Nigel Cross is Emeritus Professor of Design Studies at the UK’s Open University and a leading international figure in the world of design research. With academic and practical backgrounds in architecture and industrial design, he has conducted research in computer-aided design, design methodology and design education since the nineteen-sixties. His more recent principal research interest has been in design cognition, including studies of expert and exceptional designers. He is a long-time member of the academic staff of the pioneering, multi-media Open University, where he has been responsible for, or instrumental in, a wide range of distance education courses in design and technology, and for many years was Head of the Department of Design and Innovation.