Expertise

Topics:  Design Ethnography, Human Centered Design, Arts and Creative Expression, Industrial Design, Research Methods

Industries: Writing and Editing, Education/Learning, Design, Research

Bruce Hanington is a Professor of design. Bruce has held former roles as Head of School, Director of Graduate Studies, Director of Executive Education, and Program Chair of Industrial Design.

Bruce's core teaching has included undergraduate courses in Human Centered Design and Industrial Design Studio, and graduate courses in Research Methods and Design Principles and Practices. Bruce has dedicated his teaching and research to methods and practices for human centered design, with an emphasis on design ethnography, participatory design, and the meaning of form in context. Bruce has also taught various professional education workshops and micro courses to Tepper MBA students, the Heinz College, the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), Highmark, The Pittsburgh Food Bank, and the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA).

Bruce’s past projects include work with GE conducting research on the design of human-centered appliances, and Johnson & Johnson researching design opportunities to enhance prescription skin care compliance among teens. He was also a co-investigator on a project assessing use and behavior patterns in the graduate design studio as a learning environment.

Bruce has presented papers on human-centered design and design for human experience at international conferences of the Design Research Society (DRS), The International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR), and Design & Emotion. His work has been published in Design Issues, The Design Journal, and Interactions, with book chapters in Designing Inclusive Futures; Design and Emotion: The Experience of Everyday Things; Affective Sciences in Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction; and The Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Design. Bruce is co-author of the book Universal Methods of Design: 125 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Effective Solutions, written with Master of Design alum Bella Martin. Universal Methods has been published in nine languages, a pocket edition, an e-book, and a prior edition of 100 methods.

Bruce holds a Master of Environmental Design in Industrial Design and a BA in Applied Psychology, both from the University of Calgary, Canada.

Media Experience

Experts: Design To Impact Climate Change, AI in 2020  — Carnegie Mellon University News
Bruce Hanington, head of Carnegie Mellon's School of Design in the College of Fine Arts, expects rapidly advancing technologies, such as AI and machine learning, will continue to influence design solutions to complex issues. In turn, he expects there will be increased recognition of "design research methods’ value in humanizing these technologies and understanding their impacts on society."