“Singing the Surface” Live!

A video of my presentation “Singing the Surface,” is available at the VCFA MFA in Graphic Design YouTube channel. The talk was part of my 2016 visit as guest critic, lecturer and workshop leader for the April residency, and had been previously given at Kookmin University in Seoul, and Phoenix Design Week. An adaptation (with different graphics) was published earlier this year in Print magazine.

11 Things They Don’t Teach You About 10 Things They Don’t Teach You About In Design School Outside of Design School

My latest writing, “Learn by Numbers: Eleven Lessons Taught Only in Design School,” has been posted at the Design Observer blog. The essay turns the table on the perennial listicles authored by design practitioners offering low-downs on the profession that are allegedly essential and that design education supposedly doesn’t supply. The published article is a condensation of a slightly longer piece (with the title heading this post) that may end up here some day.

Quotes on Paula Scher

Two quotes from my essay “Match Prints: Barney Bubbles vs. Paula Scher” are included in the introduction to the new Paula Scher: Works monograph published by Unit Editions. Scher is a senior partner in the New York office of Pentagram, and was featured recently in the Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design.

Print Magazine Manifesto

My article “Singing the Surface,” which I also designed, appears in the Winter 2016–17 issue of Print magazine. The piece is adapted from a lecture I’ve presented at a number of different forums. It was commissioned by the magazine for its “Manifesto” feature which began in 2015 and features “insightful essay-length commentary on the field from people who weren’t afraid to give it and take a stance.” Previous contributions were from James Victore, Art Chantry, Rick Poynor, Mark Kingsley, and David Carson.