Dr. ESSAM ABU-AWAD – AMMAN

Dr. Essam Abu-Awad is the Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design, Applied Science private University, active in the academic and professional fields of design. Regularly participates in academic conferences to discuss the issue of Graphic Design, its relation with arts and technology and the challenges of teaching Graphic Design.

JULIA CHIU – TOKYO

Julia Chiu is the Professor at Musashino Art University (MAU), a leading art and design university in Japan.

TOM BURCHARD – BOSTON

Tom Burchard is the Vice President at Altitude, Inc., a collective of creative thinkers with expertise in design strategy, design innovation, product realization, and brand expression.

VIKAS SATWALEKAR – AHMEDABAD

Vikas Satwalekar is the Partner at Satwalekar Design Studio.

KIEU HUYEN PHAM – HANOI

SAKI MAFUNDIKWA – HARARE

Saki Mafundikwa is the Director of Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts, Zimbabwe’s first and only Graphic Design and New Media training facility.

ANIL SINHA – AHMEDABAD

Currently Head of GLS Institute of Design Ahmedabad. Previously, Principal Designer, Faculty of Communication Design; Activity Chairperson, IDS and IP&P, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad (India).

SUBRATA BHOWMICK – AHMEDABAD

One of India’s most lauded designers, with over 55 prestigious national and international awards (18 of them being the President of India award) in Graphics, Advertising, Photography and Book Design. His other areas of specialization are Textiles (Printing, Weaving), Fashion Design, Environmental Design, Product Design, Exhibition Design, Interior Design, and Publication Design.

SHRIKANT NIVASARKAR – PUNE

Renowned furniture designer. Founder and Owner of Nivasarkar Consultants, Pune.

ADIL JAL DARUKHANAWALA – PUNE

Adil Jal Darukhanawala is the pioneer Indian automotive journalist with over 40 years of experience with magazines, events, history and books. He presently heads Fast Bikes India magazine and is the first Indian ever to be honoured at the Guild of Motoring Awards in the UK for his work on Indian motoring history.

SANTOSH KSHIRSAGAR – MUMBAI

Calligrapher, Professor at Sir J. J. Institute of Applied Art IDC, Indian Institute of Technology.

SERTAC ERSAYIN – ISTANBUL

Founder re/form/ist design strategies. President of Industrial Designer Association of Turkey. Board member of Design Turkey.

MARK WATSON – MELBOURNE

An Australian Design Polymath, working across the Built Environment, Product / Industrial, and latterly Strategic / Service Design. A Design Thinking Research leader working strategically and sustainability across the Environment, Society and the Economy.

A. BALASUBRAMANIAM – NEW DELHI

A Balasubramaniam is a practising product designer, based in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, India. He is the founder of January Design, a consultancy that works mainly with marginal crafts, grass-root innovations and the MSME sectors of the industry. He is an early graduate of NID, Ahmedabad, India.

MOOKESH PATEL – MUMBAI

Prof. Mookesh Patel, Dean at Indian School of Design and Innovation, Mumbai, India, received his MFA in graphic design from Rhode Island School of Design and holds a diploma in Visual Communication from the National Institute of Design, and a BS from Ahmedabad Science College, Gujarat University, India. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Research Scholar Grant, United Nations Development Program Grant, and other awards and his research focuses on the visual communication and information design issues, semiotics, visual interpretation, visualization, exhibition/experience design, and typography.

FRANK ZIERENBERG – HANNOVER

After receiving his university diploma for industrial design in 2003 from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Frank Zierenberg has been working for the iF International Forum Design. He has successfully conceived, organized and conducted the iF Design Award China, which was held eight times until 2010, as well as the iF Packaging Design Award and the iF Material Design Award. In 2015 he took over the responsibility for the most prestigious of the iF awards: the iF DESIGN AWARD. He also serves as the coordinator of the iF representative offices in Brazil, Poland, The Netherlands, Turkey, Korea and Japan, and takes care of international client relations.

RAMAN SAXENA – NEW DELHI

Co-founder – USID Foundation, Delhi Design Festival. Founder – USER Lab Asia, Innovation Factory India. Raman has 20+ years of hands-on & leadership experience predominantly in User Experience, Design Thinking and Design & Innovation strategy working with Siemens, Nokia, HFI, CA Technologies, USER Lab Asia etc. in US, Europe, China & India.

DR.TRIDHA GAJJAR – AHMEDABAD

Tridha Gajjar is a graphic designer. After receiving her Doctorate degree from Banaras Hindu University in Applied Arts, she is teaching at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad since 2006. Currently she is program coordinator of Graphic Design Department at NID.

ADITI RANJAN – AHMEDABAD

Aditi Ranjan is a textile designer and educator and was a design teacher at the National Institute of Design (NID) from 1974 to 2012. She has an abiding interest in weave structure, fabric construction, research on textile and craft traditions, and a passion for the material and visual culture of India. She has authored a book on the Textile and Bamboo crafts of Northeast India (1983) and has been the lead editor of Handmade in India (2007), an encyclopedia on the crafts of India.

SUDHIR SHARMA – PUNE

Founder of INDI Design, India. Founder and president of ‘Design India’ (India’s largest social community of professional designers); and Chief Editor of POOL Magazine (for Design, Innovation and Art).

PROF. G.V. SREEKUMAR – MUMBAI

Prof. G. V. Sreekumar is Professor and Head of IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay. His areas of specializations are Typography, Calligraphy, Publication Design, Information design, Anatomy and Figure drawing and Design Pedagogy. Prof. Sreekumar is considered an expert not only in the fields of Design and Design Education, but also in the new field he created at IDC, IIT Bombay:  “H-H-I”- Human Human Interaction and focuses on the human-centric aspects of design and everyday life.