Advanced Design (AD) supports designers at every stage of their careers, from students to seasoned professionals. Through free initiatives, AD explores topics including making, media, culture, and mental health. Based in Chicago, AD also has a presence in San Francisco, New York City, and Tokyo.

AD is built on community, creativity, and celebration. We welcome anyone with a passion for design and strive to be inclusive and accessible. We champion human expression through forward-thinking content that blends the old with the new, and we celebrate design's impact on people's lives by spotlighting leading designers, showcasing their work, and amplifying diverse voices with an uplifting spirit.

Advanced Design was founded in 2016 by Hector Silva. As a young educator and designer, Hector saw a disconnect between how design was taught in school and what industry demanded. Unable to change traditional academia alone, he built a small team to fill the gap with practical, hands-on workshops and courses that brought students and professionals together.

Ten years later, AD is a mainstay of design education. It highlights excellence in industry, builds diversity in the field, connects designers through events and workshops, and is now pursuing its most ambitious project yet: creating its own design school. Today, AD has more than 10 instructors, advisors, and mentors across the US, and its community continues to grow globally.

Commitment to Diversity

AD is committed to building diversity in design, both within our own organization and by supporting those excluded from the field by systemic barriers. Representation remains a serious gap in American design: women make up only 28.6% of industrial designers in the U.S. despite being about 50.9% of the population, and federal data offers no reliable figure for Black designers at all (U.S. Census Bureau / Data USA, 2024-2025).

We spotlight underrepresented designers as role models for young students and back those typically left out of design conversations. At Offsite, our BIPOC scholarship fund fully covers tuition for students with financial need, helping keep our student body 65-72% BIPOC and 38-45% female or gender non-conforming. That commitment extends to our team, including a 100% minority-staffed Board of Directors. Design is more inclusive for users when the industry is more inclusive for designers.

Founder & Director
Hector Silva

Board of Directors
Bethany Chan
Betuel Benitez
Dominic Montante

Active Members
Andi Osana
Carlos Terminel
Chris Ference
Fiba Kelani
Hoang Nguyen
Jasmin Begur
Juliana Iacono
Julie Groh
Kate Cudney
Marcos Schneider

Ana Arriola-Kanada
Carter McGuyer
Corey Lee
Dominic Montante
Elodie Delassus
Hector Silva
Jack Marple
Kat Reiser

Kelly Custer
Marc Korbuly
Michael DiTullo
Rebecca Goesling
Reid Schlegel
Roshan Hakkim
Spencer Nugent
Tyler Anderson

Advanced Design is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit powered by charitable donations and support from the design community and industry. Your support helps us provide resources, workshops, and programming at little to no cost, while continuing to offer scholarships to BIPOC students pursuing their design education through Offsite. Thank you to our sponsors, past and present, for your continued support and investment in our growing community.

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