Adam Kallish

Adam Kallish is a design executive focusing on the intersection of applied imagination, services, and technology that address business and market transformations. Adam uses design systems and actively collaborates with management, product development, business, and engineering to create products and services, linking vision to requirements to results informed by human-centered design. Before teaching at ID, Adam held teaching positions at North Carolina State University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northern Illinois University. He also served on the Savannah College of Art and Design Foundation’s advisory board.

Industry Experience

Adam has held leadership positions in design, consulting, and corporate enterprises. He focused on integrating design methods from the 1970s with other frameworks such as design thinking, design management, and contemporary agile and lean frameworks to streamline design’s value in business. By asking key questions and closely collaborating with client stakeholders and their customers, he reframes a sense of shared purpose for more effective co-creation. His continual goal is to merge theoretical and pragmatic points of view into a more dynamic and fruitful relationship.

Adam currently consults through Trope Collaborative. Previously he was Chief Product Officer at Humancore.ai revamping a platform for employee and team engagement by using generative AI to deliver content based on personality types and emotional modalities. Prior to that, he served as Director of Immersive Services at PwC’s Workforce Transformation, integrating AR, VR, and XR for training and team collaboration. He has also served as Director of Immersive Services at PwC’s Workforce Transformation, integrating AR, VR, and XR for training and team collaboration; Principal at Daggerwing Group, focused on change and transformation initiatives by addressing human factor gaps in corporate culture; and Associate Partner at Infosys Strategic Design Consulting, collaborating with enterprises to re-envision all aspects of their business and business value. He was Design Principal with IBM Systems, Associate Partner at marchFIRST, Director of Innovation Development/Midwest Region at ZEFER Corporation, Delivery Director at Tanagram Partners, and Design Director at Andersen Worldwide.

Speaking and Publishing

Adam has presented on various topics on design, design education, technology, and teams,  including talks at the MURAL Educational Network on Design Thinking and Agile, the Design for America Summit at Northwestern University on Collaborative Teams, and The New School’s Parsons School of Design on systems design. He also moderated an exploreID + Action Design Network discussion on Behavioral Design. He has been published in Design Issues and the Design Management Journal.

Select Work

Kallish, Adam. 2019. Book review: Design and the Creation of Value. Design Issues (Summer).

Kallish, Adam. 2018. Book review: Make It New: A History of Silicon Valley Design. Design Issues (Spring).

Siegesmund, Richard, and Adam Kallish. 2010. “What Is an Inquiry-based Art+Design Foundation?” FutureForward 1, no. 2: 8–9.

Johnson, B.R. , J. Cohn, and Adam Kallish. 2009. “Improving Decision-making Through Intelligent Augmented Reality.” Paper presented at the 62nd Department of Defense Human Factors Engineering Technical Advisory Group, Key West, Florida.

Kallish, Adam. 2007. “Feeding the Lion: One Internal Design Group’s Odyssey.” Design Issues 23, no. 3 (Summer): 16–29.