RDD Studio

Elena Seleznev expressed her gratitude for the invitation and felt honored to be a part of such an amazing and talented panel.

In her talk, she intended to introduce herself, discuss the problems she observes in the design world, and share her perspective on the future of design. Elena Seleznev is an Industrial Designer and the proud owner of Studio RDD, which stands for Research Development Design. Her award-winning firm focuses on designing high-quality smart gifts in collaboration with customers. Her daily routine includes meeting with clients, teaching students, mentoring, and participating in worldwide exhibitions.

As a member of an academic panel and a jury member in major competitions like the A Design Award and Muse Award, she encounters various problems during the creative part of design thinking. These problems include waiting for inspiration, lack of creative or innovative ideas, time and resource inefficiencies, lack of order in the design process, and repetitive concepts.

Elena believes that addressing these issues requires a systematic approach. She likens it to working with layers in Adobe programs, where each step in the process is clear, allowing for back-and-forth development of ideas. While it may sound romantic to rely on intuition, she argues that a systematic method is necessary for producing innovative work.

Looking to the future, Elena advocates for incorporating systematic thinking methods into design education to foster innovation and creativity. She believes that these methods, similar to those in math, should be integrated into the design world. Her observations and beliefs led her to invent her own Design Thinking Method called “The Math of Design – Thinking Inside the Box.