Design Career Conversations: Insights from Industry Leaders

The Jacobs Institute’s Fall 2024 Career Conversations series features design career professionals in conversation with Jacobs’ Director of Career Services, Stephanie Bianco.  They also feature lunch!  All events are in Jacobs 310. RSVP at unique links below to ensure your spot.

AHMED RIAZ / September 27, 12:30-2:00 PM // RSVP

How can you integrate user experience, de sign strategy, and industrial design to create playful experiences? In this talk, Ahmed Riaz will explore his journey from his early days as a designer to his roles at frog and Logitech. He will discuss the importance of personal values and core skills in shaping a successful career, how careers often evolve in unexpected ways, and how to prepare for an unpredictable future—all while designing for an optimist future.

Ahmed is a design leader with extensive experience in both physical and digital product development. His expertise spans visual thinking, creating systems that seamlessly integrate with user behavior, and a passion for inclusive design. With over a decade of experience, he has led multidisciplinary teams to bring innovative ideas to life. His previous work includes designing banking interiors, researching wearable technology for elderly care, and developing emotionally engaging products using data and AI. Outside of leading Logitech’s gaming design teams, Riaz mentors on inclusive solutions, gives talks on ideation techniques, and spends many hours playing homebrew board games with his two kids.

SHAN WANG / October 4, 12:00-1:30 PM // RSVP

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Shan Wang, a Product Designer at Google x, the moonshot factory, as she delves into her unique career journey, from studying Architecture and HCI at Carnegie Mellon University to launching a successful Product Design career. She’ll share insights from her experiences transitioning between in-house roles and consulting, and how working in innovation labs like Microsoft Research and Google X shaped her perspectives. Shan will talk about the importance cultivating mentorship as well as the power of intentionality—both in design and making career decisions.

JOEY VERBEKE / October 10, 12:00-1:30 PM // RSVP

Joey Verbeke is New Media Artist & Critical Technologist whose background is most closely associated with the practices of antidisciplinarianism, generalism, and technology-enabled creativity. His path has consistently oscillated between corporate innovation/design/research labs (most recently Creative Technology @ Samsung Design Innovation Center) and his independent art practice. His talk will touch on both path and process, how process forges path, and foundational pursuits of hands-on problem exploration and criticality in the design of holistic HCI experiences from emerging technology.