Jacques R. Giard is Professor of Design and Director of MSD and PhD programs Programs in the School of Design Innovation at Arizona State University. He was director of the School of Industrial Design at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada for ten years prior to coming to ASU. Professor Giard received his undergraduate education in furniture design in Montreal (1969), graduate studies industrial design (engineering) in Birmingham, UK (1971), and a Ph.D. from Concordia University in Montreal (1987). Professor Giard has extensive professional design experience in Canada with various design agencies and manufacturers. As an educator and scholar, he has had over 50 articles and papers published in various journals and magazines in North America, Europe, and Asia. He was the lead design researcher with Price-Waterhouse in a Government-of-Canada investigation on the Canadian design sector (1995-96). More recently, he was co-principal investigator in a USAID TIES research project between ASU and the Institute of Technology of Sonora (ITSON). Professor Giard was national president of the Association of Canadian Industrial Designers and a member of the organizing committee for the ICSID 97 Congress, The Humane Village, prior to coming to the USA. He is the author of two books: Design FAQs, an introductory textbook on design and Designing: A Journey Through Time, both published by The Dorset Group.

Design Statement For me, design is about two things and two things only: people and experience. Despite what is often published in the popular media, design is not solely about designers nor about ‘cool’ things. Why? Because without people and experience design has no purpose, and without purpose, design is useless.