A career snapshot
I am Dr Jan Jervis, PhD, a Design Advocate, Educator, Published Researcher and Idea Coach.
- I started with a fashion degree and worked in the industry for many years.
- My fashion skills led to graphic design and textiles, and then I embraced the computer!
- My design and digital experience eventually led to an academic career at a university that lasted over twenty years. During this time, I taught design and digital media to students from different disciplines.
- I completed my PhD in design communication in 2021, which was obviously late in my career.Â
- This website and its resources are a “capstone” project—a synthesis of my knowledge and skills that I hope, by sharing, will help other people, especially non-designers.
My focus on non-designers and the resources I create are inspired by my PhD research. Click Meet AAVA below to find out more.
Pieces of me
Nice to e-meet you!
Who am I?
I love design. I sincerely believe that we are born to design. We may not want to design or like design, but it is part of what makes us human.
I am always surprised when people dismiss design as frivolous, arty, or not a “serious” topic. But I shouldn’t be (surprised); it happens all the time.
My life changed forever once I had access to a computer and design software, and I merged my existing design skills with digital understanding.
Nothing life-changing ever happens without other people. The people who come into your life and completely change your direction are such a gift. I want to say thank you to them from the bottom of my heart.
I went on to have more than 20 years as an academic at university, starting as a tutor, becoming a lecturer, winning three teaching awards, completing a Master of Multimedia, and finally, a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), in which I examined communication breakdowns between design and business.
Writing all this “About” information down was an interesting exercise in self-reflection! I am glad I got to do it.
My why
Many years ago, I realised I am a “forever” learner. I love learning about people and learning new design and digital skills. Great. So what?
When I started to reflect on my career, three significant insights emerged.
1. Design attitudes. When I started out in design (fashion), it was not a respected career, not like a doctor or lawyer. All these years later, and nothing appears to have changed—that’s a long time.
If someone said to you, “I am a designer, I am an architect, or I am an engineer,” would you think of the designer in the same way as the architect or engineer?
The second thing I noticed was,
2. Transferable skills. My design and digital skills have always been an incredible asset, regardless of my job and not necessarily in design. They are highly “transferable.” Â
They have allowed me to communicate across many discipline boundaries, fix problems caused by misunderstandings, know enough to ask tech-related questions, and, even more crucially, understand the answers (usually).
3. Shared understanding of design. Design is an important communication skill, especially in our increasingly visual world. Cross-disciplinary collaborations are now commonplace at work. I have witnessed first-hand breakdowns in communication because of design (think time delays and cost overruns) and this triggered the research for my PhD. It does not have to be this way.Â
My what now
Ultimately, I envision a world where people appreciate design as a fundamental human skill. We would all feel more empowered with a basic understanding of design and digital concepts. This literacy would enable design, business, and education to respect one another’s perspectives and foster conscious communication.
My Handbook for Non-Designers and weekly newsletter offer my insights with design talk that makes sense to non-designers—there is no technical jargon or need to become a designer. Please check them out.Â