Instructor Profile: Cory Hughes

Tell us a little about yourself and your current work outside of Experience Haus? 

I’m an experience design strategist, consultant and advisor. In other words, no-one in my family has ever really understood what I do for a living! My career in the creative industries has taken me around the world working with agencies, nonprofits and multinational brands. Right now, I’m Head of Strategy and Co-Founder of Inside Edge, a transformation consultancy that helps organisations own their digital future.

Did you have a specific goal you wanted to achieve before you started teaching at Experience Haus? Do you think your time here so far has kept you on the right track?

My experience-design career path has been unorthodox. I wanted to share what’s possible when you back yourself to transition into a new industry. I also believe that the best creative leaders should do a bunch of interesting things outside of their day job, and work hard to demystify an industry that can often feel exclusive and hard to break into. Joining the Haus has packed my evenings with imagination, ideas and inspiration – everything I’d hoped for, and more!

What is your teaching philosophy?

‘Start where you are, with what you have’ – that’s a quote from Pema Chodron that I always return to. There’s no magic moment where you are ‘ready’ to be a designer. Design is a continual process of polishing and iterating and the learning journey is no different.

What do you enjoy most about teaching at Experience Haus?

The community is incredible – warm, welcoming and human. Everyone lives the mission of making design skills accessible and sharing knowledge generously. I love that real world experience is baked into the course and that battle-scarred practitioners are leading the teaching.