about - Early November 2021

 

This is the personal site of rjslade, and most of the material collected here is publicly available on the net. I will explain over time what my various sources are on my ‘design thoughts’ page, which will be added to shortly. All opinions are mine, tempered by my reading and experiences.

 

Born in Ottawa, Canada, I stayed there till I was just shy of 17 years old when I left to attend the International College of the Atlantic - Atlantic College, in Wales UK - then the first of the United World Colleges. The experience was life changing - to say the least.

 

That was followed by an under graduate degree in the then new course of Industrial Design at Carleton University, Ottawa (starting in Architecture) and design experience in private and corporate design environments. After 18 months of 'working' I returned to university - this time the Royal College of Art in London for an MDesRCA and that was followed by seven years plus, as the sole product designer for the Canadian Post Office.

 

I started my own design company RJS ID Inc - also in Ottawa, and had that as the Art Director and President, until 2005, when I collapsed the company and moved to Umbria Italy - where I now live in semi-retirement.

 

I have designed, taught design, been on the boards of a number of educational institutions, and lectured as a designer and business owner - I am interested in individuals improving themselves and being able to access the services they need to do this. I am interested in how things work and how people think.

 

This site is an evolving thing - with a life of its own - this current 'look' is the fourth iteration moving away from a 'blogging platform' and back to html (I am currently using Adobe Muse, an unsupported application that thankfully still works on the latest Apple Operating System - Monterey)- it provides me with a personal space to express my interests and try out new ideas and techniques. Hope you enjoy it!