John Maeda:
Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. He is an American technologist and designer whose work explores where business, design, and technology merge to make space for the “humanist technologist.”
Previously, Maeda served as is Chief Technology Officer of Everbridge from October 2020 through October 2022. President of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) from June 2008 until December 2013. Before that he was a research professor at the MIT Media Lab leading advancements in computational design, low-code/no-code, and creative commerce.
John Maeda was born in 1966 in Seattle, Washington, where his father owned a tofu factory. Maeda studied Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he became fascinated with the work of Paul Rand and Muriel Cooper. Cooper was a director of MIT’s Visible Language Workshop. After completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at MIT, Maeda completed his PhD in design at Tsukuba University’s Institute of Art and Design in Japan. He also has an MBA from Arizona State University.
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.
