Pam Daniels is a dynamic dreamer-doer with experience designing everything from products to systems to digital experiences. She loves inviting others into the process and is a celebrated educator committed to expanding participation in the design field. Pam has experience in global leadership roles at IDEO, Starcom, and Leo Burnett. She has also led two start-ups.

Pam leads an award-winning design practice called Welcome Industries, focused on intuitive and inclusive everyday products. Her work has been featured on the CBS television series America by Design, gone viral on X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, been covered by The New York Times, POPSUGAR, Core77, and Phaidon, and her products are carried by The MoMA Design Store. She holds design patents in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia.

Pam is a Clinical Associate Professor at Northwestern University's Segal Design Institute, where she teaches in both Evanston and San Francisco.  She's had opportunities to shape the culture and curriculum in major ways. In her eight years at Northwestern, Pam has created ten new classes—Designing your Life (with Bruce Ankenman and support from Dave Evans and Bill Burnett at Stanford), Design Thinking & Doing (with Brandon Williams), User Experience Design (with Jason George), Human-Centered Entrepreneurship (with Elizabeth Lukehart), Art, Making & Anti-Racism (with Freesoul El Shabbaz-Thompson and Alex Birdwell), Visionary Design (with Michael Rakowitz), and three Bay Area Design Practicums on various topics, along with the newest offering, Chicago Design Immersion (co-taught with Hemmant Jha).

Pam's design work has received accolades on the CBS series America by Design and earned Global Innovation Awards from the International Home & Housewares Show.  It's been featured in the New York Times, and gone viral on Twitter. Her products are carried by the MoMA Design Store and also sold at welcomeindustries.com. 

Pam has been recognized for teaching excellence and was named a Distinguished Clinical Professor at Northwestern University in 2021. In her second year of teaching, she was selected by the 2017 senior class to be the one professor from amongst all faculty at Northwestern University to give a “last lecture” before graduation— an honor she is still grateful for and humbled by.

Pam has had opportunities to live and travel around the world and now splits her time between Chicago and San Francisco.  When she’s not in the shop making something or in the Corner Makery fixing the 3D printers, you might find her surfing the waves on Waikiki Beach, reveling in the fabulousness of Milan’s Design Week, or in her studio dreaming up the next big thing.

Pam’s artwork was featured in the Super Surface Art Show at Kimball Arts Center in Chicago. Her work as an artist features social commentary and material experimentation. Pam intends to continue making big art in broadly accessible settings such as airports and public spaces.

Pam earned a Master of Science in Product Design & Development Management from Northwestern University and is a magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University with a Bachelor of Arts in French.