ERIN HUIZENGA
founder + head of design, desklight
Pronouns: She/Her
Erin has 20+ years of design and product innovation experience with experience working with consultancies like IDEO, Gensler, Grativtytank (now Salesforce), and other top boutique design shops. She has also been a curriculum designer and adjunct faculty member for undergraduate and graduate students for 18+ years. In additional to founding Desklight, Erin is a serial female entrepreneur who started three alternative learning-focused ventures: a continuing education initiative for professionals, a learning program for high school students, and nonprofit EPIC.
Education design
Desklight’s work aims to change the future of how people learn. They accomplish this by turning learner insights into strategies that result in customized education programs and products. The company has partnered with clients like the YMCA of the USA, Techstars, Denver Public Schools, Code for America, University of Chicago, and more.
Desklight’s work in education design is in part informed by Erin’s experience as an educator. To date, she has created and taught design courses at Chicago Portfolio School, North Park University, Columbia College Chicago, ID at IIT, and Northwestern University.
Pandemic project
During the pandemic, Desklight designed curriculum for Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Global Mayors Challenge to coach civic innovation teams through the human-centered design process in a virtual environment. To support these outcomes, Desklight is sharing curriculum design feedback with the Centre for Public Impact to strengthen the curriculum through iteration.
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