
Our People
Sam Rowe
Senior Lecturer & Joint Course Leader for BA (Hons) Illustration and MA Subject Tutor
<p dir="ltr">Sam Rowe is a Senior Lecturer and Joint Course Leader on<a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-illustration"> BA (Hons) Illustration</a> where he leads and team-teaches modules on narrative illustration, professional practice, and independent and contextual research. He also contributes to the <a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/postgraduate">postgraduate programme</a> as an MA Subject Tutor.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Outside Arts University Plymouth Sam is an illustrator, artist, and designer - creating playful work for big and small organisations around the world including publications, advertising, site-specific spaces, books, products, and branding. He also directs and collaborates on bigger projects and events across the spectrum of arts and culture. Sam has worked with clients including Airbnb, The New York Times, Financial Times, Atlassian, NPR, and Faire.<br /></p>
<p dir="ltr">Tools for creative thinking and accessible education; empowerment for people outside the creative industries to embrace human-made work and accidental discovery.<br /></p>
<p><strong>2019 - 2024 Shaping Thinking </strong></p>
<p>Shaping Thinking explores the potential of democratising creative problem-solving tools traditionally siloed within creative education. At its core, the objective of this project is to empower individuals and organisations to generate ideas and visually communicate them effectively.</p>
<p>This project was supported by Arts University Plymouth and UKRI Knowledge Exchange funding, with the aim to develop frameworks and materials supporting self-facilitated workshops, providing accessible and adaptable visualisation tools for all.</p>
<p><strong>2025 Conference Contribution</strong></p>
<p>This presentation discusses the broad and varied impact of Shaping Thinking: a research project which began development in 2019. Over time the potential of this project has evolved beyond academia, collaborating with other researchers, graduates and organisations to build towards something which could benefit any organisation aiming to solve a creative problem. This conference presentation acts as an externally-facing consolidation of the project, delivered at Creative Skills Week 2025 in Prague.</p>
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