Design Writing Roundup

Interviewed by Ellen Lupton at Design Observer.

"David Barringer’s book, There’s Nothing Funny About Design (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009) is actually very funny. This collection of new and revised essays presents the graphic design world with a kick in the literary pants. Barringer’s writing is bluntly personal yet rarely narcissistic; his prose often bristles with the excitement of an angry porcupine, yet it’s always grounded in rigorous thinking. No one else in our field is producing writing quite like this. As a self-taught designer, freelance writer, and work-at-home dad, Barringer is both an insider and outsider to the design discourse. He makes sense of what designers do and then takes us apart with his needle-sharp verbal tools. The conversation that follows was conducted via e-mail over a three-day period. "


"I'm A Modern Graphic Designer," a poem at Design Taxi.

I’m a modern graphic designer,
Wireless, witty, astute.
I show the world how to see itself.
And all this without a suit.


"When The Future Was Young, and the Cars Could Fly," an interview with Brett Snyder at Voice.

"Early concept cars were drawn by designers and illustrators who entered the industry as youthful pioneers. Optimistic and in their 20s, they started work in Detroit beginning in the Depression, with a resurgence of activity just after World War II. Think of the guys from Mad Men, but younger and with cars on their minds, drafting in their shirtsleeves in America’s very first styling studios."