Design Matters (New Episodes)

Jake Barton is founder and principal of Local Projects, an award-winning media design studio for museums and public spaces. In this interview with Debbie Millman, Barton discusses his work on the 9/11 Memorial in New York City, the intricacies of designing experiences for public space, and the magic of collaborative storytelling.

Subscribe to Design Matters on iTunes for more great interviews with celebrated designers and creative minds: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Jake Barton

Aaron Draplin is the force powering Draplin Design Compay (http://draplin.com) in Portland, Oregon. Having made a name for himself with stand-out work for snowboarding companies and their like, he’s now courting more mainstream clients including Coal Headwear, Union Binding Co., Richmond Fontaine, Field Notes, Esquire, Nike, Wired, Timberline, Chunklet, Red Wing, Incase, Giro, Cobra Dogs, Megafaun, Ford Motor Co., Hughes Entertainment, Chuck Prophet, and even the Obama Administration. Born in the Midwest, and a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art, Draplin has become an important voice in the world of graphic design while maintaining a sense of humor.

Subscribe to Design Matters on iTunes for more great interviews with celebrated designers and creative minds: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Aaron Draplin

Jason Kottke is a blogger and developer living in NYC. As editor of kottke.org for the last 14+ years, he’s scoured nearly every corner of the web for juicy links and things for people to read. Jason is also hard at work on Stellar, a web app for tracking and discovering your favorite things online.

In the past, Jason did research on non-crystalline solids, designed websites for people, made a bitmap font called Silkscreen, and experimented online at 0sil8.

Currently, he can be found at his site, on Twitter, and at Stellar.

Subscribe to Design Matters on iTunes for more great interviews with celebrated designers and creative minds: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Jason Kottke

Austin McGhie is the President of the Strategy Group at Sterling Brands. Since he joined Stering Brands in 2002 he has overseen the more than doubling in size of the strategy practice. Austin s an active, working strategist and he is also responsible for the quality of all the strategic output for Sterling Brands. Prior to joining Sterling Brands, Austin was CEO of Young & Rubicam, San Francisco and before that CEO of creatively acclaimed agency Cole and Weber in Seattle. Earlier he had worked his way up the packaged goods ladder to become Regional Director: Sales & Marketing for Kellogg’s Australasia.

His recent book, Brand is a Four Letter Word draws on his 30-year career working with some of world’s best-known brands, including Disney, ESPN, Nike, Google, Visa, Expedia, Best Buy, Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch, Abbott and YouTube. In it he tackles the strategic essence of positioning and creating differentiated advantage. He deftly weaves the positioning discussion throughout the book with a series of real-life anecdotes to deliver a crisp, clear view of what it means to build a brand.

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Austin McGhie

Mirko Ilic is a Bosnian-born designer and illustrator. His visual biography Fist to Face has recently been translated into english and published by by Print Magazine. Throughout his illustrious career, Ilic has collaborated with design luminaries like Steven Heller and Milton Glaser. He has designed album covers for Rage Against the Machine, created film titles for You've Got Mail, and written or designed a number of books, including Genius Moves, The Design of Dissent, The Anatomy of Design, and Stop Think Go Do. He has taught advanced design classes at Cooper Union with Milton Glaser and now teaches illustration at the School of Visual Arts. His studio, Mirko Ilic Corp., has received awards from the Society of Publication Designers, the Art Directors Club, I.D., Print, and HOW.

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Mirko Ilic

Rafael Esquer is a native of the Sonora desert of Mexico who has made New York City his home for more than 15 years. As Creative Director at @radical.media, his group’s work in communication design received the National Design Award in 2004 from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. He now runs Alfalfa Studio, whose clients have included The New York Times Magazine, Kate Spade New York, Nike, Björk, AIGA, The Philip Johnson Glass House, The Houston Rockets, Tommy Boy Records, Target, IBM, Scholastic, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Museo del Barrio, and MTV. Some of his work is contained in the Library of Congress poster collection, the Museum of Fine Art in Montreal, the Poster Museum in Poland and the Olympic Museum in Switzerland. Esquer teaches at the School of Visual Arts, and he has taught at the Art Center College of Design and NYU. He has been a visiting artist in the graduate graphic design program at Yale and served on the board of directors for the American Institute of Graphic Arts/New York. (11.30.12) 

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Rafael Esquer

Louise Fili designs specialty food packaging and restaurant identities, and is pazza for tins that speak Italian. A graduate of Skidmore College, Louise designed books at Alfred A. Knopf in the mid 70's, worked for Herb Lubalin from 1976-78 and then joined Random House as Pantheon’s art director in 1978. In her eleven-year tenure as art director of Pantheon Books she reinvented book jacket design. Louise’s passion for 1930s Italian and French poster design migrated from her book covers to her restaurant design. You can read more about Louise in the introduction to her most recent book, Elegantissima.

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Louise Fili

Christopher Simmons is a designer, writer, educator, design advocate and principal of the noted San Francisco design office MINE™. He is the author of four books, the most recent being Just Design: Socially Conscious Design for Critical Causes. His work has been exhibited at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, the Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan), the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design and the Smithsonian Institution and is part of the permanent design archives at the Denver Art Museum. Simmons is an adjunct professor of design at the California College of the Arts. He is an active advisor and mentor to Project M and a past president of AIGA San Francisco.

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Christopher Simmons

Marian Deuchars is an illustrator, designer and author. Her three books, Let's Make Some Great Art, Let's Make Some Great Placemat Art, and Let's Make Some Great Fingerprint Art, encourage everyone to create art, and include foolproof instructions on drawing a bicycle. Deuchars studied illustration and printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and the Royal College of Art, London where she graduated in 1989 with a MA with Distinction. She, along with other fellow RCA students, formed an art and design studio in North London where she has created commercial work for publishing, editorial, packaging and advertising clients. Her distinctive hand-lettering has been featured on the cover of Esquire, in the Guardian, throughout Jamie Oliver's cookbooks, and on Royal Mail stamps. (01.11.13)

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Marion Deuchars

Jen Bilik is the founder, owner, and overall head honcho of Knock Knock. She grew up in California, moved to NYC, and eventually ended up in publishing. Happenstance landed Jen in coffee-table books, exciting mini-productions unto themselves with graphic designers, illustration sources, four-color printing, authors, and copyediting. While serving as the point person for text on late-breaking books, she inadvertently enjoyed a series of deskside internships in graphic design. After a freelance stint that included editing many books as well as co-authoring two (Todd Oldham: Without Boundaries and Women of Taste: A Collaboration Celebrating Quilt Artists and Chefs), Jen moved to Los Angeles to ponder how she might make her elusive mark. A few years and a million head scratches later, Knock Knock was born out of Jen’s desire to play with paper and wit. With Knock Knock, Jen and the team seek to create products distinctive in concept, content, and design, immune to the disease of committee homogenization.


Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Jen Bilik

Born in 1970, Sophie Blackall grew up in Australia where she learned to draw on the beach with sticks, which has not altogether helped her sense of perspective. She completed a Bachelor of Design in Sydney in 1992 with honors, which furnished her with useful Letraset, bromide and enlarger machine skills. The following few years were spent painting robotic characters for theme parks, providing the hands for a DIY television show and writing a household hints column. 

In 2000, Blackall was seduced by New York. She has lived and worked in Brooklyn for the past ten years. Her editorial illustrations have appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Architectural Digest, Town and Country, Vogue and Gourmet, and she has animated nine tv commercials for the UK.

In 2002 she illustrated the childrens book, Ruby's Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges (Chronicle Books), which won the Ezra Jack Keats award in 2003. Since then, she has illustrated dozens of other books for children including the book she wrote about her son, Are You Awake? Her "Missed Connections" illustrated series was published in 2011 as Missed Connections: Love Lost and Found.

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Sophie Blackall

Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich is currently principal at his own design firm in NYC specializing in publications, restaurant design and branding. He speaks frequently on typography and type design. He is also the author of several books featuring his own work. His most recent book To All Men of Letters and People of Substance, was selected as one of the AIGA’s 50 best books of 2008. He has received numerous awards from the Art Directors Club, AIGA, D&AD, Communication Arts, Eye, Graphis, How, Print, Type Directors Club and two Webby Awards. He is on the board at the Type Directors Club and was the chairman for the TDC competition of 2011.

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/audio/roberto-de-vicq-de-cumptich/37699/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich

Clement Mok is an award winning designer, digital pioneer, software publisher, app developer, author and design patent holder. He began his career in the design department at CBS, then moved to Apple, where he joined the Macintosh team. During his five-year stint as a creative director at Apple, he made computers friendlier and more accessible. When he left Apple he started Studio Archetype, which he eventually sold to Sapient Corp. in 1998. He has founded multiple other successful design-related businesses, including CMCD and NetObjects. He is the reason phrases such as experience design, information design, information architecture, interaction design, strategic design, brand identity, interface design and customer experience are part of our lexicon. 

On Design Observer: http://observermedia.designobserver.com/audio/clement-mok/37721/

On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Clement Mok

Designer, author, critic, co-chair of SVA’s MFA program in design and National Design Award recipient Steven Heller talks to Debbie Millman about ideas from his new ebook, Design Cult: 25 Essays on Design Culture — the first of a series of three titles published exclusively as e-books through the DesignFile consortium from the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. In Design Cult Heller expounds on such disparate topics as Milton Glaser, Japanese masks, velvet touch lettering, anthropomorphism and people in glass apartments. In this podcast, Steven and Debbie discuss how design is both a cult and culture, the dirty decade, the death of a trend and what designers have in common with Harvey Weinstien.

On Design Observer: observermedia.designobserver.com/audio/steven-heller/37737/

On iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/desig…lman/id328074695

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Steven Heller

Sara Blake, aka “ZSO”, is an NYC based illustrator, artist, and designer. She graduted from NYU’s Galllatin School of Individualized Study in Graphic Art and Postmodern Studies. Her commercial clients have ranged from Condé Nast to Kobe Bryant to Marc Jacobs, as well as projects for charities. Her work, a combination of hand-drawn illustration and digital enhancements, is a dizzying array of swirling inks and vibrant colors. Based out of the West Village, she is also a freelance art director, currently working for IBM and owner and manager of ZSO-NYC, a small textile company. She currently has two pieces in the ON! exhibit at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Debbie Millman spoke to her in the member's lounge of the museum.

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Sara Blake

Cliff Sloan borrowed $10,000 from his parents in 1993 and started The Sloan Group, a six-person creative marketing shop specializing in youth, entertainment and technology marketing. By 1999, The Sloan Group was 60 people strong, had garnered over 100 awards for creative excellence and boasted a blue-chip client roster that included Nickelodeon, MTV, Turner, MasterCard, AT&T, Disney, HBO and Pepsi. In 2000, The Sloan Group was acquired by The Interpublic Group of Companies, the world’s third largest advertising, marketing and communications organization. The Sloan Group enjoyed Agency of Record status for a diverse roster of clients ranging from entertainment and sports to financial services and government. As President and Chief Creative Officer, Cliff oversaw all agency operations while leading the agency’s strategic marketing, brand engineering, creative and business development divisions. In 2008, along with partner Gary Zarr, Cliff started Phil & Co., an agency dedicated to contemporary marketing for philanthropies and companies “doing good”. He teaches Cause Branding and Marketing at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and is a judge of the 2013 Cause Marketing Forum Halo Awards. 

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Cliff Sloan

Amy Webb is the head of of Webbmedia Group, a digital strategy agency that solves complex strategic and operational problems related to disruptive technologies and emerging digital trends that are catalyzing great change across many industries. Recently, she worked with the City of Chicago to redesign, in every aspect, a modern library system for the 21st century. She co-founded Spark Camp, a 501(c)(3) invite-only working group that brings together the brightest minds in media and technology once each quarter. Prior to starting Webbmedia Group, Amy was a reporter/ writer with Newsweek (Tokyo) and the Wall Street Journal (Hong Kong) where she covered emerging technology, media and cultural trends. She has contributed to the New York Times, NPR, Economist and many publications and appears regularly as a commentator on numerous broadcast shows.

Amy originally attended the Jacobs School of Music to study classical clarinet, and she later graduated with a B.A. in political science. She also has an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Amy has served on the adjunct faculty at University of Maryland, Temple University, Tokyo University and University of the Arts.
Her new book, DATA: A LOVE STORY: How I Gamed Online Dating To Meet My Match was published in January 2013 and has been featured in People, Good Morning America, The View, Marketplace, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Guardian, Wired, Elle Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine and elsewhere. DATA chronicles how Amy used data analytics and smart digital marketing strategies to land her online dating profile at the top, and then built a framework to exploit the algorithms to her own benefit (finding a husband).


Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Amy Webb

Jennifer Sterling is a designer, artist, typographer and book publisher based in New York and the rincipal of Sterling Design. Her work has been exhibited and resides in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Library of Congress. In 2000 she was inducted into Alliance Graphique Internationale and Who’s Who in America. Graphis included her in their “Top Ten Designers in the World” list and USA GD named her as one of “Twelve Designers to change Design into the Millennium.” Additionally she has served on the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Design and Accessions Board.

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Jennifer Sterling

Emily Oberman studied at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. She began her career working with Tibor Kalman at his legendary studio M&Co., where from 1987 to 1993 she collaborated with Kalman to create groundbreaking work for Knoll, Wieden & Kennedy, Talking Heads, and Bennetton’s Colors magazine. In 1993, she co-founded the design studio Number Seventeen with her partner Bonnie Siegler. She joined Pentagram’s New York office as partner in April 2012. Her clients have included NBC Universal (logos for “30 Rock,” “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live,” including the opening title sequence for 15 years), Herman Miller, Air America and the creation of Lucky magazine for Condé Nast. Oberman’s book design has included work for the Type Directors Club, HBO’s “Sex and the City,” Glamour magazine, and the deluxe illustrated edition of Stephen Dubner’s Superfreakonomics. Her work has been recognized by the AIGA, the Type Directors Club, and the Art Directors Club, among others. In 2004, she was awarded the prestigious Augustus Saint-Gaudens Award for distinguished alumni from her alma mater Cooper Union. She has served on the national board of AIGA and as president of its New York chapter.

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Emily Oberman

Wendy MacNaughton and Caroline Paul are the illustrator and author, respectively, of the new book Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology (Bloomsbury, 2013).

Wendy MacNaughton is an illustrator and a graphic journalist based in San Francisco. Her documentary series Meanwhile tells the stories of communities through drawings and the subject's own words, and is being published as an anthology by Chronicle Books in 2014. She's also illustrated the forthcoming book The Essential Scratch & Sniff Guide to Wine, by Richard Betts (Houghton Mifflin, 2013). She has degrees in fine art/advertising and social work from Art Center College of Design and Columbia University. When they let her, she likes to talk with students at Art Center College of Design, and she is an artist in residence at Intersection for the Arts.

Caroline Paul is an author based in San Francisco. Paul grew up in New England, with an identical twin, a younger brother, and a menagerie of animals. She graduated from Stanford University, where she studied Communications. In 1989, she became a San Francisco firefighter. She is the author of Fighting Fire (Skywriter Books, 2011), about her thirteen years as a firefghter, and East Wind, Rain (2006) which has been optioned for a movie.

Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton

Design Matters by Debbie Millman features interviews with designers, artists and cultural leaders, including Lawrence Weiner, Barbara Kruger, Malcolm Gladwell, Eric Kandel, Stefan Sagmeister, John Maeda, Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, Michael Arad, Milton Glaser, Massimo Vignelli, Paula Scher, Steven Heller, Jonah Lehrer, among others.

In 2011, Design Matters received the People’s Design Award from the prestigious Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards.

Subscribe to Design Matters for free on iTunes, where new episodes are uploaded weekly: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/design-matters-debbie-millman/id328074695