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About Us
| Design Paradigm is a presenter of open-enrollment and customized executive education seminars that teach design literacy.
We believe that design is important because well conceived and well executed it has the power to make the world a better place. We also believe that in business design is an important factor, sometimes the defining factor, in establishing corporate identities, developing brands, and differentiating products from competition. Except for those who attend design school, it is unusual in the U.S. for people to have the opportunity to study design. This is a curricular area that graduate schools of business completely overlook. Recognizing this void in the education of American business managers, Design Paradigm was founded to provide a way for executives to become conversant in the language of design. In an era in which design increasingly is emerging as an important component of business strategy, we feel this is an important mission. Our philosophy of teaching design literacy embraces theory and the classroom—and also practice and the studio. For the former we have relationships with distinguished design scholars to lead our classes. For the latter, we have relationships with top New York City design firms who take seriously the notion of giving back to students interested in design; they graciously provide site visits and also project critique experiences. Steven W. Kroeter is the founder of Design Paradigm. He is also the author of DESIGNnewyork, a reference guidebook to architecture, fashion, graphic design, interior design, and product design in New York City. In the early 1980's Kroeter established Archetype Associates, a business development, brand management, and design advocacy consulting firm that has served as advisor to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Collection at the University of Glasgow, and the architects Robert A.M. Stern, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, and William McDonough. Kroeter was one of the early proponents of architects expanding their design practices to include product design. Working as a consultant to DesignTex in the early 1990's, Kroeter initiated and served as project manager of the "Portfolio" textile collections by Richard Meier, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, and Aldo Rossi. Working in collaboration with Mike Wallace, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and the Guggenheim Museum, in 1994 Kroeter was the executive producer of Frank Lloyd Wright: The Mike Wallace Interviews (available in DVD and video formats by calling 800-319-8174). From 2000 to 2003 he was the chair of the Department of Design and Management at Parsons School of Design in New York City. In May of 2006 Archetype Associates is launching a new one-day event, the New York Design Forum, in collaboration with five of the world's preeminent design publications: Architectural Record, Vogue, Print, Interior Design, and I.D. The event, which will be held annually, is being developed for professionals in architecture, fashion, graphic design, interior design, and product design and also for middle- and senior-level management of design-driven businesses. The Conference will be held in the Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. Click here to download a pdf of the essay "Observations and the Aims of Design" by Steve Kroeter. Click here for a link to an abstract of the essay "Toward Design Literacy in American Management: A Strategy for MBA Programs" by Steve Kroeter and Kathleen Formosa from the Summer 2002 issue of the Design Management Institute Review. |