Happiness and Joy for the Material Girl and Boy

Dr. Gray explains how design influences everything from our emotions to our everyday decisions.

Nancy received her PhD in Design, Environment, and the Arts from the Herberger Institute, Arizona State University. Nancy received her Master of Science in Design Degree (Industrial Design) from Arizona State University and Bachelor of Arts Degree from Valparaiso University. Nancy’s professional background in marketing communications, branding, and design complement her teaching and research initiatives. Her client base includes firms in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and information technology fields as well as many consumer product and service brands. For Nancy, design and marketing is a strategic profession – blending business knowledge, technology, aesthetics, and creativity into product and service experiences that benefit people, society, the planet, as well as the brand and their stakeholders.

Nancy’s research includes mixed-method investigations of the phenomenon of people who are disequilibrating the command economy through their creative and co-creative actions. Her findings indicate that, beyond utilitarian goals, people are motivated by the sense of meaning and happiness their creative activities provide them. Nancy encourages designers and organizations to apply this understanding in building equitable relationships with creating-customers. This effort is warranted considering the potential for creating-customers to contribute to new product innovation, firm profitability, and to simply making the world a better and more interesting place.