I review the book Design and the Creation of Value by John Heskett and edited by Clive Dilnot and Susan Boztepe in the second issue of the academic journal Dialectic—for which I also serve on the editorial board. I say of the book, “Because it focuses on design’s core rationale, my impulse is to pronounce this short, posthumously assembled volume as one of the most important texts ever offered on design. I argue that this is one of the field’s essential books.”
I’m involved in two aspects of the upcoming Walking Backwards exhibition of the work of designer Vaughan Oliver. First, I’ve written “Beauty:Entropy,” the essay for an accompanying booklet. I’ll also be discussing Oliver’s work as part of a panel, “Elevating the Banal: Perspectives on the Work of Vaughan Oliver,” co-sponsored by AIGA Boston and Lesley University College of Art and Design.
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.
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.