Designer
Keli DiRisio has been a practicing designer for over 30 years. She has worked at various agencies and studios and owned an award-winning graphic design studio and video production company. She has brought her love of typography and design into all of her work and into every class she teaches. Her clients always knew they were getting successful solutions to their design needs, and Keli brings this attention to detail to the classroom.
Director
Five years ago, Keli had the idea to start a Women in Design group at RIT. While the formation of that group was still in its infancy, word got around that designers were getting together. Before they knew what was happening, they had clients asking them to do design work. Keli quickly came up with the idea to form a student design studio, Command+g Design Lab. Over the course of five years, Keli has hired over 25 students and they have worked on over 50 design projects. Command+g does work both internally for RIT, and externally for clients. Some of their clients have included the Rit library, the College of Art and Design Dean’s office, Liv Golf, the RIT library, the RIT Archives, Book Conductors, the Mendon Group, Data Cicada, and Tympana. You can see their work around campus, around Rochester, Virginia, California, and internationally.
Presenter
Keli has spoken at numerous conferences and events about teaching, inclusivity, forming and running a design studio, and about a new e-journal. These events have consisted of both in-person and online. Invited to many conferences and to host two-day and one-day workshops, Keli shares her experience and knowledge with a wide variety of audiences.
Educator
Keli’s teaching has always been strong since she started at RIT. Consistently in the highest rankings, Keli’s teaching has been exemplary. She often receives high praise from her students and administrators. Keli is always looking for ways to improve, and often takes classes and workshops to improve her skillsets and knowledge base.
Researcher
Keli’s research has always been in the field of human interaction and accesibility. Her current research focuses on how we can utilize innovative technologies to encourage and stimulate action/reaction by engaging our users’ emotions. The concept of “Emotional Engineering,” using a desired approach to influence our design decisions, is critical in the ideation process and concept development. Being able to ascertain how we want our audience to react and feel is a fundamental part of the design process; the desired emotive result has a direct correlation in the design development and outcome.
