Matthew Wizinsky
Matthew Wizinsky is a designer, educator, researcher, scholar, and a lecturer on contemporary design practices and research. He was formally trained in graphic design at the University of Cincinnati (BS), the University of Illinois at Chicago (MFA), and the Institute of Visual Communication (FHNW) in Basel, Switzerland, and holds professional certification in strategic Foresight from the University of Houston. Wizinsky has over 20 years of professional design experience, ranging from digital start-ups to international commercial agencies to in-house studios for major cultural institutions. In 2009, he established an independent studio and consultancy in Chicago. He has worked for global commercial clients; he has co-curated and/or designed exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Cincinnati Art Museum; and he has contributed to the Venice Architecture Biennale (2018), International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF 2014) in New York, and Exhibit Columbus (2019) in Columbus, IN.
Wizinsky began his academic career in 2012, with joint teaching (School of Design) and research positions (Innovation Center) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), positioning his academic work at the intersection of design education and interdisciplinary, practice-based research. At UIC, Wizinsky was Founding Director of the Responsive Media Lab. He has lead research collaborations with the Colleges of Medicine, Engineering, Business, and Learning Sciences that resulted in externally funded research, patents, and curricular offerings working with partners including the City of Chicago, Morningstar financial services, Ford Motor Company, Baxter medical products, Herman Miller, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Arts Alliance of Illinois to name a few. In 2015, Wizinsky joined the faculty of the Ullman School of Design at the University of Cincinnati, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in design research methods, communication design, user-experience design, strategic foresight, generative design, speculative design, and design history. He has also lead curricular development in practice-based Foresight research, Speculative Design, interaction design with Augmented Reality, and Honors Courses in transdisciplinary research on urban and digital futures.
Wizinsky’s interdisciplinary collaborations have included work with researchers in the Social Sciences, Digital Humanities, Architecture, and Public Health. His research, scholarship, and creative works have been awarded, exhibited, published, and presented internationally. Wizinsky has participated in research and practice-based projects supported by approximately US$1.5 million in grants, commissions, sponsored projects and studios, including support from the Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Humanities Without Walls, MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund, People’s Liberty, and others. Wizinsky is an Associate Editor for Visible Language, the oldest peer–reviewed academic journal for design, in publication since 1967. His first monograph, titled Design After Capitalism, diagnoses challenges for design practices operating in an evolving information and service economy and proposes a modified disciplinary model, blending design entrepreneurship with social empowerment through the development of community economies. The book will be published in Spring 2022, by the MIT Press.