Dawn Danby investigates technologies for regenerating the health and integrity of Earth’s living systems.
She is co-founder of Spherical, an integrative research and design strategy studio based in Oakland, California.
Dawn’s work as a designer and strategist traverses scales, from green chemistry to urban design. For a decade, leading Autodesk’s sustainable design initiatives, she focused on the development and use of advanced technology for managing the ecological and human impact of design decisions.
Dawn began her career as an industrial designer, and her projects since have spanned furniture design, digital experience [ux] design, illustration, and urban infrastructure. She has led design research on materials data for manufacturing, chemistry for additive manufacturing, engineering and design education, open source design/fabrication, and design/making for social ‘impact’.
Dawn co-authored the bestselling Worldchanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century. She has led graduate courses in sustainability and design strategy, has lectured around the world, and was recognized by Fast Company as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. She has been an urban-futurist-in-residence at Concordia University in Montréal, and a Fellow of the Mozilla-supported XRStudio. Dawn has an MBA in Sustainable Business from Bainbridge Graduate Institute (now Presidio) and an Industrial Design degree from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Talks + keynotes have included: TED Global, Gray Area Festival, Bioneers, COP15, VERGE, MakerCon, MLOVE, Re:publica, Doors of Perception, the Industrial Designers Society of America, Regenerative Economy, Global Economic Visioning, Women’s Forum for Economy & Society, and numerous talks for companies and nonprofits.
Academic lectures have included: talks at Stanford, UC Berkeley, Olin College of Engineering, Purdue, McGill, RISD, several Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT India), American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the Global Engineering Deans Council.
Get in touch: dawndanby.com
