Insights 2009: Ellen Lupton

Ellen Luptons prolific career spans the realms of design practice, education, criticism, and curating, and is specifically aimed at bringing design awareness to a broader audience. She directs the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, where she also serves as director of the Center for Design Thinking. As curator of contemporary design at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum since 1992, Lupton has organized numerous exhibitions, including the National Design Triennial (2000, 2003, 2006), Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office (1993), Mixing Messages: Graphic Design and Contemporary Culture (1996), Letters from the Avant-Garde (1996), Graphic Design in the Mechanical Age (1999), and Skin: Surface, Substance + Design (2002). In addition to the robust catalogues that accompany these shows, she has written and co-authored the best-selling books Thinking with Type (2004), D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (2006), D.I.Y. Kids (2007), and most recently Graphic Design: The New Basics (2008). With J. Abbott Miller, Luptons essays on design and culture were published in Design Writing Research (1996). Her writing has been featured in magazines such as Print, Eye, I.D., and Metropolis. She has a regular column, The El Word, in Readymade magazine and her editorial illustrations have been published in the New York Times. Lupton is a 2007 recipient of the AIGA Gold Medal, the professions highest honor.

[@mayagrafix]

Thank you WAC for a great opportunity to share a lecture with Ellen Lupton. However, whatever the camera person was thinking what he accomplished was to give a new definition to death by powerpoint.

[@jigglestumps]

That was kind of supposed to have been written by me. I thought I'd jump on the end of this thread because I was accidently signed in as my friend and want to find out the rest of this little story.

[@AnnaPatteson]

I absolutely disagree. This is one of the most inspiring lectures I've seen yet. I can see where you're coming from but I think you slightly missed the message. Even though she didn't explain typographical trends, terms or design concepts she was explaining exactly that in a creative and interesting way. This is a very impressive method of teaching. Watch it again and see if you understand the second time through. If you don't get it maybe you're blocking the message. It's all there...

[@davemanno]

What an entirely useless lecture. Plugging her new book, getting laughs, but nothing interesting.