SCAD Partners with Lextant to Change the Face of Design Education

SAVANNAH, Ga., March 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is proud to partner with Lextant, the world's leading human experience firm, on a new certification program that will prepare SCAD students to be tomorrow's design industry leaders.

"We're honored that Lextant is sharing their knowledge with us to make design a better profession," says Victor Ermoli, Dean, SCAD School of Design. "When you apply wisdom and experience that has been not only accumulated but refined by practicing processes over many years, it makes your company stronger, your employees stronger, and the next generation of designers stronger. With Lextant's guidance, we're addressing a huge gap that has been present in design education and in the design community."

Lextant is known for its rigorous approach combining the best practices of design and behavioral sciences to strategically model, design, deliver, and measure consumer experiences. With over 500 major clients, Lextant has fueled award-winning brand innovation and data-driven design across automotive, health care, consumer goods, retail and financial services industries. The ability to apply generative research to drive business growth and market success has made Lextant an unparalleled global leader, and the ideal partner for SCAD.

In the Lextant Certificate program, SCAD students will learn principles and techniques to conduct future-focused research that is actionable across all functions of an organization. The certification will apply the undergraduate and graduate level industrial design classes in on-ground, virtual, and eLearning iterations.

SCAD professor Kwela Hermanns, associate chair, design for sustainability and industrial design, has worked closely with Lextant to understand their trademarked principles of Insight Translation and Sensory Cue Research. "This relationship between SCAD and Lextant provides opportunities for our students to learn best design practices applied to business goals," says Hermanns. "We both want better design research to create a better world."

The origin of this newly developed curriculum extends back to when Marty Gage, Lextant VP, Design Research, began guest lecturing at SCAD in 2002. "The idea to develop this partnership came about because Dean Ermoli understands the importance of generative design research," says Gage. "We believe that Lextant's unique approach to research and design will provide SCAD students with great experience they will apply going into the workforce to become future design leaders."

SCAD: The University for Creative Careers
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university offering more than 100 academic degree programs in more than 40 majors across its locations in the U.S., Europe, and online via SCAD eLearning - scad.edu  

Lextant: The Human Experience Firm
For over 20 years, Lextant has fueled award-winning brand innovation and data-driven design for over 500 brands and has developed new approaches and methods including patents awarded in 2019 for its Experience Metrics process - lextant.com

Media Contacts
JJ Maxwell
Executive Director, PR and Marketing at SCAD
[email protected] 

Mickey Kamfjord
Director, LMH Consulting for Lextant
[email protected]

SOURCE Lextant