Kate Canales
Kate Canales is a human-centered designer, design researcher and teacher. She is currently the Chair of the Design Department at the University of Texas at Austin where she teaches prototyping and design ethnography.
Before joining UT in 2018, Kate led the Design and Innovation Programs at SMU in Dallas, where she founded their pioneering Master’s program in Design and Innovation (MADI). For many years prior, Kate worked as a designer and design researcher at IDEO and as a Creative Director at frog design, both internationally recognized leaders in the field of design and innovation.
She has taught the tools of design in traditional classrooms, corporate boardrooms, mountain retreats and city streets, and she is a passionate and engaging speaker on the topics of design and creative capacity. Past extended education and public speaking clients include Southwest Airlines, Mr. Cooper, the Cleveland Museum of Art, SXSW Interactive, TEDxSMU, and many others.