2025/26 Public Seminar Series: Heather Snyder Quinn and Jessica Meharry
What does the future of design look like?
This semester’s public seminar series speakers invite attendees to join them in reflecting on how we might envision the future of design through critical design methodologies and practices. What does the future of design look like? How can we thoughtfully engage with emerging technologies to build the futures we want for our communities? Why is imagining possible futures important for design as well as society more broadly? And how can speculative design inspire curiosity and exploration through design practice?
Heather Snyder Quinn is an Associate Professor of Design and Civics Fellow at DePaul University, a 2024 Illinois Science and Technology Coalition “Researcher to Know,” and an elected member of the Board of Directors of DePaul’s Institute for Ethics. Her work uses design fiction to empower communities to imagine possible futures and understand technology’s impact on human freedoms. The World Economic Forum, MIT Press, Yale Law School, The Washington Post, Letterform Archive, Draw Down Books, and Hyperallergic have recognized her work. Currently, she serves as Director of Design Futures for Design Incubation.
Jessica Meharry is an Associate Professor in the School of Design at DePaul University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in graphic design and human-centered design. Her scholarly research focuses on three intersecting lines of inquiry that explore equitable design methodologies in both practice and pedagogy: anti-oppressive design practices for professional designers; envisioning anti-racist futures through design methods; and equity-oriented experiential education within design pedagogy and curricula.
The UIC School of Design public seminar series serves as a research platform for the school's MDes program, stimulating broad intellectual inquiry about the values guiding the designer by promoting discourse across industrial and graphic design.
Public Seminar Series 2025/26
Heather Snyder Quinn & Jessica Meharry
Thursday, October 23, 6:30P
Room 1100
Architecture + Design Studios
845 West Harrison Street, Chicago
Free and open to the public.
Prospective MDes students are invited to join us for a tour of the school at 5:30pm before the seminar begins. Please register for the tour in advance.