Reinhart Butter

Professor, Department of Design

Areas of Expertise
• Product ergonomics and semantics
• Product planning and development

Professor Butter has over 40 years of teaching, research, and professional experience in both the United States and abroad, ranging from automotive and transportation, medical and therapeutic, entertainment and communication, education and learning, tools and machinery, to consumer products, furniture and toys.

Since joining The Ohio State University in 1967, he has been instrumental in curriculum development of the undergraduate and graduate program in Design, has extensively guest lectured both nationally and internationally, as well as co-organized and conducted workshops and conferences, e.g. at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the UAIH in Helsinki/Finland, at the KIDP in Seoul/Korea, and the UERJ in Rio de Janeiro/Brazil.

At OSU, Professor Butter initiated and supervised funded student projects with companies such as Borg-Warner Chemicals, ASC Colamco, IBM Systems, Kone Elevators, Mercedes Unimog, Siemens, Wilsonart, Timex, Ford Research, EADS Airbus, and Samsung Electronics. His track record in contract research included clients like Freightliner, GE Plastics, Sears Manufacturing, Mercedes Benz, Isringhausen, and Lucanus in Germany.

Professor Butter's more recent affiliation with OSU's Center for Automotive Research and Intelligent Transportation (CAR-IT) provided him with interdisciplinary projects for industry consortiums and government agencies like NHTSA.

As design consultant, Professor Butter specializes in the application of product ergonomics and semantics, more recently to medical devices and systems for a number of companies in California. His design work for the Korean furniture companies Fursys and Iloom earned him seven design awards in Asia and Europe.

Education
• Post graduate studies as DAAD scholar, Royal College of Art, London
• Graduate and undergraduate degrees, Ulm School of Design, Ulm Germany