True Design Is Better Than New Design
David Reinfurt discusses how individual perspective is the real driver of a design practice.
Design Notes is a show about creative work and what it teaches us, hosted by Liam Spradlin. Each episode features people from different creative fields discussing what inspires and unites us in our work.
Designer, educator, and author David Reinfurt returns to Design Notes to discuss his latest book, A *Co-* Program for Graphic Design. Born from a series of lectures delivered with collaborators and coöperators, and building on his previous work A New Program for Graphic Design, the latest book explores some unexpected overlaps between design and the world around us.
Reinfurt discusses the power of hands-on learning, the importance of going against expectations, and how closely design exists to everyday life. The real driver of a design practice? He says it comes down to how it’s taught and championing individual perspectives.
What David Reinfurt said in this episode of Design Notes…
The importance of intuitive design:
“As a designer, what you bring is your individual perspective, your intuition, and I think intuition gets written out of design a bit more than it should. That’s why I like invoking art and other practices that absolutely rely on you knowing what to do.”
Often approaching lecture as performance, Reinfurt extends his recent speaking series into the printed word.
David Reinfurt
Design is harder to ignore than art:
“Art relies on a concerted disinterest. There’s some space between you and the work. That’s wonderful for art because it gives you a moment, a space in which to behold the thing.... Design is much more imminent. It’s right there. It’s like the door handle that you just pushed.”
The effectiveness of imperfection:
“I think any design work that stops me includes some dissonance. It’s not too smooth, it’s not invisible…. I would really say the works of design that I like almost always have that space or that thing that doesn’t quite line up. Something is just a bit wrong.”
Preview copies of the book were available at an event hosted by Dexter Sinister, Reinfurt’s longtime design and publishing coöperative with Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey.
a-co-program-for-graphic-design.org
Reinfurt uses Enzo Mari’s famous La Mela (the Apple) as an example of how the most simplified form can still yield infinitely unpredictable experiences.
a-co-program-for-graphic-design.org
The difference between collaboration and coöperation:
“The best design doesn’t result from compromise; the best design results from coöperation.”
The value of reexploring old ideas: