industrial design + joycethomasdesigns.com + 309.242.8027
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Artist/Designer Statement
I am an inventor, innovator, and educator with a passion for design. As a professional designer, I have worked across interdisciplinary boundaries and integrated marketing and product planning, engineering, and consumer needs into creative products. With 30+ years designing patented consumer products, I have a record of successes. My products have accounted for more than $4 billion in sales for their divisions and have been awarded 57 patents in the US and worldwide, utility as well as design patents.
As a professional industrial designer, I have served as the voice of the consumer in the product development process, utilizing user-centered design and empathic design research methods. These employ the consumer as an active participant in the designing process.
In the evolving design practice, our profession needs to press forward with new ways to create emotional sustainability in the products we produce. This emotional connection to products should inspire consumers to overthrow the “design for obsolescence” sensibility of current and past cultures. Emotional sustainability will begin to equal green sustainability.
The climate of the Industrial Design profession is changing as globalization moves jobs from historic design centers and is causing a paradigm shift. Cultural and social conditions are changing in the technological, natural, and material landscapes which should inspire new ways of developing products to meet these evolving consumer needs. My design research incorporates both design theory and lessons from my design practice. I have focused on empowering creativity in people with disabilities, exploring ways technology can facilitate designing for all by all. My cross-functional professional experience acts as a magnifying glass to inspire new methods of learning and teaching through my research.
Industrial Design education must reflect the new business environment. I will continue to work with my colleagues to shape the future of Industrial Design education both at the university level and profession wide.
Work
“China China – Tableware for Daily Life”, photo realistic rendering, 2008. Product development rendering from CAD model, white ceramic plates with red silicone overmolding to protect hands from heat, shown with food.
“China China – Tableware for Daily Life”, photo realistic rendering, 2008. Product development rendering from CAD model, white ceramic plates with red silicone overmolding to protect hands from heat, stacked for storage.
“Mobile Workstation Chariot”, photo realistic rendering, 2009. Side view - Product development rendering from CAD model showing communications equipment mounted on a Segway. Communications equipment includes Tablet PC, Video and Still Digital Cameras.