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.
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