Dr. Mekin Elçioğlu
Assistant Professor
Interior Architecture & Industrial Design
2101 Seaton Hall
920 N Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Manhattan, KS 66506
T: (785) 532-5992
Asst. Professor Mekin Elçioğlu is an Industrial Product Designer; studied ID at ITU (Istanbul Technical University) and got his master’s and PhD at MSU (Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts - Istanbul) in Industrial Design. He also taught studio and other classes at MSU before moving to United States to pursue other dreams. He started working in NYC as a design consultant in a private company with a focus in furniture design. He then moved on to a Fine Jewelry Company where he became Head Designer for many years before joining K-STATE. His recent academic area of research and practice, including his doctorate dissertation, was on Product Semantics and Affordances. His master’s thesis was on Automotive Design.
He taught Product Semantics, Trend Management and Industrial Design Studios during his tenure as an academic. While teaching and to this day, he is consulting for full-scaled projects with a variety of companies and professional individuals for transportation design and styling works as well as 1:1 scale modeling.
His research interests mainly focus on Product Semantics with Affordances in Design; how forms relate with users and the Design Trends of the products as cultural and multicultural visual conveyors. His areas of study also are comprised of -but not limited to- Communications in Design, Design Morphology & Meanings in Design; Design History & Research; Conceptual & Analogical Design; Tactile Design & Haptics; Biomimicry and Biomimetics.
As an academic, He has been involved in different levels of organizational structures to build up new methodologies for scholars and designers to interact with communities and corporations as messengers to create a more responsive, integrated and agile learning environment. He has participated in international and national conferences for developing industrial design education and compatibility in design. He has collaborated with many international organizations like Docomomo International, First LEGO League and HABITAT. These collaborations provided him with opportunities to broaden his professional perspective by working with a wide range of assorted academics and professionals from different countries and backgrounds. He has worked with architects, urban planners, interior designers, graphic designers, sculptors and economists. During his tenure, he also worked as an editor in a national design-index publication called “Design + Theory”.
He is also a pilot, a musician and an avid rider who likes anything on two wheels.