnan: 

 

LinkedIn 

 

Phyllis M. Taylor Center    

"With the Pluriverse state of mind, you belong everywhere and nowhere" Michael Lee Poy is an Afro-Caribbean artist-activist and architect in Trinidad and Tobago. His practice and interests center on post-colonial Caribbean design and fabrication in the festival arts – especially Carnival. A graduate of Pratt Institute of Technology in architecture and the Yale Graduate School of Architecture, Environmental Design, Michael aims to use an interdisciplinary approach to augment the innovative, creative, and collaborative process of design. Michael is an Assistant Professor of Design at Ontario College of Design University in the Environmental and Industrial Design programs. Connect with Michael:  LinkedIn Lee Poy Design  SEGD Yale School of Architecture

Born in raised in Barbados, Debbie Estwick has held many roles throughout her career in design. She has held the role of director of marketing and communications, professor of integrative design, to design advisor. Debbie has a master’s in design and brand strategy and currently is in charge of corporate communications at Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC). She uses design and design thinking to create challenges and collaborator with others to address real world problems affecting Barbados.  

 

 

Connect with Debbie Estwick:  

LinkedIn 

DebbieEstwick.com 

Instagram: @de.sign.books 

Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero is an industrial designer based in Colombia. Currently, he is an associate professor of Industrial Design at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. Central to Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero’s design work is examining Western design equivalents across cultures, ultimately working to discover and improve the visibility of the traditions that Western professions have projected a shadow on. At the moment, he is also finishing his PhD dissertation on indigenous design equivalents in New Zealand and Bolivia, and he recently won a grant for a project, in collaboration with Arizona State University, titled “Enabling Autonomous Design Processes in Colombian Post-Conflict Societies”.

Connect with Alfredo Gutiérrez Borrero:

LinkedIn

Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano

"Get a Passport and Go” 

 

Dr. María de Mater O’Neill is a designer, artist, and educator born, raised, and based in Puerto Rico. María has spent 25 years of her life as a painter, switching to design when the painting industry became too restrictive. Currently she is the Creative Director and Head Researcher for Rubberband Design Studio, LLP and is Adjunct faculty at the University of Puerto Rico. Whether it’s a small or a large-scale project, María uses her toolbox, empathy and her experiences to her advantage, working together with her clients to solve problems.  

Connect with Dr. María de Mater O’Neill: 

LinkedIn 

Rubberband Design Studio, LLP 

“What if? How come? Why?” 

 

Michele Washington is a user-centered designer based in New York City. She has a MS in Communication and Design from the Pratt Institute and an MFA in Design Criticism from The School of Visual. Currently, Ms. Washington teaches design at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. Her latest design interests include pure research, strategic planning, and branding. Michele works with numerous non-profit organizations, cultural institutions, and start-up companies to refine strategic plans, revamp websites, and/or develop products. 

 

Connect with Michele Washington: 

LinkedIn 

Office of Michele Washington 

Twitter: @culturalboundar 

Instagram: @culturalboundaries 

Curious Story Lab     

Kareem Collie was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated from the Pratt Institute with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design in 2001, and he spent the next decade as an art director for clients including Nickelodeon, USA Network, Coca-Cola, Starwood, and Mercedes. From 2006 through 2011, he and his business partner launched and then ran the design studio Dimitrious II Inc. while he also taught graphic design at Pratt Institute through 2012. Kareem earned his MA in Culture and Communications in 2016 and is currently the User Experience Design Lead at IBM in Los Angeles, California. 

 

Connect with Kareem Collie: 

LinkedIn 

KareemCollie.com 

Maria Rogal is currently a professor of design at The University of Florida and her work spans disciplines, applications, and place. Her upbringing, education, and experiences have all been diverse, enriching, and make her the conscientious designer she is today. Always cognizant of visual language and environmental print, Rogal found her passion in design from the language barrier of growing up outside the United States. Moving from places ranging from Laos to Peru to Liberia, Rogal needed to be aware of the signs to maneuver around these different cultures and landscapes. When she returned to the United States for college, she majored in political science and shortly after graduation worked for a grassroots devolvement firm that worked in Columbia and Venezuela, where she then realized the way she was able to and had the potential to impact these people's lives. Coupled with her love of art, Rogal discovered design and went back to school for her bachelor's and her master's in design. Rogal's background in political science as well as design has allowed her to embrace systems thinking as a method of identifying and solving problems.

Her work is rooted in acknowledging the inequalities in these systems. These range from women's versus men's work, economic freedoms, and environmental justice. Currently, this can be summed up best by Rogal's work in actively working in decolonizing design. The undercurrent of her work is environmentalism and its looming impact on future design work. While design thinking is user-centered, Rogal includes the caveat that humans are not at the center by themselves, that their environment and its health is also a crucial part of the context of solutions to any problem.

Episode webpage: https://taylor.tulane.edu/design-thinking/hellopluriverse/maria-rogal/

 

About Maria Rogal

https://mariarogal.com/

https://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/1573

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariarogal/ 

Ann Yoachim joins us for a cheerful, enthusiastic, and passionate conversation. The energy Ann brings to this interview is surely indicative of the energy she brings to her role as director of Tulane's Small Center of Collaborative Design. Reflecting on the creative process, our nonlinear conversation sparked a powerful exploration of identity, impact design, and design as a coalition builder.

Ann was born and raised in Northern Pennsylvania, right near the New York state border. Though she didn't realize it until later, her rural roots forged her interest in people and their relationship to place related to their upbringing. In particular, her curiosity fixated on distant unseen places because of her father's military service in Vietnam. Ann majored in political science and environmental studies. Her dual degree served her with theoretical and pragmatic knowledge, allowing her to work with people through meaningful service-learning.

Tulane's Small Center of Collaborative Design works closely with organizations led by and in the service of people of color. Ann acknowledged that design services often target the wealthy in the context of fields of architecture and urban planning. The Small Center is mindful of making diverse hires and perpetuating an ongoing dialogue of power dynamics, race, and privilege. This supports their mission to provide design services to those who are traditionally underserved by the design community. Their commitment to engagement, co-creation, and humility allows their design work to be informed, first and foremost, by the communities they serve.

Episode webpage: https://taylor.tulane.edu/design-thinking/hellopluriverse/ann-yoachim/

 

Related Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-yoachim-589b163/ 

https://small.tulane.edu/ 

Jose Cotto is the Collaborative Design Project Manager at the Tulane School of Architecture Albert and Tina Small Center for Collaborative Design. Among his many responsibilities in the Small Center, he works on various design projects, fosters partnerships with Tulane University departments and community stakeholders, and leads a seminar course on public space in New Orleans, guiding Tulane students as they explore the connections between our created environment and social dynamics.

In this interview, we learned that Cotto comes from Worcester, Massachusetts. Specifically speaking, he grew up in Great Brook Valley, a small housing project. Cotto emphasizes that he grew up in a housing project, as he feels his upbringing there has shaped much of his life that followed from forming how he perceives the world to what he has chosen to be passionate about.

The path of going into design and architecture was not a linear one for Cotto. He initially intended to go into mathematics as he was a math major. When reflecting on how he initially got involved in this discipline, he thinks of the great math teachers he had, specifically one teacher that challenged him and did not let him fall behind. This teacher's impact really helped Cotto see the importance of teachers and mentors for young students (especially in inner-city environments like the one he grew up in). When he realized going into mathematics really meant a lot of isolating himself and problem sets, he began to think of shifting his major into something that focused more on relationships, which made him think about the physical and social environment around him. After talking to some faculty at his undergraduate college, the University of Massachusetts, he found that design and architecture provided these kinds of conversations and teachings.

While design may have flashy names and complicated vernacular, at the end of the day, we are all designing for people to make this world a better place. The process can be exhausting. The technology can be complicated, but the goal is bigger than the process, so Cotto encourages designers and non-designers alike to lean in, remember the big picture, and why it's important to engage in this work in the first place.

Episode Webpage: https://taylor.tulane.edu/design-thinking/hellopluriverse/jose-cotto/

About Jose Cotto

https://architecture.tulane.edu/people/jose-cotto

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jccotto/

 

About the Small Center

https://small.tulane.edu/

https://www.instagram.com/smallcenter.tulane/

https://www.facebook.com/smallcenter.tulane/

https://twitter.com/smallcenter_tu

In this first ever episode of the Hello from The Pluriverse Podcast, we interview Tanya Marie Williams-Rhule, an independent designer and brand consultant and the executive Designer of Designer Island, an online publication curating contemporary Caribbean culture. To Tanya Marie, design is so much more than designing for the project and the need, it is about communicating and listening. 

Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Tanya Marie's identity is not only rooted in her upbringing in the Caribbean but also the work she does to explore the "Caribbean aesthetic" and expand it past the limited definitions it has been given; she seeks to expand and explore the diversity of Caribbean creators through her work.

Episode information (including chapter PDF): https://taylor.tulane.edu/design-thinking/hellopluriverse/tanya-marie-williams-rhule/

Get to know Tanya Marie: 

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-marie-williams-rhule-70888015
• designerisland.com
• Instagram @designerisland

This podcast is a project of the Design Thinking for Social Impact Program at the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking at Tulane University.

Omari Souza is a professor of design and design research at Texas State University. Professor Souza was born in the Bronx, New York as a first-generation American and Jamaican descent. Professor Souza graduated from Kent State University as a first-generation college graduate with a Masters of Fine Arts in Design.

 

Professor Souza's research primarily revolves around what classes and majors students of color prefer and why. He then used this research to discover what the design industry can do to attract more students of color. In his research, Professor Souza found that students of color preferred social service majors like sociology and psychology. Three reasons for this were:

1) a professor left an impression on a young student 

2) the student was drawn to the field because of personal trauma or 

3) the student was seeking to help a disenfranchised group. 

A theme that resulted from his research was perception. 

 

The perception of the design field to students of color reflects commercial capitalism. When asked how we can change this perception, Professor Souza commented that it starts with design professors and organizations questioning what their social responsibility is and expressed concern that classrooms will not be filled in the coming years if this perception remains unchanged.

 

Professor Souza concludes that you must always first identify your XYZ; your topic of research, research method, and what you're attempting to understand. This will help you narrow your focus and lessen ambiguity in your work. He also emphasized the importance of involving the target community in designing the solution and that being ingrained in the community is best for the design process. While it is not without its flaws, design thinking puts people in a position to make people think more broadly.

 

Episode webpage: https://taylor.tulane.edu/design-thinking/hellopluriverse/omari-souza/

 

About Omari Souza:

https://www.finearts.txstate.edu/Art/faculty-staff/full-time/souza--o.html 

https://twitter.com/omarisouza

https://www.linkedin.com/in/omari-souza-b483187/

https://www.instagram.com/omari.souza

Randall Wilson II is the Design Lead in Digital Messaging at Capital One in Chicago and is the co-creator and creative director of Hue Design Summit, a four-day immersive conference and community for designers of color. Randall is a self-taught designer, and on his path to becoming a designer, he explored opportunities in architecture. As an avid Lego enthusiast, Randall likes to use Legos, and other hobbies, to facilitate design and design thinking processes.    

 

Connect with Randall Wilson II: 

• Linkedin
• Instagram: @therocfiles & @huedesignsummit
• Twitter: @huedesignsummit