Kristin Hughes
Kristin Hughes is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design. Her research integrates design thinking, creativity, communication, and education to inspire meaningful change. She specializes in community-engaged and participatory design, creating collaborative solutions that empower individuals, strengthen civic engagement, and enhance personal agency. Kristin uses research methods to uncover the unique capacities that shape community identity, working to break down barriers while promoting learning and action. Her approach reveals hidden narratives and underscores the distinctive strengths within communities. Through her leadership in community engagement, she ensures that programs and services remain responsive and sustainable, nurturing deeper connections between people and systems to create innovative opportunities and solutions.
Since arriving at Carnegie Mellon in the fall of 2001, she has had the opportunity to teach at all levels of the curriculum, from Freshman Design Studio to Advanced Typographic Systems to Design for Social Innovation. In 2024, she started co-teaching an innovative course called Designing with CARE: Co-Creating Solutions for Complex Care Coordination in Oncology with faculty from UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, School of Nursing, Duquesne University School of Nursing.
Over the years, she has won numerous national and international design awards and often speaks and offers hands-on workshops to organizations, community leaders, educators, and students worldwide. Kristin holds an MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University and a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University. She has also studied abroad at Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and at Yale University's workshop in Brissago, Switzerland.
Below are links to various case studies of Kristin's work and the multitude of community partners she has had the privilege and honor to work with and alongside:
Click! Urban Adventure Game - Click! is an adventure game intended to sustain and incorporate lifelong interest in STEM to the 11- to 14-year-old female demographic.
Fitwits: Games for Health - Fitwits is a system of products and services that enable families to participate in a discussion about health, instead of feeling like the recipients of a lesson or the target of a health intervention.
Latham St. Commons - You can think of Latham St. Commons (LSC) as a living laboratory, where we test ideas and try out new ways of living as a community and provide individuals with new social, educational, and economic opportunities.
Meet Me Halfway - The tools presented in Meet Me Halfway are designed to lower barriers to entry into a neighborhood, allowing outsiders to make connections and arrive at a shared understanding of the community’s assets and obstacles.
Night Owl Bakery - Night Owl Bakery is a new type of workforce development program for underserved young adults that focuses on the positive change catalyzed when individuals are supported within a caring, forward-thinking, educational environment.
The Octopus Garden - The Octopus Garden is a well-trafficked and loved community hub. It opened in 2009 and over time transformed from an impermeable vacant lot into raised garden beds—supporting life in many and often unexpected ways.