Prof. Patrick Whitney, is a Professor in Residence, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In 1979, Prof. Whitney was appointed Associate Professor and Chair of the Division of Design at Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Five years later, he was appointed Associate Professor and Head of Communication Design at the Institute of Design (ID), Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). In 1987, he was appointed Professor and Director, and then Dean of ID.
As the Dean of the Institute of Design (ID), he was the Steelcase/Robert C. Pew Professor of Design and an IIT distinguished professor.
During his leadership of ID, the school created the first PhD program in design in the USA, transformed ID into a leading institution in design methods and theory, and created an executive education program translating design to organizational leadership.
Prof. Whitney is widely regarded as a thought leader for pioneering the notions of humancentred design and strategic design. He conducts executive seminars and advises many organizations including Aetna, BP, Godrej & Boyce (Mumbai), Proctor & Gamble, SC Johnson, Texas Instruments, and government agencies in Denmark, Hong Kong, India, and the UK.
Business Week has featured him as a design visionary for bringing together design and business; Forbes named him as one of six members of the ‘E-Gang’ for his work in human centred design; Fast Company has identified him as a ‘master of design’ for his leadership in the design field of linking the creation of value for users and economic value for companies; and Global Entrepreneur Magazine named him one of 25 people worldwide doing the most to bring new ideas to business in China.
Prof. Whitney has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design at the University of Alberta, and a Master of Fine Arts in Design at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
Currently, at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, he looks to bring design methods to this school and his work focuses on the behavioural side of health.
His research projects relate to:
- Why do TB patients in India drop out a successful treatment protocol?
- What does ‘nature” mean to different ethnic groups in the USA?
- How to increase the effectiveness of communication among a large number of social service organizations in India.
In addition to speaking at many international design events, he also speaks at gatherings of people from other fields about topics such as innovation, sustainability, human well-being sustainable and humanizing technology including TED, China Daily CEO Summit, the Conference Board, and the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit.
Designers contribute to the industry as well as to the society by proposing innovative design solutions, and over the years, NID and its graduates have immensely contributed to these.
The last few months have been very challenging with the onslaught of global pandemic leading designers to find innovative solutions for overcoming complex scenarios propped up by the pandemic. Many domains and profiles of industry have been disrupted and new formats of engagements have emerged which will also create new opportunities for creative professionals and young designers.
It was quite heartening to see how the NID community and especially all the young designers were collectively able to adapt to this new challenge and managed to complete their graduation projects. Many projects of this year's Young Designers edition also clearly demonstrate the response to the current challenges and transition to new creative practices.
I appreciate the efforts put in by the faculty & staff of NID, industry mentors and sponsors, support of family members and well wishers, who have contributed to the success of these young designers in these challenging times. I am sure that you will cherish these memories in your life ahead.
As you enter a new phase of your career and life I hope you will continue to show resilience and grit as young creative professionals.
Congratulations to all the young designers on the occasion of this 41st convocation! You are graduating from our institute when NID is completing 60 impactful years of its existence.
Design considerably influences people's lives and environments and we all make a difference with our sensibilities and skills. As we all understand, the field of design is always expanding and adapting to new contexts and finding new opportunities. Design education has given you the opportunity to connect to the realities of the world and the ability to choose what reality you wish to see and seek.
One can see how the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all facets of our lives. I firmly believe that all of you have shown great resilience in these trying times and sincerely endeavoured towards fulfilling your academic commitments. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate your achievements as you have not only overcome the adversity during the past one and a half years, but you have also adeptly pivoted your practice and produced some astonishing work that really exemplifies the spirit of the ingenuity at NID.
Viewing your graduate work remains an inspiring, joyful, and engrossing experience, and it gives me great confidence in your ability to embrace future challenges and thrive in whatever enterprise you choose to pursue. It has been intriguing to see various projects and your work connect thematically in this edition of Young Designers, and this has been achieved by you despite the tyranny of physical distance or being at remote locations. It celebrates your enthusiasm and the diversity that each one of you represents.
Design shapes and creates our world; you are the new futures of design that will shape this. I wish you all success in your future endeavours in the years to come.
The recent times, in spite of being tempestuous and full of turmoil, have also renewed our faith in collaborative and resilient spirit. The pandemic has at times receded, allowing humanity as a whole, including the young graduates of 2021 from the three campuses of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad to demonstrate through fortitude, patience and constant perseverance, their resilience in fulfilling their professional commitments to the industry.
My heartiest congratulations to this cohort of graduates from 20 diverse specialisations of design, their mentors, their parents, and sponsors for having ably demonstrated - that one has to accept change, and be agile to adapt and improvise.
The year gone by has been one of constant lessons — for both the graduates and their mentors, and the institution at large — lessons in unlearning what we thought we knew - to do and be in a particular way, and a re-learning of what one never knew one could know and do, personifying the very DNA of NID’s robust pedagogy — of continuing ‘Learning to Learn’.
Today’s celebration is one of discovery — infinite reserves of optimism and strength, adapting to this (new) world in multiple hybrid modes, living partially as a virtual avatar and partially as a real person. It is also time to acknowledge the immense contribution of faculty members and staff of the institute, who have kept service before self, upholding the legacy of this institute and its people.
I congratulate all the young designers who are now moving on to become trailblazers of new ways of learning, doing and being.
Tanishka Kachru, Jitendra Singh Rajput, Vipul Vinzuda , Hitesh Chaurasia
Ms. Jagriti Galphade
Ms. Sarita Saka, Mr. Ankit Mehta
Ms. Helga Govindan, Ms. Amee Rajyaguru
Nibu George, NID Bengaluru
Jonak Das, Naim Shaikh - Ahmedabad campus, Amanath Praful - Gandhinagar Campus, Farhan I Abid, Rahul Sinapala, Ranjithji, Sridharji _ Bengaluru campus, Somanshu, Pooja M, Uttara, Akshata, Sradha, Tanya - (students 2020) Bengaluru campus, Jagath Narayan + Ujjwal Sannalla and the Photography Design batch 2020 (Gandhinagar), Somnath, DIleep, Maulik bhai and Ashok bhai ( Gandhinagar), Kanjibhai Dassadia and his (Ahmedabad) workshop team - Prateekbhai, Kiranbhai, Dipak Panchal, Dipak Prajapati, Kapil bhai and his team (Ahmedabad) - Chandubhai & Atulbhai, Students of 2nd year exhibition design - Arundhati & Ashwini - Ahmedabad campus, Rohit Mistry and the DVC team (Ahmedabad)
Md. Naim Shaikh, Jagdeesh Kumar & Team, Jonak Das, Sahil Thappa, Farhan Ibnee Abid, Ashok Mondal, Chirantan Raval, Moin Shaikh, Rohit Mistry From RDC, Respective HoD & Team
Abhirami Suresh, Amogh Bhatnagar, Amruta Supate, Geethika Nair, Ritika Jathar, Sucharita Beniwal, Tanishka Kachru
Amogh Jadhav, Ananya Bashyam, Asif Moideen, Saunderya Toppo
Ananya Bashyam, Anushka Potay, Avani Samaga, Isal Shukla, Manya Agarwal, Nitya Gianani, Ritobhash Mukherjee, Riya Waykar, Shivam Singh
Jai Shrivardhankar, Sarvagya Kori, Pooja Bhide, Akshay Khatri
Navin Parikh,Unais Sait,Yogesh Patil, Tarun Deep Girdher
Mohammed Naim Shaikh, Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Mr. Unai Sait, Antony William, Chirag Patel, Rohit mistry and Moin Shaikh from RDC
Ms. Jagriti Galphade, Mr. Amarnath Praful, Ms. Vishnupriya Narayanan, Ms. Shilpi Munda, Mr. Unais Sait, Mr. Navin Parikh, Mr. Ankit Mehta, Mr. Piyush Pankhania
Dhrupad Das, NID Ahmedabad, Jasweth Chandrasekarapuram Swetharanya, NID Bengaluru, Aditya Sharma, NID Bengaluru, Sparsh Verma, NID Bengaluru
Mohammed naim Shaikh, Pravinsinh Solanki, Sahil Thappa, Rakesh Kumar, Vijaya barge, K.H dasadia and SDL Staff of Dipak Panchal, Devendra Solanki, Pratik Mistry, Navneet Mistry, Rakesh Rathod, Dipak Prajapati, Kiran Solanki from ahmedabad and gandhinagar, Technical staff /studio coordinators and lab in charge of all discipline, Dvc team with Paresh soni RDC team with Rohit Mistry, Chirag Patel, Moin Shaikh, Rafik Shaikh, Bipin Parmar, Eng. Est. & Civil maintenance Team with Ms. Sejal Roy, Kapil Patel, Zala Bhai & team
Rupesh Kumar Jindal, Dr. A P Semwal, Dr. Princy Periera, Hemangini Kavthekar, Smita Purohit, Ketan Patel, Jaya Nair, Nirmala Sagar, Mahendra Valera, Rupali Sinha, Jayanthi S, Jitubhai Parmar
Tarun Deep Girdher, Yogesh S. Patil, Hasmukh Prajapati, Hardik Sanghavi, Harshad Nandankar, Sachin Panchal
Tarun Deep Girdher, Jagadish Kumar, Yogesh S. Patil, Hasmukh Prajapati, Hardik Sanghavi, Harshad Nandankar, Sachin Panchal
Hitesh Kumar Chaurasia, Mohammed Naim Shaikh, Jitendra Singh Rajput, S Guruprasad, Sucharita Beniwal, Biju Kurup, Navin Parikh, Meena Shah, Rhaul Patel, Gaurav Solanki, Nibu George
Hitesh Chaurasia, Biju Kurup, Rahul Patel, Meena Shah, Subhendu Parida, Shailendra Goraiya, Shambhu Paswan, Jagdish Bhai, Sudhir Shah, Rohit Bhai, HImanshu Makwana
Dishari Chakraborty: Shatatantri Veena, Krishna Raj Soni: Logo Music
Concept: Hitesh Chaurasia, Poetry: Sahil Nigam, Voice: Rahul Jangid
Rishi Singhal, Saurabh Srivastava, Vishal Arora, Ronak Ranpura
Vishal Arora, Ronak Ranpura, Antony William
S.Guruprasad, Sujitha Nair, Baatein & Gyan Adda Team
Varun Sai Koruprolu (Product Design, Batch of 2019), Vaishnavi Laddha(Animation Film Design, Batch of 2020), Riya Hayaran (Film and Video Communication, MDes Batch of 2020), Shubham Modgi (Product Design, MDes batch of 2020)
Supriya Dongre (Photography Design, M.Des. 2020 batch)
Nivia Jain ( Information Design, Batch of 2020), Thejashwini D (Information Design, MDes Batch of 2020), Jeena Philip ( Information Design, Batch of 2020), Neha Agnihotri (Universal Design, MDes 2020 batch), Kirti Vardhan Rathore (Information Design, MDes Batch of 2020)