Matthew Wizinsky is an internationally recognized designer, educator, researcher, and author on contemporary design practices. He studied graphic design and design research at the University of Cincinnati (BS), the University of Illinois at Chicago (MFA), and the Institute of Visual Communication in Basel, Switzerland and holds professional certification in strategic foresight from the University of Houston. Wizinsky has over 20 years of professional design experience, including design and consulting for digital start-ups, international commercial agencies, and in-house studios for major cultural institutions. In 2009, he established an independent design consultancy in Chicago. He has provided consulting services for organizations such as Google, Service Designers in Government working group, IX Strategy, and the Media Arts, Data & Design Lab at the University of Chicago; he has curated, organized, and designed exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Cincinnati Art Museum; he has contributed lectures and projects to Milan Design Week, Exhibit Columbus, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
Wizinsky began his academic career at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). At UIC’s Innovation Center, Wizinsky was Founding Director of the Responsive Media Lab. He led 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.
Since 2015, Wizinsky has been part of the faculty of the Ullman School of Design at the University of Cincinnati, where he is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director in the Master of Design (MDes) program. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in design research methods, interaction design, UX design, communication design, and design history, and has led curricular development in practice-based strategic foresight, speculative design, design for augmented reality, generative design, and Honors Courses in transdisciplinary research on urban and digital futures. Wizinsky’s interdisciplinary collaborations have included work with researchers in Architecture, Social Sciences, Digital Humanities, 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, and others.
Wizinsky’s first book Design After Capitalism was published by the MIT Press in 2022. The book 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. This work has been presented internationally, including at Carnegie Mellon University, Art Center, Ontario College of Art and Design, Milan Design Week, Google, and the Digital Society School, and has been recognized among the “best design books: of 2022 by Fast Company and with the Best in Scholarly Publications award from Design Incubation.
Wizinsky is an Associate Editor for Visible Language, the oldest peer–reviewed academic journal for design, in publication since 1967. Since 2021, he has been PhD researcher in Transition Design at Carnegie Mellon University, with an anticipated completion date of 2025.