Through the Designer's Lens | Alumni Association

Through the Designer's Lens

In his new book, Lenses for Design (RIT Press, 2016), Josh Owen compares his process for design to the way an optometrist asks patients to try on a series of lenses to find the best way of seeing. 'Like the optometrist, I use a series of lenses to solve design problems,' says Owen, a professor and chair of the industrial design (ID) program at Rochester Institute of Technology. In Owen's new book, the world-renowned industrial designer and educator describes and explains his unique creative process for solving design problems. Through his projects, he illustrates and decodes his philosophy and approach to invention.

Owen also will discuss ways in which his design philosophy relates to his signature Metaproject, which pairs student designers with a real-world client in what has become a seminal project for RIT's nationally ranked industrial design program. In its seventh iteration this academic year, Metaproject has regularly demonstrated that education partnered with industry is a successful vehicle for fostering innovative thinking and thoughtful product design for both current students and graduates of the program.

In this unique webinar, Owen will share what he has learned from his interactions with students and clients and how they have influenced his design process. It is his hope that these lenses for design will provide some new perspectives to help others--regardless of profession-- move their own ideas forward.

Josh Owen / Professor and chair of the industrial design (ID) program at RIT

Josh Owen joined the faculty of industrial design in the Fall of 2010. He comes to RIT having previously taught for a decade at Philadelphia University where he held the position of Associate Professor and the title Craig R. Benson Chair for Innovation. He also held the position of Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design where he developed programming that served the design, engineering and business schools under the umbrella of Integrated Product Design. Owen is also the president of Josh Owen LLC. His professional projects are produced by major manufacturers and have won many awards. Owen's work is included in the permanent design collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou (FR), the Corning Museum of Glass (USA), the Denver Art Museum (USA), the Philadelphia Museum of Art (USA), the Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal (CA), the Chicago Athenaeum (USA), the Museum of American Jewish History (USA) and the Taiwan Design Museum (TP). His students' works have won awards, been exhibited and featured in international publications and critical venues and have been put into mass production prior to graduation. Owen's professional work has been featured in major exhibitions, numerous books on design and is regularly included in critical design discourse. Besides teaching in the industrial design department, Owen is actively involved in supporting the mission of the Vignelli Center for Design Studies. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, Lenses for Design.