Professor Clive Richards begins CSD Presidency
Professor Clive Richards has begun his presidency of the Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) . He follows a long line of distinguished members of the Society who have held this office.
Frank Peters, the Chief Executive of the CSD said: “The CSD Council was delighted that Clive accepted the nomination. He was elected unopposed, not only because of his standing as a designer, but because of this prominence amongst the universities.
The Society is committed to developing even closer associations with the design schools and we believe Professor Richards will be able to play a key role in forging stronger links with higher education”.
Professor Richards is a doctoral graduate of the Royal College of Art and has had a long association with the Coventry School of Art and Design where he is Associate Dean. In commercial practice he has worked on technical documentation for the aviation industry, corporate branding for businesses and public institutions, as well as the design of artists’ catalogues and books.
While researching into the application of computer graphics to designing in the late sixties and early seventies he made the first computer animation produced in any art and design school – this was recently celebrated in 2006, alongside the work of other pioneers in the field, at a festival of computer animation held at the National Film Theatre called “Bits in Motion”.
It was this early research that led Professor Richards to be responsible for the introduction of computing into the undergraduate design curriculum and the development of postgraduate studies in this area.
His theoretical work on diagrammatics has also been influential in the study of information design.
He has been a member or chair of various national art and design education boards and committees.
Professor Richards is a member of the Research Assessment Exercise panel for Art and Design which will be responsible for assessing the design research of all universities and colleges in 2008.
Professor Richards said: “I’m excited by the opportunities offered by the Presidency and am particularly interested in taking forward both the international as well as the educational agenda of the Chartered Society of Designers”.
