Karin Carolina Hibma

Design thinking is a potent strategic ingredient in any worthwhile endeavor.

Karin Hibma has a first hand understanding of the power of design and visual thinking in our economy and culture and works to see the world through the eyes of the customer. In June of 2009, she and partner Michael Cronan were named two of Fast Company's list of 100 Most Creative People in Business.

A strategic partner in : : CRONAN : : since its founding in 1980, Hibma has concentrated on incorporating smart design processes and finding "the big idea" inherent in every client's projects.

She knows how to clarify problems and see opportunities.

Hibma focuses on naming and strategic brand identities, deep thinking for and with clients, managing client relationships, consulting with IDE and D-Rev, both international organizations concentrating on ending rural poverty, and serves on the advisory council of the International Design Conference in Aspen (IDCA).

Born in Minnesota into an Air Force family, Hibma traveled extensively, lived and worked in Germany and France before completing her BA in Fine Art at California State University Sacramento where she became a freelance design researcher for Communications Design studio. In 1974 she founded a creative research company, Design Resource, to work with artists, photographers and filmmakers on advertising, illustration, commercial and documentary projects.

Hibma was commissioned in 1978 by The Burdick Group to research and write Creativity::The Human Resource, a major traveling exhibition funded by Chevron, examining the creative process of contemporary Americans who had made major contributions in the arts and sciences, to document their creative insights and define their creative process. Hibma worked closely with and profiled artists John Cage, Judy Chicago, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Lawrence Halprin and scientists Margaret Mead, Linus Pauling, and Jonas Salk for interactive, enlightening and innovative exhibit presentations.

Hibma also founded and is the president of Cronan Artefact, a product development, manufacturing and marketing company. Incorporated in 1991 to market the Walking Man line of apparel designed by Michael Cronan and Hibma, they won International Design Magazine's 1992 Consumer Product Gold Award and 1993 Honorable Mention presented at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York.

Karin and Michael live in the Berkeley hills and have two sons. Nick Cronan is an award-wining industrial designer and Shawn HibmaCronan recently completed both sculpture and furniture majors at California College of the Arts and two sculpture commissions.

Photo: Joana Young