Peter Rubin
d.school Lecturer
It was his turn for sharing. Peter smiled and held up his teleporter — a maze of ziploc bags, drinking straws, and oodles of scotch tape. The kindergarten class watched in anticipation as Peter filled his latest invention with water and prepared himself for momentary molecular disintegration. The bags gurgled and dripped onto the carpet, yet Peter was still standing there. His mission was a failure, but he was still beaming.
Since then, Peter has studied at Stanford as an undergrad in Product Design, interned for a summer at IDEO, and spent a fifth year at Stanford as a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering. During this time, Peter has worked on an eclectic mix of projects, from a low-cost incubator for infants in rural Nepal to a prosthetic rock-climbing leg.
The d.school community welcomed Peter as a student in 2007 and later as a teaching assistant for the Bootcamp class. At some point, Peter recognized that he and other designers often found their natural, childlike enthusiasm for the design process constricted by grown-up concerns about achievement and by team dynamics issues, such as miscommunication, unclear goals, and hidden expectations. He realized that addressing these issues is a fascinating and critically important part of the design process. Currently, Peter and his mentor, Julian, work together to help individuals and teams at the d.school communicate compassionately and courageously so they can reclaim the joy of design.
Peter has recently moved to San Francisco and joined Daylight Design. He’s excited to be doing a little bit of everything at this small but powerful design studio.
