Tomás Maldonado (1922-2018) was a painter, industrial designer, teacher and design theoretician who has been highly influential in design thinking and practice since the 1960s. Maldonado advocated for a systematic and scientific approach towards the design process. He is best remembered as one of the radical educators at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm, Germany, who shifted the focus away from its Bauhaus-based beginnings towards an approach that was felt to be more appropriate for dealing with the complexities of post-Second World War living.