Having studied philosophy and history of art at Cambridge University, Gillian Crampton Smith spent the 1970s as a designer - first in book publishing, then on the Sunday Times and Times Literary Supplement.
In 1981, she designed and implemented a page layout program to help her with magazine design - an early desktop publishing application. This experience convinced her that artists and designers have an important role to play in creating information technologies.
She joined St Martin's School of Art in 1983 where she set up a new postgraduate course in graphic design and computers for practising designers. In 1989 she moved to the Royal College of Art (the UK's only purely graduate school of art and design).
At the RCA, she established the Computer Related Design Department, where artists and designers apply their traditional skills to interactive products and systems. Under her guidance, the CRD Research Studio achieved an international reputation as a leading centre for interaction design, supported by a wide range of industrial and government sponsors. She has collaborated in the development of teaching and research programmes with organisations in various countries, and for seven years spent her summers in Silicon Valley working for Interval Research and Apple Computer.
In 2000 she was involved with a group of people setting up Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Northern Italy, a centre for graduate education and reserach entirely dedicated to inteaction design, sponsored by Olivetti and Telecom Italia. She became its first director in 2001. The Institute gained a worldwide reputation, drawing students, professors and visiting lecturers from all over the world.
In 2006 she moved to IUAV University of Venice where, with Philip Tabor, she set up a new programme in Interaction Design in the Faculty of Design and Arts.
Bagnara, Sebastiano and Smith, Gillian Crampton (2006): Theories and Practice in Interaction Design (Human Factors and Ergonomics Series). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Smith, Gillian Crampton (2004): Keynote. In: Proceedings of DIS04: Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, & Techniques 2004. p. 3.
Smith, Gillian Crampton (2002): Who will design the cathedrals of information technology?. In: Proceedings of DIS02: Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, & Techniques 2002. pp. 24-25.
Smith, Gillian Crampton (2000): Commentary. In Interactions, 7 (2) pp. 48-49.
Smith, Gillian Crampton (2000): Design brief: Royal College of Art. In Interactions, 7 (2) pp. 54-58.
Smith, Gillian Crampton (1997): Computer-Related Design at the Royal College of Art: 1997 Graduation Projects. In Interactions, 4 (6) pp. 27-33.
Smith, Gillian Crampton (1991): Artist-Designers and Interaction Design. In ACM SIGCHI Bulletin, 23 (4) pp. 36-37.
Pub. period:1991-2006
Pub. count:7
Number of co-authors:1
Number of publications with 3 favourite co-authors:
Sebastiano Bagnara:1Gillian Crampton Smith's 3 most productive colleagues in number of publications:
Sebastiano Bagnara:16 Like all forms of design, visual design is about problem solving, not about personal preference or unsupported opinion
-- Bob Baxley, 2003
Philosophy of Interaction: How to use philosophical theories concretely when designing interactive products. Includes 4 HD videos filmed in Denmark
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