Hector Silva

Hector Silva began his career as an educator at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching introductory courses in design and design sketching. During his time at UIC, he held weekly Sketchwars, providing students with the opportunity to work with and learn from established Chicago designers. With the support of his fellow educator, Stephen Melamed, Hector lead the inaugural Mary & Vincent Paglione Design Challenge. This challenge is a partnership between UIC's College of Architecture, Design and the Arts and the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Azcapotzalco in Mexico City. Teams from both schools designed a solution to address human migration during natural disasters. The winning teams were each awarded a cultural trip to Mexico City and Chicago, respectively. Hector will be continuing his career in design education as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame this fall.



Hector is an Industrial Design consultant under H Design, working with companies such as: Crate/Barrel; DesignLab; Nickelodeon; LeapFrog; Foster Grant; Insight Product Development; Lund & Company Invention and various entrepreneurs. Other design experience includes interning at TOMY, an international toy company based in the Chicagoland area.



Hector is a recipient of the Core 77 Design Awards 2016 Student Notable Consumer Product Award for his work with wearables in the medical field. His winning product was completed for his graduate thesis in May 2015. Hector was recently named one of "10 Analogue Sketch Pros You Need To Know" through Core 77's Coroflot blog, a subjective nomination, but one that validates his work in the field of design sketching.



As the Chair of the IDSA Chicago Chapter, Hector establishes collaborations with studios such as Garmin, MNML, LUNAR, TEAMS Design and others, to host events that benefit both students and professionals. During Hector's tenure as Chair, IDSA Chicago has doubled in membership and has expanded beyond the Chicago region to bring these events to student chapters at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIC and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. He plans to expand even further into the midwest region to reach students at the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University and the Cleveland Institute of Art.



During the summer of 2016, Hector founded the student-led Advanced Design Sketching (ADS) organization to encourage students be productive during the summer months. ADS provides motivation to students by giving them access to the best designers around the world. Hector began reaching out to talented students and professional designers from around the world to offer their insights on design sketching. These testimonials have allowed Hector to create a one of a kind video library for students and professionals to reference in their quest to perfect their own sketching techniques.



With the momentum of the summer workshop, the Advanced Design Sketching organization began organizing the first ever conference focusing on design sketching. Taking place at UIC this upcoming October, the conference will feature big names in design from all over the country.