The Good Design Book

Design Revolution Roadshow

I had the chance to visit with Emily Pilloton today. Her Design Revolution Roadshow Airstream trailer was parked outside of CCA, offering students and any other passers by a glimpse into the world of industrial design for the greater good. Emily’s passion and conviction are enviable — rivaled only by her deftly eloquent advocacy (for proof see her easily handle Stephen Colbert’s Q&A on last week’s Colbert Report).

Without question, Emily is her generation’s ambassador for good design, hands-on problem solving, and just plain giving a damn. I think she came along just in time, too.

We’re doing a little Q&A with Emily for the book, and I snapped her portrait while I was at it. The one above is an outtake, but she looked good in all of them. If you’re in the Bay Area and want to see the exhibit and meet Emily in person, head out to the roadshow kickoff Thursday night.

I’ll see you there.

Good Friday: Michael Osborne

There’s quite a bit to report with the book today. The last few outstanding files came in today from Mende Design, Margo Chase, Adam Larson and others.

After a quick chat with my editor, I headed over to Michael Osborne’s studio for an inspiring and thoughtful interview. Michael runs MOD, teaches at the Academy of Art* in San Francisco and is the founder of Joey’s Corner. Named for his son — Joseph Michael Osborne, who tragically passed at the age of 14 — Joey’s Corner is a nonprofit design studio that provides pro bono services to other nonprofit organizations. Michael’s is an uplifting story and one I’m touched and humbled to be able to share with you in the book.

The photo above is from our visit. We’re doing as much of our own photography as possible for the book (this is one of the outtakes). Here Michael is holding a photo of Joey and a sheet of stamps featuring the Joey’s Corner logo.

While I was there, I also had a chance to catch up with Joey’s Corner designer Katy McCauley. I know Katy from Project M (small world) and she was also the winner of our “guess how many entries” contest back in August. Speaking of Project M, I got a first look at Tim Belonax’s writeup of that inspiring program today as well.

Returning to the office, I reviewed divider page designs with Tim and our intern Reena. As you may remember from an earlier post, the chapter dividers feature a collage of represented projects. After a little exploration, we decided to stick to that plan, but we’re including alternate shots and details of the featured projects. It’s a subtle shift, but I think it will really help augment the book with both depth and intimacy. In addition to simply including additional shots of the projects, we’re often including images that reveal part of the process behind them.

Next I hopped on the phone for a chat with Mike Fretto of Rosa Loves to get a little more background for his case study. Mike’s just about the nicest guy you’ll ever talk to.

My 18-year old cousin popped in shortly afterward, putting an end to the day’s work. He’s visiting from the UK and planning a road trip from Atlanta back to San Francisco. I think I convinced him to volunteer at Pie Lab along the way.

I got in a little more writing this evening. It’s 10:22 now and I’m calling it a day. It was a jam-packed day capping a jam-packed week for the soon-to-be-retitled “Good Design Book.” Things are pretty exciting over here…

*Those of you in the Bay Area, Emily Pilloton kicks off her Design Revolution Roadshow with a street party at the Academy of Art on February 4. Everyone else can find a nearby stop by checking out the roadshow itinerary here.

Good Friday: Essayists

So, I’m finally able to share with you who our contributing essayists are for the book. I’m really excited about their diverse perspectives and what they will mean to the book and the work.

As I’ve already reported, John Bielenberg is writing the foreword. You can always count on John for an oblique perspective.

Each of the six sections is also anchored by an essay:

• Teaching (How are critical causes being addressed in design education?) Essay by Allan Chochinov
• Seeking (How can design thinking pro actively identify and address social, cultural and political issues?) Essay by Brian Collins
• Organizing (How does design help spread the word, make people care, and motivate them toward action?) Aaris Sherin
• Supporting (Work that supports an existing cause/non-profit) Essay by Kate Andrews
• Reacting (What is the designer’s creative response to the human condition?) This one I still need to confirm, hang tight…
• Celebrating (Work that celebrates the arts or achievement, contribution or service to a cause. Sometimes good design is, itself, good design.) Essay by Alice Bybee

In addition we have interviews with Emily Pilloton, Michael Osborne, Randy J. Hunt, Brian Dougherty and others.

We also just confirmed to day that Ric Grefe will be contributing some written perspective, along with a few others that still need to be locked down, so I shouldn’t jinx anything by mentioning them here.

I’m very excited and extremely pleased to have the support and contribution of these remarkable leaders and thinkers. Their thoughts and perspective will certainly be a critical force in elevating the relevance and thoughtfulness of the book.

Big Mail Day

It’s only been about five days since we sent out our official request for submissions and already the interest is high. We’ve had a number of emails and twitter messages from designers, students and even some writers, looking for ways to contribute to the book. Today the first official submission arrived in the mail. Actually, it arrived over the weekend while we weren’t here, so all we have is this little pink slip from the post office. Something to look forward to tomorrow I guess.

The advance check arrived from F&W today as well — not nearly as exciting since I already know what’s inside — but still very much appreciated.

The rest of our book-related mail was all of the e-variety, including one from Emily Pilloton about her Learning Landscapes project. While this is primarily a graphic design book, we’re also including examples of product and experience design, of which this is a prime example. I first met Emily earlier this year at AIGA San Francisco’s do-gooder design conference, Compostmodern. It’s nice to find our paths crossing again so soon.