Dan Rowe
Partner, Canadian Practice Leader
Monitor Deloitte

In my experience working with Janice during her time as a senior designer at Doblin, I was exposed to her deep technical competence in the design space. Clients regularly looked to her as an expert in this area; she was consistently able to advise them on problem framing so that the work could be focused and impactful. Clients valued her perspective because she typically brought fresh thinking to whatever topic we were looking at. On project delivery, I valued her ability to reliably create deeper and better customer insights.

Within the Doblin team, it was obvious that Janice taught other team members how to elevate their design research capabilities; however, I have also always appreciated Janice’s ability to work alongside other members of the Deloitte team who were not designers. She brought a rich design perspective to the dialog and helped our organization deliver better outcomes for clients by integrating a mix of design and non-design skills into our work.

Janice brings a wonderful creative discipline to hard business problems. I enjoyed working with her.

Ebony Bertorelli
Manager
Doblin

Working with Janice gives you an appreciation for how dedication and focus can lead to the effective communication and incorporation of design into the creation of new products and services.

Janice leads clients towards a deeper understanding of a problem frame and a tangible process of how to move towards making things people want. These are not small feats in the Canadian market — and in innovation and human-centred design work in general. Janice’s singular attention to her craft, her uncanny ability to articulate, and her unwavering efforts to take everyone along for the journey are what have led her to have such great success at Doblin and with clients.

Kevan D’Agostino
Design Lead
Doblin

Janice is in a league of her own. Her natural ability to tackle business and design problems, balancing logic and experimentation is truly inspiring. Janice’s confidence also resonates with every person she works with, and her humble demeanour gives her an ability to teach those around her; even without knowing, every day, teams learn a new lesson in methodology or process from her vast knowledge and experience and pedagogic approach.

I have not worked with another designer more well-rounded in the discipline of design, and it would be hard to come up with anyone I would recommend more highly. Janice would be an incredible asset to any organization.

Jorge Angarita
Former classmate
IIT Institute of Design

Excerpted from a request for feedback:

What I appreciate most about working with you is your energy and level of enthusiasm. You care, a lot, and want to do a great job. Most importantly though, you are willing to put in the effort and energy to make sure projects end in the best possible place. You are fierce, decisive, and willing to get into unknown territory. I also think you have a great ability to connect with people — a great quality to have! Also I really appreciate how we can be totally honest in giving comments, receiving crit. etc. without worrying about hurting feelings. It makes work so much better.

Ariana Shadlyn
Manager
Doblin

Working on teams with Janice is when I feel most invigorated as a designer. Regardless of industry, Janice approaches any and all challenges with confidence and heart — building empathy for users but also with her clients and her teammates. She leads by example — motivating her teams to dig deeper into their research, ponder a little longer in analysis, and communicate thoughts with precision and clarity. Janice is efficient with her time and applies significant rigour to her practice. This much is obvious when you see the richness of outputs and outcomes produced by her and her teams, project after project.

Janice’s true talent lies in her ability to translate complexity into simple, impactful, manageable pieces of information — while still keeping nuances from the research. She is the most disciplined designer I know and have had the pleasure of working with.

Chris Forrest
Senior Manager, Innovation Strategy
Monitor Deloitte

Janice is a torch bearer for the discipline and possibility of design. To keep the metaphor going, she protected and nourished her trade craft at Doblin, fanning the flame and earning true respect as a master of research and design. She also made sure to spread the light, imparting knowledge and tools on her business and technology peers and clients.

If only there were more Janice’s… we would have organizations truly committed to their customers and users, designing products and experiences that truly matter.

Hyuniee Jung
Innovation Program Leader
Doblin

Janice is an awesome design researcher and design strategist and she brings such great energy and passion to the team as well! I know that no matter how complex or ambiguous the nature of the work is, that she will quickly jump in, wrap her head around the problem and drive and lead the work in a successful way. I worked closely with Janice in this capacity from concept development to prototyping.

Molly Wright Steenson
K&L Gates Associate Professor in Ethics and Computational Technologies
Carnegie Mellon University

I’ve been Janice’s mentor since 2012. She is thorough, principled, curious, and ethical. She’s unparalleled in her strong and serious approach to everything she does. It’s a joy to have a mentee like her, and I learn a great deal through all the ways we connect and engage.

Angela Iarocci
Coordinator and Professor, YSDN
Sheridan College

I have had the pleasure of knowing Janice since she was a student in the York University/Sheridan College Program in Design (YSDN). Janice co-taught the YSDN Design Management course at Sheridan College for two years and demonstrated great dedication to teaching and to developing engaging curriculum. The course was updated to include current and diverse perspectives on design and business and she connected students to many interesting guest speakers. She is committed to creating dynamic learning experiences and her knowledge and expertise is an asset within any academic environment.