Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness

Associate Professor, Industrial Design

Background

Verena has worked both in Germany and the U.S. as an industrial designer with a focus on aviation and transportation design. She graduated from the University of Applied Sciences in Potsdam Germany with a degree in industrial and environmental design and earned her M.F.A. in industrial design at The Ohio State University. Verena was previously appointed Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director at Drexel University and for many years taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design were she founded and originally lead the M.A. and Undergraduate Minor in Design for Sustainability and later coordinated the eLearning Program in Design Management. Throughout the years she has taught several industry-sponsored courses and community based design projects.

Research & Teaching

Verena's research focus is on the diffusion of design thinking and doing practices in design and non-design oriented disciplines, with a focus on exploring visualization as a gateway to creative confidence and design-ability. She is teaching studio, professional practices and portfolio development, as well as visualization communication classes.

Education

The Ohio State University, M.F.A. in Industrial Design
Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, Germany, Diploma Industrial and Environmental Design

On the Web

https://www.linkedin.com/in/verenapaepcke

Research Interests

Sketchnoting as a Catalyst to Design

Investigating the efficacy of sketchnoting, how it might foster sketch and creative confidence and subject matter expertise by way of visual thinking.

Explorations of sketchnoting as a gateway to the ways designers think and work to foster creative and innovative thinking in educational and professional settings in design and other disciplines.