Daniel Chichester

An alumnus of IIT’s Institute of Design (ID), Dan Chichester returned to ID as an Adjunct Faculty member in 2017. In addition to teaching classes in Observing Users, Design Planning, and Research Photography at ID, Dan is also a lead instructor for Illinois Tech’s Interprofessional Projects Program (IPRO), which he joined in 2016 and where he helps undergraduates build a bridge from their academic experiences to their future careers. Dan has co-instructed Design Innovation classes at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and acted as Design Mentor at NU Health Hacks. He received a bachelor of science degree in photography from Grand Valley State University and a master’s of design with an emphasis in photography from ID.

Industry Experience

Dan leads qualitative research for major innovation projects (B2B and B2C) to generate and develop innovative concepts across product and service offerings, and new business strategies. He specializes in working with tight-knit teams of design innovators and business strategists, incorporating empathetic stories of user experiences leading to new business and growth opportunities. His work has focused on many industries, including consumer products, financial services, food and beverage, healthcare, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, retail, telecommunications, and travel.

From 1991 to 2016, Dan led the user-research discipline for account teams at Doblin Group, the innovation strategy practice of Deloitte. During this period, he helped clients develop actionable, proprietary, and deep customer insights to inform innovation strategy. Dan was responsible for organizing the field research strategies and helping clients and colleagues understand how to get the most out of the latest qualitative research methods and qualitative theory.