Faculty
David Cabianca AIGA
Associate Professor, York University
MArch Princeton University, USA
MFA Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, USA
MA Typeface Design, University of Reading, UK
Research & Practice
Prior to joining the department in 2005, David Cabianca taught typography, history and theory at CalArts, OCAD and both architecture studio and theory and criticism at the University of Manitoba and the University of Michigan. At Michigan he was the 1997-98 William Muschenheim Fellow and received the Donna M. Salzer Award for excellence in teaching. His writing has appeared in Emigre, Design Issues, Dimensions, ACSA Proceedings and :output. His research and scholarship interests have to date focused on typeface design, contemporary graphic design, issues of representation and disciplinary conflict.
He is currently completing a text typeface, Cardea, scheduled for public release by the Emigre Font Foundry, and is co-organizing with Kenneth FitzGerald and Jiwon Lee, an AIGA Design Educator's Conference titled, "Blunt: Explicit and Graphic Design Criticism Now" to be held spring 2013 at Old Dominion University, Norfolk VA.
Sandra Gabriele
Associate Professor, York University
MDes University of Alberta, Canada
Sandra Gabriele has been practicing and teaching design for over twenty-five years. She is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, the Schule für Gestaltung Basel, and holds a MDes in Visual Communication Design from the University of Alberta. In professional practice, she has designed communications materials for a variety of clients: government organizations, corporations, small businesses and non-profit organizations, in both print and digital media. Her research interests are in the area of typography (legibility and the digital representation of large text collections) and information design (specifically, patient safety initiatives involving graphic design).
Jan Hadlaw
Assistant Professor, York University
PhD Simon Fraser University, Canada
MA Concordia University, Canada
Jan Hadlaw's research interests focus on design and everyday life, especially graphic design as cultural communication, advertising and consumer culture, and the history and design of modern technology. She was awarded both a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship and an FCar Doctoral Research Grant in support of her historical study of the design and representation of the modern telephone. In 1999, she was a Smithsonian Fellow-in-Residence at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum in New York and at the National Museum of American History in Washington DC. Prior to joining the department, she taught at the School of Communications at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and in the Department of Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She is a graphic designer who has worked with a diverse range of clients, including Alcan, the National Film Board, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, La Museo del Bel Arte Mexico, as well as many independent galleries and artists across Canada.
Her current research includes a study of role played by design in the construction of Canadian national identity in the 1960s and 70s. She has also received a SSHRC Small Grant to undertake the pilot study for a research project on vernacular design and architecture in rural British Colombia.
Wojtek E. Janczak, R.G.D.
Chair, Department of Design
MFA Academy of Fine Arts, Poznan, Poland
Professor Janczak's multidisciplinary professional practice, research and teaching include design of interactive environments and time-based forms of communication. Since 1994 he has specialized in developing and evaluating information architecture, interface design, interactive systems and information technologies in online education. His current research focuses on investigating the theories, practices and technologies involving physical computing, information spaces and tangible interfaces.
Michael Longford
Associate Chair, Department of Design
MFA Rutgers University, USA
Research & Practice
Professor Longford creative work and research activities reside at the intersection of photography, graphic design and digital media. Currently, he is a co-principal investigator for the Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN), a national research network developing technology and media rich content for mobile devices. The MDCN is a joint research project launched by Concordia University and the Banff New Media Institute. He is a founding member of Hexagram: Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies and served for three years as the Director for the Advanced Digital Imaging and 3D Rapid Prototyping Group. He has exhibited and presented his work at national and international exhibitions and conferences.
Angela Norwood, AIGA
Associate Professor, York University
Director of the Graduate Program in Design
MGD North Carolina State University, USA
Angela Norwood is the 2006/07 recipient of the Faculty of Fine Arts Dean's Junior Faculty Teaching Award. Her current research interests include examining the role of design in Ladakh, India through social, cultural and cognitive aspects of wayfinding and signage systems. She is also interested in analyzing structural devices in advertising. A former professional designer in Chicago, IL and Raleigh, NC, she has over 15 years experience in practice. Her professional work has been recognized by several organizations and publications including the Type Directors Club, Graphis and Communication Arts Magazine. Her work is also included in the American Institute of Graphic Arts National Design Archive.
Paul Sych, R.G.D.
Assistant Professor, York University
Over the past two decades Paul Sych has had a curiosity for the relationship between art and music. This interplay began while studying at the Ontario College of Art and Design and York University's prestigious jazz program in Toronto, Canada. In the fall of 1990, Paul launched his design firm, Faith, as a platform for continued experimentation. Paul has challenged both clients and peers alike to enter his world of unique and sometimes flamboyant use of type and imagery. In addition to being commissioned by legendary designers, art directors, educators and forums on typography internationally, his work has been widely published in North America, Europe and Asia. Paul continues to explore visual and typographic works in print, branding, public art, motion graphics and broadcast design.
Quoting the late design historian Philip B. Meggs, "Sych's pulled and twisted letterforms, densely layered and imploding into complex masses teeming with perpetual energy, lose their identity as alphabetic glyphs. His work raises the question: Where does typography cease to be typography and become, perhaps, art?"
Wendy Wong
Associate Professor, York University
Associate Chair, Department of Design
PhD MA Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Research & Practice
Professor Wong published extensively on Chinese and Hong Kong visual culture and history. She is the author of Hong Kong Comics: A History of Manhua. She has published 4 books for Chinese readers funded by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. Wong's articles appeared in Design Issues, Journal of Design History, Journal of Popular Culture, International Journal of Comic Art, Journal of Gender Studies, Mass Communication and Society, and Graphis Magazine.
She served as a visiting scholar at Harvard University from 1999 to 2000, and was the 2000 Lubalin Curatorial Fellow at the Cooper Union School of Art, where she curated an exhibit entitled "Chinese Graphic Design towards the International Sphere." She has taught both traditional creative print and digital interactive media full-time since 1997 in North America and Hong Kong.
PROFESSORS EMERITI
Don Newgren Retired Member RGD
York University
PhD Syracuse University, USA
MA University of Illinois, USA
Don Newgren's research interests focus upon user participation, either active or passive, during the inventory and planning part of the design process. These interests emerged from his development and implementation of unobtrusive data collection methodology for planning exhibitions while being the Director of Design at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. His professional design work in graphic design and exhibition design for firms such as IBM, US Steel, Eastman Kodak, Union Carbide, Bell Labs, United Airlines, General Motors, and Shell Oil has won numerous awards in North America.
He has over 30 years of teaching experience, and has lectured in Japan, Europe, and the United States. In addition, he has 16 years of administrative experience at York University
David Scadding, R.G.D.
Associate Professor, York University
MVA University of Alberta, Canada
Professor Scadding is a professional Registered Graphic Designer who, by love & training, focuses his teaching & research in the field of typography - its history, development and contemporary practices. He has over 30 years of experience in print-oriented and new media visual communication design. His professional work has been exhibited and published in Canada, the United States, France, China, and England.
He has been an invited speaker, seminar/workshop leader at numerous national and international conferences on design, new media and typography. He has received over 30 awards for his professional work and for his teaching - the most recent being the Dean's Teaching Award from York University.
Andrew M. Tomcik, Retired Member RGD
York University
MFA Design, Yale University, USA
Professor Tomcik has worked as a designer in Canada and the US. His work has been published or exhibited in Canada, USA, Great Britain, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland and China. As well he has participated in numerous conferences on design education and design history. He also received the Ontario Federation of University Faculty Associations award for excellence in teaching.
ADJUNCT FACULTY
Arlene Gould, F.R.S.A.
York University
MBA London Business School, UK
Arlene Gould is Coordinator of the Design Management Certificate Program at Ryerson University. She has served as Senior Director of Programming for the Design Exchange. She is also the Strategic Director for Ontario's Design Industry Advisory Committee (DIAC). Arlene has worked in design/business strategy consulting for international, multidisciplinary design firms including Pentagram and the Conran Design Group in the United Kingdom, and The Watt Group in Canada. She is an executive board member of Sustainable Buildings Canada and a Fellow of the R.S.A.
Angela Iarocci
Professor, Sheridan College
MArch University of Toronto, Canada
Research & Practice
Angela Iarocci has a diverse design background that builds on her academic training in industrial design and architecture. Angela is a professional designer with experience in both the public and private sector, specializing in environmental graphic design, architecture and urban design. She has been involved in numerous large-scale projects developing signage and wayfinding programs, exhibits, web sites, monuments and interpretive installations.
As an instructor at Sheridan, her teaching and research interests stem from an inter-disciplinary approach that seeks to encompass both visual communications and the built environment with specific focus on design and mapping.
Douglas Whitton
Professor, Sheridan College
MPS New York University, USA
Professor Whitton is an interactive designer with extensive consulting experience in North America. He has designed web based intranet applications, web sites, information architecture, and interactive video installations. His research and teaching interests centre on innovative approaches to experience design and human centered design. Before coming to Sheridan, Professor Whitton taught design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.