Return on Investment

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Designers, vice presidents and directors from companies including Motorola, Herman Miller, Humana and McDonald’s will gather to discuss how design can provide the best return on investment Thursday, April 12, at Northwestern University.

The annual design seminar “Design:Chicago” will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune Auditorium, James L. Allen Center, 2169 Campus Drive, on the Evanston campus.

The popular event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. (Register at http://www.designchicago.northwestern.edu/.)

The “ROI by Design” panel will feature Jim Wicks, senior vice president, consumer experience design, Motorola; Joan Kelly, corporate director of consumer experience, Humana; Denis Weil, corporate vice president, Concept+Design, McDonald’s Corporation; Gary Smith, director of design facilitation, Herman Miller; and Craig Throne, vice president of global marketing, Wolverine World Wide.

Walter Herbst, director of Northwestern’s Master of Product Design and Development program, will moderate.

Design:Chicago is sponsored by the Segal Design Institute and the Master of Product Design and Development program, both based at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the MMM program, a joint venture between McCormick and the Kellogg School of Management.

The interdisciplinary Segal Design Institute fosters curricular development and research in design across all schools at Northwestern and is dedicated to the study of human-centered design, in context. The Master of Product Design and Development program is a two-year, part-time program targeted at working professionals. The MMM program is a two-year, dual-degree program that offers students both an MBA and a master of engineering management.