2008 ADAA board members
Meet the people who work behind the scenes to keep the Adobe® Design Achievement Awards the world's premier design, film, and interactive media competition for higher education students.
Erik Adigard
Designer and proprietor, M-A-D
San Francisco
Erik Adigard, recipient of the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design, is a multidisciplinary designer positioned at the intersection of emerging technologies, business, and culture. His 20 years of experience encompass research and design in both static and dynamic media. He has also served as an adviser to help define emerging trends in products and services. He has worked on websites and product concepts, software branding, installations and exhibits, and much more. He is currently focusing on web TV, mobile media-related projects, and 3D interactive virtual sculpture.
Gail Anderson
Creative director, SpotCo
New York City
From 1987 to early 2002, Gail Anderson served as senior art director at Rolling Stone magazine. Today, she is creative director for SpotCo, a New York City-based design studio and ad agency that specializes in creating artwork and campaigns for Broadway theater. She is coauthor, with Steven Heller, of “Graphic Wit,” “The Savage Mirror,” “American Typeplay,” “The Designer’s Guide to Astounding Photoshop Effects,” and the upcoming “New Vintage Type.” She also teaches in the School of Visual Arts' MFA Design program and has lectured for colleges and design organizations throughout the country.
Anne Connell
IT director, Carnegie Mellon University, School of Design
Pittsburgh
Anne Connell is IT director for the Carnegie Mellon School of Design, providing support for the faculty, staff, and students. She teaches Computer Basics for Communication Design, Design Computing Skills Workshop, and Intermediate Web Programming in Design. Her new course, Practical Web Skills, focuses on integrating Web 2.0 technologies. Her current research interests include interaction technologies for the web as well as physical and digital environments that support collaboration.
Hillman Curtis
Designer and filmmaker, hillmancurtis, inc,
New York City
Hillman Curtis is a designer and filmmaker whose company, hillmancurtis, inc., has designed websites for Yahoo!, Adobe, Aquent, the American Institute of Graphic Design, and Fox Searchlight Pictures, among other companies. His film work includes the documentary series "Artist Series" as well as several short narrative films. His commercial film work includes short films for Rolling Stone, Adobe, and BMW. His three books on design and film have sold close to 200,000 copies and have been translated into 14 languages. He splits his time between San Francisco and New York City.
Richard Doust
Senior tutor in graphic design
Royal College of Art, London
Richard Doust is a senior tutor in graphic design at the Royal College of Art in London. He currently is developing new media as well as virtual and online learning initiatives at the RCA and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. He also teaches and supervises the work of graduate research students. Doust, who has worked in Australia and the United Kingdom, continues to practice as a graphic designer. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Art and the Royal Society of Arts.
Charles Kesl
Director of academic technology, The New School
New York City
Charles Kesl received the Hearst Award and the James Brady Scholarship at the University of Illinois, where he joined the faculty to develop environmental education media. He produced, shot, and edited documentaries for PBS, including profiles of homeless women and children, a civil rights leader's biography, and the story of a historic cinema's fight for survival. Kesl started at The New School and Parsons planning the Knowledge Union (KU), a model of the collaborative, cross-disciplinary technology lab. Ten years later, he is director of academic technology, managing the KU and other integrated facilities university-wide as well as online services.
Gloria Lee
Associate professor and graduate adviser for design
University of Texas at Austin
After earning a degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Gloria Lee discovered graphic design and visual communication while working as a writer for a software company. After ten years working in software, she earned her MFA and subsequently taught at the Yale School of Art. In 1992, she joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where she currently serves as both associate professor and graduate adviser for design. Lee maintains a design practice, working primarily in print design. Her creative research is focused on the role visual communication can play in grassroots and educational organizations.
Laura Silva
Department chair,
Art Center College of Design
Pasadena, California
Laura Silva has been an active digital media professional for more than 20 years, with experience in both corporate and entertainment sectors as an interactive designer, programmer, and leader. She has taught for more than ten years at several colleges including Art Center, UCLA Extension, USC, and Pasadena City College. Her clients have included Walt Disney Imagineering, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, and the Getty Museum. Throughout her tenure as an Art Center faculty member, Silva has contributed to award-winning, interactive projects produced by student teams. As department chair, Silva has advanced the digital media curriculum to include game studies and development.
Richard Weinberg
Founding director, Animation Lab
USC School of Cinema Arts, Los Angeles
Richard Weinberg is the founding director of the Computer Animation Laboratory at USC’s School of Cinema Arts and a research associate professor in the school's Division of Animation and Digital Arts. He established the Computer Graphics Group at Cray Research and developed animation software for NASA's Johnson Space Center, Lockheed Electronics, and Digital Productions before joining USC. His research interests include computer animation, scientific visualization, visual effects, and entertainment technology. He is a visiting professor at the Tokyo University of Technology and frequently lectures in Japan.