Brenda Laurel

Brenda Laurel is a designer, writer, researcher, and performer.

From 2002 to 2006, she chaired the graduate Media Design Program at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. She was also a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems Labs from 2005 to 2006.

Since 1976, her work has focused on experience design, interactive story, and the intersection of culture and technology. She cofounded Purple Moon to create interactive media for girls in 1996 (acquired by Mattel in 1999). The company was based on four years of research in gender and technology at Interval Research Corporation. In 1990, she cofounded Telepresence Research, developing technology and applications for virtual reality and remote presence.

Other employers include Atari, Activision, and Apple. She edited The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design (Addison-Wesley, 1990) and authored Computers as Theatre (Addison-Wesley, 1991 and 1993) and Utopian Entrepreneur (MIT Press, 2001). Her latest book is Design Research: Methods and Perspectives (MIT Press, 2004).

In addition to public speaking and consulting, she is a member of the boards of advisors of several companies and organizations, including Cheskin, the Communication Research Institute (Australia), and the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT.

She is active in the digital storytelling movement, the game design community (IGDA), AIGA, and the ACM.