# Terry Irwin

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This article is about the American designer Terry Irwin. For the American-Australian conservationist, see [Terri Irwin](/source/Terri_Irwin).

**Terry Irwin** is an American [designer](/source/Designer), academic and Professor and former Head of the School of Design at [Carnegie Mellon University](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_University). 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.[1]

## Career

Terry Irwin completed an MFA in Design at Switzerland's [Schule für Gestaltung Basel](/source/Schule_f%C3%BCr_Gestaltung_Basel). She was a senior designer at [Landor Associates](/source/Landor_Associates) until 1989, when she left to establish the San Francisco office of [MetaDesign](/source/MetaDesign) with [Erik Spiekermann](/source/Erik_Spiekermann) and Bill Hill. From 1992-2001 she served as creative director at the agency, leading projects for [Apple Computer](/source/Apple_Computer), [Nissan Motors](/source/Nissan_Motors), [BVG](/source/Berliner_Verkehrsbetriebe), [Audi](/source/Audi), [Ernst & Young](/source/Ernst_%26_Young), [Sony](/source/Sony) and [Samsung](/source/Samsung).[2]

In 2003, Irwin moved to Devon to pursue an MSc in [Holistic Science](/source/Holistic_science) at [Schumacher College](/source/Schumacher_College), studying with renowned deep ecologists and physicists including [Fritjof Capra](/source/Fritjof_Capra).[2] She later joined the faculty at Schumacher to teach ecological [design thinking](/source/Design_thinking).[3]

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](/source/Sustainability) 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.[4]

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.[5]

Irwin has served on the national board of the [American Institute of Graphic Arts](/source/American_Institute_of_Graphic_Arts) and organized the 2003 Power of Design Conference in Vancouver.[2] She has held faculty positions at [Otis Parsons School of Design](/source/Otis_College_of_Art_and_Design), 1986-1989; [California College of Arts & Crafts](/source/California_College_of_Arts_%26_Crafts), 1989-2003; and the [University of Dundee](/source/University_of_Dundee), 2007-2009.[3] In 2021, Irwin was awarded the [AIGA Medal](/source/List_of_AIGA_medalists) for her design education and philosophy.[6] and in 2023 she was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Art, London.[7]

## References

1. Escobar, Arturo (22 March 2018). [*Designs for the pluriverse : radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds*](https://archive.org/details/designsforpluriv00esco). Durham. ISBN 9780822370901. [OCLC 983824383](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/983824383)

1. ["Blow Up the Design School! Part 2 | Communication Arts"](https://www.commarts.com/columns/blow-up-the-design-school-part-2). *Communication Arts*. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2018-11-07.

1. ["Terry Irwin | Carnegie Mellon School of Design"](https://design.cmu.edu/people/faculty/terry-irwin). *design.cmu.edu*. Retrieved 2018-11-07.

1. ["Terry Irwin & Laurene Vaughan: Mapping Transition"](https://climactic.squarespace.com/terry-irwin-laurene-vaughan-mapping-transitions/). *Climactic: Post Normal Design*. Retrieved 2018-11-07.

1. ["A complete primer on transition design"](https://www.aiga.org/what-is-transition-design). *AIGA | the professional association for design*. Retrieved 2018-11-07.

1. ["Press Releases | Meet AIGA's Awards Recipients, representing the vibrant spectrum of design excellence | AIGA"](https://www.aiga.org/media/press-releases/meet-aigas-awards-recipients-representing-the-vibrant-spectrum-of-design). *www.aiga.org*. Retrieved 2021-05-07.

1. [Edward Enninful and Wayme MacGregor among Honorary Doctorates bestowed upon outstanding by Royal College of Art](https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/edward-enninful-and-wayne-mcgregor-honoured-by-rca/)

## External links

- [Transition Design](https://web.archive.org/web/20180828203857/http://transitiondesign.net/) 28 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Terry Irwin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Irwin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Irwin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.