Education
MFA in Design–Innovation Studies
Thesis: Where’s the Design in Design Research?
Advisers: Michael Gibson and Keith Owens
BFA in Design Communication
BA in English–Creative Writing
Professional Experience
Associate Professor, Graphic + Experience Design
Department of Art, Miami University
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Emerging Technology in Business + Design
Miami University
Assistant Professor, Graphic + Experience Design
Department of Art, Miami University
Graduate Student Instructor, Communication Design
Department of Design, University of North Texas
Creative Director
Dennis Cheatham Design
Roles
Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence
Miami University
Research Fellow, Scripps Gerontology Center
Miami University
AI Provost Fellow
Miami University
Faculty Teaching Associate
Center for Teaching Excellence, Miami University
Coordinator, Graphic + Experience Design Programs
Graduate Director, MFA in Experience Design
Graduate Council Representative
Miami University Graduate School
Representing the College of Creative Arts
Alumni Teaching Scholar
Center for Teaching Excellence
Research
Book Chapters
Cheatham, D. (2026). Cultivating Attunement to the Raw Materials of Problem Formulation. In M. Gibson and K. Owens (Eds.), Navigating the Landscapes of Design Research. Routledge.
Cheatham, D. (2024). User Experience. In J. Tham (Ed.), Keywords in Making (p. 253).
Parlor Press.
Cheatham, D. (2019). Rewarding Risk: Exploring How to Encourage Learning that Comes from Taking Risks. In G. Muratovski & C. Vogel (Eds.), Teaching and Learning Design: Re: Research, Volume 1 (Vol. 1, p. 105). Intellect Books.
Journal Publications
Heid, A. R., Heppner, A., Cheatham, D., VanHaitsma, K., & Abbott, K. M. (2022). Emotion-focused communication training online: Development and evaluation of acceptability. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education, 1–14.
Cheatham, D. M. (2018). A Necessary Shift: Embracing Research and Front-End Coding for Experience-Focused Graphic Design. Graphic Design Journal, 7, 62-73.
Cheatham, D. (2017). A Multiple Intelligences Model for Design: Developing the Ways Designers Think as Design Disciplines Expand. Dialectic, 1(2), 75-100.
Cheatham, D. (2017). Experience Design: Embracing Transdisciplinarity. Iterations: Design Research and Practice Review, 1(5), 22-27.
Exhibitions
Design Workbench Research Portal Identity System
Miami University Department of Art Faculty and Alumni Exhibition, Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum
Conference Proceedings
Cheatham, D. (2025). Developing Human Experience Experts: Design Education’s Process-Centric Response to Generative AI. In Design, User Experience, and Usability Proceedings, Part V, Design, User Experience, and Usability: 14th International Conference, DUXU 2025 (pp. 37-54). Springer Nature.
Cheatham, D. (2023). A Digital Toolkit for Training Hyper-Observant Experience Design Researchers. In A. Marcus, E. Rosenzweig, & M. M. Soares (Eds.), Design, User Experience, and Usability: 12th International Conference, DUXU 2023 (pp. 388–400). Springer Nature.
Cheatham, D. (2023). Learning Lenses: Four Theories for Interpreting Experience Design Scenes. In A. Larocchi (Ed.), Applying Education in a Complex World: Teaching and Learning (pp. 131–141). Amps Proceedings Series.
Cheatham, D. (2017, October 31-November 3). Rewarding Risk: Exploring How to Encourage Learning that Comes from Taking Risks. Proceedings from IASDR 2017: Re: Research, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Cheatham, D. (2015, November 19-22). Learning to Fail: How to Make Failing Part of Learning. Proceedings from Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Oxford, Ohio.
Conference Presentations
Keynote Address
HOW Interactive Design Conference
Plenary Speaker
PICA Conference, Society of Graphic Designers of Canada, Alberta North Chapter
Fellowships
Workshops & Panels
Miami University Chemistry Graduate Students
Archbishop Moeller High School
Researchers With Interests in Aging, Scripps Gerontology Center
CREATE AI Mini-Conference, Miami University College of Education, Health, and Society
Preparing Students for the Workforce Panelist
Ohio Academy of Science and The Ohio chapter of Project Kaleidoscope [PKAL/AACU-STEM] Conference
What if Your Last Week Was Your Best Week? Workshop
Students in Philosophy 305: Philosophy of Human Nature
Co-presented with Jennifer Heston-Mullins and Cate Sherron
Miami University Graduate School Graduate Student Development Series
AI and Creativity in Teaching and Learning Workshop
Faculty Learning Community. Carl R. Ice College of Engineering at Kansas State University
Co-presented with Mandy Olejnik, Assistant Director, Writing Across Curriculum (Howe Center for Writing Excellence, Miami University)
and Rena Perez, Graduate Assistant, Howe Center for Writing Excellence (Howe Center for Writing Excellence, Miami University)
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber Alumni Network
Co-presented with David Seidl, VP for Information Tech & CIO (Miami University)
The Ohio State University MFA in Design Students
George Fox University
Beyond UX: Designing Complete Experiences
University of Dayton Graphic Design students
Most Likely to Succeed: Project-Based Learning Film and Panel
Miami University College of Education, Health & Society with McGuffey Montessori School
Commissioned Works
Miami University College of Engineering K–12 Outreach
Community Engagement
4th Annual Hamilton County Small Business Day
Hamilton County Small Business Workshop
Miami University Pi Sigma Epsilon, Professional Fraternity
Miami University’s AI Fundamentals Online Course
What if Your Last Week Was Your Best Week? Workshop
Ideate, Research, Create: Processes for AI Partnerships: Podcast Guest
This Is Howe We Do It Podcast, Miami University Howe Writing Center
What I Learned by Assigning Generative AI and How You Can Do It, Too
Miami University 2023 AI Symposium: AI at the Intersection of Teaching, Learning, and the Future
Death. Dying. Design. Research Roundtable Presentation
Scripps Gerontology Center 100th anniversary celebration
Miami University Alumni Association
Design Thinking Workshop for Project Chaos Program
With high school students from Cincinnati-Area schools: Mason, Lakota, Loveland, Middletown, and Butler Tech high schools
What’s Trending in Design?
Learning In Retirement Program
Ignite Your Design Career With UX Panelist
Cincinnati Design Week: AIGA and IxDA
Discovery Cafe: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Miami University Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship (OARS)
Facing the Blank Canvas: How to Start Designing
AIGA Cincinnati Student Engagement Design Forum
Design is Not About Design, It’s About People
Contemporary Art Forum
Interviews, Magazine Stories, Website Posts, Citations
The New York Times
Features ScrippsOMA work I supported as a web developer and experience designer.
WCPO Cincinnati ABC affiliate
Miami Design Class Ripe for These Times
Journal-News
The New York Times
Interviewed about my evaluation of Nielsen’s short-sighted design research methods.
Thoughts on Communication Design and UX Education
HOW Design website
Selected Research Projects
Design Researcher and Web Developer
Center of Excellence in Literacy, Advancement, Education, and Development (MU-LEAD)
Member of a team of education researchers in developing a co-created web app that delivers professional development resources for Ohio teachers.
with Jennifer Heston (Miami University), Cate Sherron (Thomas More University)
Web Developer and Creative Director
Creative Director and Research Advisor
Opening Minds Through Art
Developing and designing ScrippsAVID, a website application that makes OMA available to people remotely via the web.
Creative Director
Rewarding Risk: Exploring How to Encourage Learning that Comes from Risking Failure
Researching the Barriers Between Men and Mental Health Care
Building Evidence for the Our Family, Our Way Communication and Care Coordination Process for Caregiving Families: Refinement and Dissemination
Water Conservation Can Be Fashionable: An Attitudinal Approach to Reducing Water Overuse in the United States
with Rebeca Carranza, Holly Cole, John Hicks, Jeff Joiner, Michelle Keefer, Tim Woodring, XuHao Yang
The City of Owasso Character Initiative
with John Hicks, Michelle Keefer and XuHao Yang
Evaluating the Dynamics, Processes, and Culture of the Cook Children’s Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
supporting Professors Michael Gibson and Keith Owens
Extending Family Education via Electronic Media
supporting Professors Michael Gibson and Keith Owens
Improving Student Success: Researching How Students Use Electronic Library Resources
with University of North Texas Anthropology Masters’ Candidates and Dr. Lisa Henry
Small Business Behaviors and Attitudes
with University of North Texas Anthropology Masters’ Candidates and Dr. Susan Squires
Awards
2nd Place Award in Social and Behavioral Sciences Category
University of North Texas Graduate Exhibition
Water Conservation Can Be Fashionable: An Attitudinal Approach to Reducing Water Overuse in the United States
Bronze Medal
Dallas Society of Visual Communications Dallas Show
The Great Map of Christmas Songs for Chatter Magazine
American Graphic Design Award
Graphic Design USA
Innovate Magazine, Fall/Winter 2007, HKS Architects
American Graphic Design Award
Graphic Design USA
Mexico 5 Invitation, HKS Architects
Professional Membership
OhioX Member
EXPRESSO Experience Research Society
The Design Society
Design Research Society
Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
SECAC (formerly the Southeastern College Art Conference)
AIGA, the professional association for design
Dallas Society of Visual Communications
Teaching
Graduate Courses
ART 700, Experience Design Thesis
Cohort-based course that covers development of research topics, research design, human subjects research review (IRB), intervention design, testing, and dissemination. Students develop their own year-long projects and take this course at least twice.
ART 627, Design Research Methods
Study of primary and secondary research methods including interviews, observations, and focus groups. Research ethics, data analysis, and evidence-based design are covered.
ART 650 A, Experience Design Studio (Setting)
Explores ways aspects of environment and things out of a designer’s control can affect peoples’ experiences when they use products, services, and systems. Outcomes integrate media and include products, services, and systems. Includes four travel days to different U.S. locations for on-site learning.
ART 650 B, Experience Design Studio (Meaning-Making)
Explores ways aspects of a person’s mental and physical makeup affect their experience when using products, services, and systems. Outcomes integrate media and include products, services, and systems. Includes four travel days to different U.S. locations for on-site learning.
ART 650 C, Experience Design Studio (Motivation)
Explores ways aspects of a person’s relationships and attitudes affect their experience when using products, services, and systems. Outcomes integrate media and include products, services, and systems. Includes four travel days to different U.S. locations for on-site learning.
ART 650 D, Experience Design Studio (Interaction)
Explores ways aspects products, services, and systems—the ways they are designed—affect peoples’ expereince when using design. Outcomes integrate media and include products, services, and systems. Includes four travel days to different U.S. locations for on-site learning.
ART 436/536, Applied Experience Design: Walt Disney World
Online study introduces designing for multi-sensory experiences through a study of theme park design. Includes one week at the Walt Disney World Resort where students document products, services, and systems to learn design’s potential for facilitating usability, accessibility, and delight.
ART 623, Writing for Design Audiences
Develops writing skills for academic publishing, grant writing, UX writing, virtual assistants, and popular media outlets.
ART 626, Designing for Access
Approaches goal formulation and problem definition for experience-centered design with usability and access as primary drivers. Projects develop sensitivity to different needs, cultural and lifestyle diversity, socioeconomic status, literacy, globalization, sustainability, and other aspects of design when it impacts people of diverse needs. Particularly focuses on developing innovative interventions that enable access for marginalized people groups who have not been equitably served by design.
ART 626, Methods of Dissemination
Develops skills for visualizing and communicating complex information to initiated and uninitiated audiences. Message framing, publication design, diagramming, and presentation skills are addressed.
ART 640, Experience Design Internship
Students secure and complete an internship. Employers complete two evaluations of student performance and the coordinator evaluates this feedback to determine if students earn credit.
ART 625, Systemic Design
Explores design impacts at personal and societal levels through study of systems design, social networks, and object oriented ontology.
ART 455/555, A History of Design
A survey of design that emphasizes the interplay between designed outcomes and society.
ART 460/560, Special Topics Design Studio
Course topics change based on instructor’s research agenda. Reading and project work for this course emphasized the role of empathy in design.
ART 651, Systems Design
Explores design’s impact on experiences through a design studies lens. Topics include phenomenology, epistemology, rhetoric, as well as behavioral, communication, and
systems theories.
Undergraduate Courses
ART 254, Design Career Readiness and Portfolio Development
Preparing a portfolio that showcases students’ skills and career preparation activities.
ART 253, Design Systems
Synthesizes fundamental design and research concepts through the development of visual design for sequential viewing. Ideas of organization and clarity of communication, series and sequence, advanced typography, and visual literacy are addressed through complex systems-based projects.
ART 251, Typography for Designers
Page layout, typography for conceptual communication. Principles of usable typographic layouts.
CCA 190, Creating with Generative AI: Shaping the Future
Combines Design Thinking and Futures Studies methods with Generative AI prompting skills and making, enabling learners to apply Generative AI tools to extend their abilities when analyzing and solving complex problems.
IMS 354: Intermediate Interaction Design
The synthesis of design principles, usability, and technology is vital to successful interaction design. This course will leverage the exploration of emerging design processes and emerging technology to delve deeper into interaction design. This course challenges students to integrate design principles from a variety of domains to create user interfaces that surprise and delight.
ART 254, Design Studio 1: Interaction
Investigation of the impact of technology on communication design. The influence of time and non-linear organization on a design solution will be carefully studied through various digital technologies
ART 227, Design Research Methods Basics
Introduction to primary and secondary research methods including interviews, observations, and focus groups. Research ethics, data analysis, and evidence-based design.
ART 151, Becoming a People-Driven Designer
An introductory course that defines the field and gives an overview of the professional design practice as well as the skills, thinking, and knowledge required of communication designers.
ART 354, Design for Use
Explores how design decisions impact access for people of diverse abilities and cultures. Applies people-driven design approaches for problem definition, outcome development, and design outcome production. Special attention paid to usability, access, and how design can delight audiences while meeting their unique needs. Involves collaborative and individual project work to simulate human-centered approaches within professional design practice.
ART 453/MKT 442, Highwire Brand Studio
A semester-long, group project that requires design and marketing students to research and design outcomes for a real client. Co-taught with marketing and Emerging Technology in Business + Design faculty.
ART 340, Communication Design Internship
Students secure and complete an internship. Employers complete two evaluations of student performance and the coordinator evaluates this feedback to determine if students earn credit.
ART 355, Applied Interaction Design
Introduces advanced human-centered design processes that emphasize usability. Covers UX wireframing, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP for WordPress template development.
ART 452, Senior Degree Project
Students develop their own semester-long projects. Covers development of topics,
research design, human subjects research review (IRB), intervention design, testing,
and dissemination.
ART 254, Fundamentals of Interaction Design
An introduction to usability in screen-based design. Emphasizes fluency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the production of responsive apps and websites.
ART 252, Image
Covers physical and digital techniques for producing images that communicate compelling concepts. Includes intense Adobe Photoshop training, visual concept exercises, and basic publication design.
Independent Studies, Directed Research
The Future of Immersive Theatre as Experience Design
Amber Schultz, Experience Design Graduate Student
Arts in Communities Thesis Project Teaching Extension
Jeni Barton, Experience Design Graduate Student
A Look Into the Magic: Disney Design Project
Genesis Snyder, Miami University Honors Program
Immersive Design Technologies Toolkit Proposal Development
Jerry Belich, Experience Design Graduate Student
Dark Side of Balloon Multiplayer Video Game
Jerry Belich, Experience Design
Graduate Student
Channel Critical Design Piece
Jerry Belich, Experience Design Graduate Student
Augmented Reality Music Video App for Mad Anthony Independent Study
Ringo Jones, Experience Design Graduate Student
Utopia Room Escape the Room Project in Minneapolis, MN
Jerry Belich, Experience Design Graduate Student
U.S. Department Of Energy Race To Zero Student Design Competition
Supporting Faculty
Mentored two MFA Experience Design Students on the team