Center for Design Studies
Sri Aurobindo Institute of Technology
Indore

International
Seminar

Design Education
in the Post-AI World

About the Event

Recent technological developments, especially those related to use of AI in all design domains, have profound implications for future practice of design, and also for the education of designers. Conventional design education programs can no longer produce designers whose design abilities will continue to be of value in times to come.

This change of context requires a completely new approach to design education, and it is imperative that the Design Educators community thoughtfully engages in discussing what needs to change, as well as what the focus should be in the years to come.

Centre for Design Studies (CDS) at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Technology, Indore has taken a major initiative in this direction by launching India’s first B.Des. program dedicated to ‘Design Education for the Future’ from 2023 academic year. The International Seminar on ‘Design Education in the Post-AI World’ is being organized by CDS on 24 February, 2024; is one such effort. Prof Kirti Trivedi, who was part of the team of Design Educators from around the world which had drafted the ICOGRADA Design Education Manifesto, and which was presented at the Millennium Congress in Seoul, in 2000, has curated the program and put together the galaxy of the eminent design educators and thinkers for the Seminar. The deliberations at the Seminar are expected to lead to clarity on the future directions Design Education must take to meet the emerging challenges.

The speakers include Prof Sunil Kumar, Vice Chancellor, RGPV; Prof Jesvin Yeo, NTU, Singapore; Prof Ina Conradi, School of ADM, NTU, Singapore; Prof Praveen Nahar, Director, NID, Ahmedabad; Prof Uday Dandavate, USA; Prof R. Venkatesh, IIT Bombay; Parag Trivedi,Director, Micrososft; Gaurav Mathur, FlipKart; and Prof Kirti Trivedi, IIT Indore. Besides the Seminar, an added attraction will be the screening of ‘Morai’ SIGGRAPH 2023 Best of Show Award Winner; and an exhibition of AI Generated Immersive Art by Prof Ina Conradi, of ADM, Singapore.

Topics and Speakers List

Prof Sunil Kumar

Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki
Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, MP

Inaugural Talk and Blessings

The impact of AI on training of future technologists, and RGPV’s response to it by way of new curricula and pedagogy.

Prof Jesvin Yeo PH

Deputy Associate Provost (Strategy),
NTU, Singapore

Designing Futures:
From nurturing creative artist
to exceptional talents
and business leaders.

Overview of Design Education: Internationally, then Singapore, then ADM. 3 key points of ADM design pedagogy: 2005 – Nurturing creative artists. Six Design and Media Majors (Distinct Disciplines); 2015 – Nurturing Art and design talents to be leaders, role models, and highly responsible citizens of the world, through problem-solving approaches with a fundamental base of imagination, innovation, and critical thinking. The transition from six majors to the two BFAs in Design Art and Media Art (Two Pathways); 2025 – Nurturing creative individuals into exceptional talents and potential business leaders.
Transdisciplinary and beyond. ADM as part of a planned initiative to position Singapore as a major center for creativity.

Prof Ina Conradi

Associate Professor, ADM,
NTU, Singapore

AI in the Art Studio:
The Next Wave of Artistic Innovation

Exploring the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in art studios, marking a significant shift in artistic innovation. The talk will examine how AI transforms  the artistic process, merging traditional techniques with cutting-edge technology. Highlighting examples from artists and students at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design, and Media, the presentation will showcase AI’s current influence and future potential in art. This session promises an insightful look into the evolving landscape of art in the digital age, where AI plays a pivotal role.

Prof Praveen Nahar

Director, NID, Ahmedabad

Design Education in the Post AI World

NID’s response to the changing design education landscape in India; and the various steps being undertaken to reorient the pedagogy to future needs. The presentation will also touch upon the glorious contribution of NID to India’s growth as a design power; and the overall impact it has had both in its two roles as shaper of design quality of State Undertakings and shaper of the creative capacity building of India as the National Institute of Design.

Prof Uday Dandavate

Design Activist, Poet and Co-founder,
SonicRim, USA

Journey into tomorrow:
An Invitation to Explore Design,
Social Imagination, and Co-Creation

How has the pandemic reshaped our collective understanding of the world and our place in it? What does being human entail in the era of Generative AI? Amidst the interplay of violence and compassion, what does the future hold, and can designers seize new opportunities as change-makers?
Uday Dandavate, a designer with five decades of experience, will take the audience on a journey as he unveils a new design frontier: social imagination, the perpetual construction site of the future.
Social Imagination, a concept coined by an American sociologist, provides a framework to comprehend personal experiences within a broader social and historical context. The infusion of social sciences into design has introduced novel perspectives on studying people, cultures, and changes in the design process. Uday’s global travels as a design researcher have molded his design philosophy, positioning him as an ethnographer of social imagination and a catalyst for cocreation. In his presentation, Uday will navigate the design discourse toward this uncharted space, aiming to positively influence the future.

Gaurav Mathur

Head, Design, Flipkart

Design in Flux:
Navigating the Turmoil and Rethinking Education in the AI Era

The talk will delve into the immediate disruptions that the emergingGenerative AI (Gen AI) technologies are bringing to the traditional design processes and their consequential effects on design education. As Gen AI evolves, drastically impacting the creative process, prototyping, and product development are likely to become leaner and faster. This will require designers to be adept at new workflows that leverage the power of AI. The talk aims to discuss the short-term ripples and highlight the need for an agile and responsive approach in design pedagogy to equip future designers.

Parag Trivedi

Director, User Experience, Microsoft

Gen AI and Next Gen

The presentation will show how AI is transforming industries, particularly in terms of user experience and product development. It will cover real-life examples to illustrate the implications of AI in the design process, product organizations, and new opportunities. By sharing an industry perspective, it aims to provide insights for design education in a post-AI world.

Prof R. Venkatesh

Professor, IDC, IIT Bombay

AI and the Future of Design Education

The talk will begin with a summary of the current thinking and perceptions about the role & impact of AI in design education and practice. It will then identifies elements of Generative AI that have strong parallels in the generative design process, and proposes how the design of generative AI can augment and strengthen the traditional design process. And in doing so, the talk contemplates how it fundamentally alters what it means to design in a post-AI world, and how we might think about the consequences of design education and practice.

Prof Kirti Trivedi

Visiting Distinguished Professor, IIT Indore

India s AI Advantage in Form Visualization

The biggest advantage of AI capabilities  integrated in design tools used by the creative community, is that it is finally possible to give full attention to give form to an intended image, without worrying about the necessary proficiency in the software tools being used. Form Visualization is the process of giving form to an abstract idea or thought; and in the Indian tradition ‘Giving Form to the Formless’ proceeds through the precise verbal articulation of the attributes of the ‘Formless’. In the generative AI form giving one proceeds through prompts to describe the intended end result. The presentation will elaborate on how the thousands of years old mastery of the Indian mind, in creating detailed verbal descriptions (as in the Sahasranama descriptions of sacred energy forms) will be a major asset, and give India an intellectual advantage.

About Speakers

Prof Sunil Kumar

Vice-Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, MP

Prof. Sunil Kumar is Vice Chancellor of Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya (RGPV) – the state University of Technology of Madhya Pradesh, India. Prof. Kumar holds Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi with a special interest in the field of energy policy. He has also served as Additional Secretary in the Department of Technical Education and as Secretary of Admission and Fees Regulatory Committee, Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Prof. Kumar has more than 50 research papers in various international journals. He has been instrumental in designing various social sector schemes in the field of skills development. He is in the governing board of NITTER Bhopal, IIIT Bhopal and ITM University Gwalior. He is also Chairman of Central Regional Sub Committee of All India Council of Technical Education dealing with technical education of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat; and also a member of various committees formed by State and Central Government. Member of various Selection Committees for selection of High Level Key officials/academicians.

Prof Jesvin Yeo PH

Deputy Associate Provost (Strategy), NTU, Singapore

Prof Jesvin Yeo graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London (MA), and NTU (PhD). She currently serves as director on the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Board of Directors; Vice President at Singapore Society of Asian Studies; Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Centre for Lifelong Education (CLE) at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts; Scientific Board Member at Human Factors in Communication of Design Scientific Board, USA.

Prof Jesvin’s research interests are in cultural value, human experience and behaviour, and their applications in cultural heritage, education and wellbeing. She explores new ways to spark and distil insight and addresses people’s needs through bold, optimistic design. In the field of cultural heritage, she interacts with traditional artisans and local communities, researching century-old buildings to explore design innovations. In the subject of well-being, she uses design research methods to explore applied design in different fields, and integrates functional, emotional and social aspects according to actual needs.

Prof Jesvin is author of nine cultural heritage books, and her research work has been published internationally, in the subjects of Singapore heritage and culture, material culture, wellbeing, design studies and education, typography and book design. Her cultural-related creative works have been exhibited internationally, including the Basel School of Design, Berlin Communication Museum, Center Pompidou Shanghai (West Bund Museum), Taiwan Design Museum and Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Among other 70 international design awards she received are the prestigious Red Dot Award (Communication Design), GOOD DESIGN Award and iF Communication Design Award.

Prof Ina Conradi

Associate Professor, School of Art, Design & Media, NTU, Singapore

Ina Conradi-Chavez is an award-winning new media artist. Her works uniquely combine digital painting and experimental S3D animation for co-immersive spaces, installations, and media architecture..

Currently Associate Professor at the School of Art, Design and Media she has been presented with the Koh Boon Hwee Scholars Award 2015 and the Nanyang Education Award 2014 (School) for recognition to the influence of inspirational teaching. From 2016 to the present, Ina s curates content for public art project Media Art Nexus (MAN) at Nanyang Technological University Singapore,(15 m by 2m LED urban media art display) has been supported by Singapore s NTU Museum s Campus Art Trail Initiative.

Her animated film Chrysalis was bestowed prestigious 2018 Lumiere Award by Advanced Imaging Society (AIS) Hollywood and 2017 Lumiere Award on behalf of Stereopsia Belgium, AIS and VR Society’s EMEA chapter (Europe). Her animated film Elysian Fields received over 14 international awards and landed her at the 86th Academy Awards Animated Short Film Qualifying Screening. She premiered her works at the Ars Electronica Festival, most recently with 2021 Nocturne a large-scale, immersive installation that combines interactive and audio-reactive visuals with emotive-abstraction animation, a dance performance.

Prof Praveen Nahar

Director, NID, Ahmedabad

Praveen Nahar is the Director of National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad with its extension campuses in Gandhinagar and Bengaluru. He has also been a faculty member in the Product Design discipline at NID since 2002. He has over 23 years of experience in design teaching, consultancy, and research. Prior to joining NID, he was a lecturer in Industrial Design at IIT Bombay for 4 years and also worked as a research associate in Transportation Research at IIT Delhi for 2 years.

His range of academic and professional interests include: Systems Thinking in Design, Design Thinking, Sustainable Design/Green Design, Design in the Public Domain, Social Design, Appropriate Technology, and Strategic Design to name a few.

He has travelled widely and presented his views in various forums and conferences as the keynote/plenary speaker and conducted design workshops and seminars in the areas of Systems Oriented Design, Sustainability, and Design Thinking, overseas.

Prof Uday Dandavate

Design Activist, Poet and Co-founder, SonicRim, USA

Uday Dandavate is a design activist, poet, and an ethnographer of social imagination. Uday has traveled extensively around the world, studying and connecting with all kinds of people and cultures, and watching and participating as they change over time. In his professional capacity, as well as through blogging, teaching, speaking, and facilitating, Uday provokes fresh perspectives that help to humanize technologies and democratize design. During Covid-19 pandemic Uday published an evocative collection of poems, a window for a home without walls, that help communicate values and sensitivities about life, imagination and design. In 2021 he published an illustrated book Finding Your Beebo to encourage a dialogue between parents and children about the importance of preserving our inner child. He co-founded San Francisco based co-creation agency SonicRim. He has also taught design, design research and co-creation at National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, 180 Academy, Middlefart, Denmark, California College of the Arts, and Integrated Innovation Institute of the Carnegie Mellon University, Mountain View, California.

In 2022 he published a book of poems. Imagination & consciousness that expresses his association with his roots, soul and the sky.

Gaurav Mathur

Head, Design, Flipkart

Gaurav is a design leader dedicated to crafting user-centric products that blend aesthetics with functionality.

Currently, he heads design at Flipkart where he is involved in creating experiences for millions of Indian shoppers as well as sellers, and fulfilment partners. Before Flipkart, Gaurav led UX design for Myntra. Earlier, he worked at Citrix, co-founded Trevue Innovations a design-led consultancy; worked for IL&FS ETS; and Media Lab Asia.

His work has been published in prestigious journals and conferences like CHI, Design Issues, MIT Press, and CIO Outlook.

Parag Trivedi

Director, User Experience, Microsoft

Parag Trivedi is a user experience design leader with 25 years of experience in leading design teams and developing successful products in multinational companies such as Microsoft, GE Healthcare, and Honeywell. He specializes in creating products from inception to global success. His recent work includes generative AI experiences on mobile devices. He has worked across various areas such as Healthcare, productivity, communication, e-learning, security, process solutions, and consumer products.

Prof R. Venkatesh

Professor, IDC, IIT Bombay

Venkatesh Rajamanickam is a Professor at the IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay. He is a HCI designer, educator and researcher. His Information Design Lab at IIT Bombay utilizes graphic design, interactive computer graphics, data-processing algorithms and emerging technologies to address challenging problems in data, design and art. His research focuses on data-based and visual understanding of a range of issues from public understanding of science, urban living, politics, education, transportation, to generative art.

Prof Kirti Trivedi

Visiting Distinguished Professor, IIT Indore

The initiator and the founder of India s first Master of Design Programme in Visual Communication in 1981; Kirti Trivedi is a former Professor from the Industrial Design Centre, IIT, Bombay. In 1981, he worked as a UNESCO Fellow in Japan, under the guidance of Prof. Kohei Sugiura, and was introduced by him to the intellectual depth and the richness of Asian Design. He has been engaged in research and documentation of the classical design traditions of India and Asia since 1984, with several publications on Indian Design Traditions.

Besides teaching and design research, he is active as a design consultant in the areas of Graphic Design, Book Design, Exhibition and Museum design, Environmental Graphics, Signage, and Product Design: with numerous publications and awards both nationally and internationally. In 2011, he was invited by the School of Art, Design and Media at NTU, Singapore to help set up a Centre for Asian Design, and introduce new programmes in Asian Design, Projection Arts and Islamic Design.

His current research is in developing appropriate interaction design solutions for Indian needs based on emerging technology possibilities. He is also engaged in developing a new model for design education, appropriate for the digital age, with the changed context of AI tools and a new student profile.

Seminar Schedule

Venue:

Auditorium, 4th Floor
Centre for Design Studies
Sri Aurobindo Institute of
Technology

Near MR-10 Crossing
Indore 453555, MP, India

Programme

9:00Registration
9:30Seminar Inauguration with Saraswati Vandana
9:40Welcome
9:45Inaugural Speech and Blessings
Prof Sunil Kumar,
VC, RGPV
10:00Keynote Speech. Designing Futures:
From Nurturing Creative Artists
to Exceptional Talents and Business Leaders

Prof Jesvin Yeo, Deputy Associate Provost (Strategy),
NTU, Singapore
10:30AI in the Art Studio: 

The Next Wave of Artistic Innovation (video talk)

Prof Ina Conradi, Associate Professor, 

School of Art, Design & Media, NTU, Singapore
11:00

Tea Break

11:30Design Education in the Post AI World

Prof Praveen Nahar, Chief Guest
Director, NID, Ahmedabad
12:00Journey into Tomorrow: 

Social Imagination and Co creation

Prof Uday Dandavate, Guest of Honour

Design Activist, Poet, and Co-founder, SonicRim, USA
12:45

Lunch

14:15Design in Flux: Navigating the Turmoil and
Rethinking Education in the AI Era


Gaurav Mathur, Head, Design, FlipkartA
14:45Gen AI and Next Gen

Parag Trivedi, Director, User Experience, Microsoft
15:15

Tea Break

15:45AI and the Future of Design Education
Prof. R. Venkatesh, IDC, IIT Bombay
16:15Indias AI Advantage in Form Visualization
Prof Kirti Trivedi, IIT Indore
16:45Open House (with the participants)
17:15Vote of Thanks
17:30Seminar Ends
The Immersive media exhibition and screening of SIGGRAPH
Award winning CG film ‘Moirai: Thread of Life’ will be on throughout the day till 18:30 hrs.

Registration

24 February, 2024

International
Seminar

Design Education
in the Post-AI World

Participation
Due to capacity of the Auditorium, participation will be limited to 100 participants, on a first come basis. Please register early.

Registration will be in two categories:
General Participants:
Rs 3,000/- per participant
Student Participants:
Rs 1,000/- per participant

The Registration Fees includes Seminar Kits, Refreshments and Lunch, and copies of transcripts of papers presented where available.
Assistance in accommodation will be available as needed. Please contact the Registration Desk for this.

Venue

Centre for Design Studies
SAIT,
Indore