Terry Irwin is an American

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exper ...

, academic and Professor and former Head of the School of Design at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

. She is a key figure in the development of transition design—an area of design practice, study and research focused on design-led societal transitions towards more sustainable futures.

Career

Terry Irwin completed an MFA in Design at Switzerland's

Schule für Gestaltung Basel The Schule für Gestaltung Basel (Basel School of Design), located at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule in Basel Switzerland, and its students have influenced the international graphic design community since it opened in 1968. Its tradition is shaped ...

. She was a senior designer at

Landor Associates Landor is a brand consulting firm founded in 1941 by Walter Landor, who pioneered some research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses. Headquartered in London, the company maintains 32 offices, including China, ...

until 1989, when she left to establish the San Francisco office of

MetaDesign MetaDesign is an international design consultancy known for branding and brand strategy, founded by Erik Spiekermann, Uli Mayer-Johanssen and Hans Ch. Krüger. The business has offices in Berlin, Beijing, Geneva, Düsseldorf, Zurich and San Fr ...

with

Erik Spiekermann Erik Spiekermann (born 30 May 1947) is a German typographer, designer and writer. He is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen and ArtCenter College of Design. Biography Spiekermann studied art history at Berlin's Free Uni ...

and Bill Hill. From 1992-2001 she served as creative director at the agency, leading projects for

Apple Computer Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Computer Co ...

Nissan Motors is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and '' Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house performance tuning ...

, BVG,

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

. In 2003, Irwin moved to Devon to pursue an MSc in Holistic Science at

Schumacher College Schumacher College was based on the Dartington Hall estate near Totnes, Devon, England, and offered ecology-centred degree programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes from 1991 until 2024. It was attended by students from all over t ...

, studying with renowned deep ecologists and physicists including

Fritjof Capra Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American author, physicist, systems theorist and deep ecologist. In 1995, he became a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He was on the faculty of ...

. She later joined the faculty at Schumacher to teach ecological

design thinking Design thinking refers to the set of Cognition, cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design prob ...

. In 2009, Irwin returned to the US to take the role of Head of the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. She led the redesign of the curriculum, placing

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

at the heart of all design programs. In 2014, the school introduced ''transition design'' as an area of doctoral study and a key thread in both the undergraduate and graduate curricula. Irwin developed the transition design approach in collaboration with social ecologist Gideon Kossoff and design studies professor Cameron Tonkinwise. Irwin advocates that design should be informed by knowledge outside its traditional disciplinary boundary in order to form a deeper understanding of how to design for change and transition within complex systems. Irwin has served on the national board of the

American Institute of Graphic Arts The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity. The ...

and organized the 2003 Power of Design Conference in Vancouver. She has held faculty positions at Otis Parsons School of Design, 1986-1989;

California College of Arts & Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in S ...

, 1989-2003; and the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

, 2007-2009. In 2021, Irwin was awarded the AIGA Medal for her design education and philosophy. and in 2023 she was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Art, London.Edward Enninful and Wayme MacGregor among Honorary Doctorates bestowed upon outstanding by Royal College of Art
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irwin, Terry Living people Carnegie Mellon University faculty American designers Year of birth missing (living people) American graphic designers AIGA medalists