We focus on the learning of design and the work of design professionals in action
Across these contexts of design learning and practice, we have dominant research threads in design cognition, ethics, design philosophy, critique, and identity.
Ethics & Social Responsibility
We ask deep questions about how designers think and act, taking on a critical theory lens to explore dimensions of social and ethical responsibility in design practice.
UX Practice
We seek to understand how UX practitioners remain competent over time, documenting the knowledge and design methods they rely upon to do their work.
HCI, Design, & Studio Pedagogy
Building upon insights from UX practice and design education, we identify what educators can do to foster world-class UX educational experiences.
The UX Pedagogy and Practice Lab is located at Purdue University within the Purdue Polytechnic Institute. We work closely with other UX faculty in the department, including Dr. Paul Parsons, Dr. Austin Toombs, Dr. Rua Williams, and Prof. Nancy Rasche. Our work is supported by the National Science Foundation and has been covered by news outlets such as The Atlantic, Bloomberg, Wired, and Kiplingers.
The lab is led by Dr. Colin Gray, who is appointed in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute as an Associate Professor in Computer Graphics Technology, and is program lead for an undergraduate major and graduate concentration in UX Design. Our research goals are inter- and trans-disciplinary in focus, spanning work across human-computer interaction, engineering education, instructional design and technology, and design theory and education. We focus on the learning of design (pedagogy) and the work of design professionals in action (practice), and the synergistic opportunities that the intersection of these foci represent. Across these contexts of design learning and practice, we have dominant research threads in design cognition, ethics, design philosophy, critique, and identity.
Let us know if you’re interested in collaborating with us or joining as an MS or PhD student!