Yadira Ornelas

Director, IC Mexico

As Director of Idea Couture Mexico, Yadira oversees all aspects of the firm’s practice. This includes shaping project processes and leading the office’s multidisciplinary teams.

Yadira has applied her expertise in innovation across a variety of industries, including the education, healthcare, food, and consumer goods industries. She has done work for many clients, such as UNESCO, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Anheuser-Busch, LG, and the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition, among others. Her Cultural Artifacts research method was included in Vijay Kumar’s book 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization.
Prior to joining Idea Couture in 2016 as Strategic Innovation Director, Yadira served as Dean of the Centro de Estudios Superiores de Diseño de Monterrey (CEDIM), Mexico’s premier design and innovation school. Previously, she worked as an innovation consultant and design academic for 15 years, both in Mexico and the United States. She also serves on the National Accreditation Board for Design Programs in Mexico.

An international speaker in topics about innovation, design, and design education, Yadira has a background in information design and is completing her doctoral studies in innovation at IIT’s Institute of Design in Chicago.