"In a designed world, designers matter." - Lindsay Tan

Lindsay Tan is a best-selling author and award-winning design strategist whose expertise has been featured in places like Forbes, Reuters, Faculty Focus, Homes & Gardens, CBC, and NBC. Her strategies, systems, and toolkits are used by high-performing teams around the world. Tens of thousands more have benefited from her books, workshops, programs, and seminars.

Armed with a unique skillset, Tan has been able to bridge gaps and jump fences throughout her career, applying her design insight to interiors, exteriors, exhibits, visual merchandising, stage, TV and film, products, digital and print media, UX, virtual and augmented reality, apps, and games.

She is widely recognized as an academic entrepreneur and thought leader who breaks the mold at scale – named Commercial Interior Design’s Favourite Face of Design, Top Hat’s Most Innovative Educator, and among her field’s Most Admired Educators by DesignIntelligence.

Lindsay Tan (2024)

Her ability to simplify complex ideas into engaging sound bites without compression loss made her an adept collaborator and in-demand expert source for journalists for over 20 years. You can find her expertise featured in places like CBC, NBC, Forbes, Reuters, Homes & Gardens, and Faculty Focus.

She has written numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals, trade publications, and popular press. She was a founding member of the Tallahassee School of Design and pioneered the fields of design ecology and environmental symbology.

Tan is author of the #1 best-seller Project Management Playbook and the award-winning Brilliance Hacks for Work-Life Balance as well as two interactive digital textbooks. She has been a named and unnamed contributor, expert reviewer, editor, and ghostwriter on a variety of writing projects over the course of her career.

She worked in higher education for over two decades, spanning three top-ranked programs. During her time in the classroom, she developed almost 100 unique courses and maintained a five-star average across 19,000 student reviews.

Her contributions to teaching and research earned her rank and tenure as the W. Allen and Martha Reimer Reed Professor at Auburn University, an R1 land-, sea-, and space-grant institution with Carnegie Community Engagement classification, where her leadership roles included Program Coordinator for the nationally-ranked interior design program and Director over two research labs.

Lindsay Tan holds dual terminal degrees – a PhD in Forestry and an MFA in Interior Design. She is an EDAC-certified Evidence-Based Designer and an NCIDQ-qualified Interior Designer.

where is she now?

Family Roots Nursery and Garden Center

Founded in 2024 by Jake, Jake, and Lindsay, we are Opelika’s local, loyal hometown hub for plants and landscaping materials.

Education & training

PhD Forestry

Prescribed burn Manager

SLP CERTIFIED

MFA Interior Design

EDAC certified

LEED-GCP Green Classroom Professional

BS Interior Design

NCIDQ certified

Philosophy Minor

Honors

Most Innovative Educator

W. Allen and Martha Reimer Reed Professor

Community Engaged Faculty

NCIDQ Ambassador

SGA Outstanding Faculty Member

Mary Jo Weale Award for Excellence

Best Space Planning - Hospitality Design

Favourite face of design

Auburn Author Awards

Outstanding Incorporation of Diversity & Inclusion

Academy of Reviewers

Most Visually Engaging Poster

Mary Jo Weale Award for Excellence

Best Elevator Interior - Hospitality Design

Most Admired Educator

Advisory Board

At-Large Board

Star Award - Innovative Marketing Campaign

Merit Award

CAD Lab Goddess