Savannah College of Art and Design faculty visits RKS to learn RKS's proprietary design thinking methodology and stay ahead of the curve in this new era of design.
After RKS founder and C.E.O. Ravi Sawhney spoke at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) last spring, Tom Gattis, Chair of SCAD's industrial design department asked RKS to develop a workshop for SCAD's entire team of design educators. So this past week, twelve professors from the SCAD- ID group descended upon RKS's Southern California headquarters for an introduction to Psycho-Aesthetics, the RKS design-thinking methodology.
The workshop, lead by Tom White, RKS Executive Vice President, and Ingvald Smith-Kielland, RKS Vice President of Strategy, took a deep-dive approach as it immersed the SCAD team in the highly- visual RKS process. Discussions were dynamic and brainstorm sessions were lively. The SCAD professors soon found Psycho-Aesthetics to be a highly-adaptable framework suited to solving problems far beyond product development alone.
The SCAD team left energized after two days of productive and collaborative discourse. "This has been a great experience that has immense value in giving direction for the future," said Dean Ermoli, while Professor Gattis found the workshop, "eye opening" and "game changing." RKS gained a deep appreciation for the talented faculty driving this young, ambitious institution and its new programs forward. "SCAD has the advantage of recognizing we've entered a new era of design where the ability to think and communicate strategically is an important and often even more important than the ability to sketch," said White. "What's more, they have the insight, energy, and passion to push the paradigm as they grow and take their program to new heights."