In our next lecture from the Vignelli Center for Design Studies’ 2024/2025 Design Conversation Series at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), we’re thrilled to share the story of industrial designer, educator, and founder Hector Silva. With over nine years of teaching experience at top programs including the University of Illinois at Chicago, RIT, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Silva has built a career rooted in design, community, and purpose. He’s the founder of AdvancedDesign, a nonprofit reshaping access to design education, and Offsite, an online design school bridging the gap between academia and industry. In this deeply personal lecture, Silva shares his path – from an unpolished design student to an award-winning educator – while challenging the rules of traditional design education and urging students to stay grounded in values, ethics, and real-world impact.
In this lecture, Silva offers a candid look at his early years as a design student navigating uncertainty, self-doubt, and a string of professional faux pas – including one ill-advised email sent to two hiring managers at once. Through these formative missteps, Silva shares how his resilience, self-awareness, and relentless work ethic helped shape his path. As he puts it, “letting the process quiet the uncertainty” carried him through moments of doubt and failure, helping him build confidence, sharpen his skills, and ultimately find his purpose as both a designer and educator.
To learn more about Hector Silva, check out the lecture below:
Hector Silva
AdvancedDesign
To learn more about The Vignelli Center for Design Studies at RIT, they have launched digital access to the archives through Google Arts & Culture, joining over 2000 cultural institutions from around the world. The initial launch includes nearly 900 high resolution images of artifacts from the archives so that now anyone with access to the Internet and Google Arts & Culture can search the Vignelli archives or browse it by color or chronological order.
This lecture is presented with the support of RIT’s MAGIC Center.
This lecture series is made possible in part by the generosity of RIT Alumnus, Chris Bailey, and Bailey Brand Consulting.