DesignMeets Cafe Talks is a new series of informal in-person gatherings that bring together design leaders and the community to explore the evolving design profession and landscape. These events embrace the belief that design improves through dialogue, collaboration and the sharing of diverse perspectives. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a curious newcomer, you are invited to connect, learn, and imagine the future of design together.
Join us for our first DesignMeets Cafe Talk featuring Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, a prominent voice in design education and research and the new Dean of Design at OCAD University. Dr. Noel will lead a discussion on "Designing the Future, the Future of Design," exploring designers' evolving role in shaping society, incorporating diverse perspectives in design, critical reflection in design practice, and design as a tool for positive social change.
Event Speaker
Lesley-Ann Noel
Lesley-Ann Noel is a designer, researcher, and educator, the author of Design Social Change, and a co-editor of The Black Experience in Design. She has created several design tools for critical reflection, such as The Designer’s Critical Alphabet, and the Positionality Wheel. She has a bachelor’s in Industrial Design from Universidade Federal do Paraná in Brazil, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, and a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University. She was awarded honorary doctorates for service to the field of design by the University of the Arts London and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. She is the Dean of Design at OCAD University. Before OCAD-U, she taught at North Carolina State University, Tulane University, Stanford University, and the University of the West Indies.
Lesley-Ann is co-chair of the Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group and a member of the convening group of the Pedagogy Special Interest Group of the Design Research Society. She practices primarily in co-creation, social innovation, education, futures, and public health.
Event Moderator
Michael Dila
Michael Anton Dila is a designer of conversation, the originator of System 3 and the leader of the Oslo for AI project.
Michael has spent his career working at the crux of change: building and equipping teams to do their most ambitious work; working to democratize the knowledge and practice of design; leading innovation work in companies, organizations and institutions; nurturing community and instigating challenging conversations. Michael has always had a passion for starting things. Whether it's companies or communities, he has spent much of the last 25 years breaking new ground. As a design and innovation leader he was devoted to making both more rigorous and more accessible. He is a founding member of Overlap, a peer network of innovators who share knowledge and practice to advance the state of the art of design. Since spending five years helping to build an elite innovation unit in the U.S. Department of Defence, he has been focused on working with leaders and teams in domains characterized by both high technical and ethical complexity, such as AI, defence innovation and inclusive entrepreneurship.