Dan Friedman: A Personal Appraisal

For 25 years, first as a colleague at Yale, then as a friend, I observed the fascinating evolution of this influential, but less well-known designer/philosopher. I have helped stage multiple exhibitions of his work and spoken about his multi-faceted career and influential ideas at many schools and organizations around the country. You can see a recent lecture on Dan here.

Armin Hoffman at Yale

This recollection of Armin Hoffman’s influence on the teaching of design at Yale was originally published on June 29th, 2020, marking the occasion of Armin Hofmann’s 100th birthday, in Steven Heller’s daily on-line blog of Print

Motion Design: Poetry

In the Graphic Design Masters Program at Yale, I currently teach motion design. The objective is to shift the designer’s thinking from “composition” (getting all the elements into just the right spot and freezing them) to “choreography” (planning the path and behavior

What I didn’t learn in school

You never realize how much you didn’t learn in school until you try to teach in one. Teaching forces you to figure out what it is that someone else needs to know, and then to devise a set of experiences

Thoughts on the attraction of teaching

I have been teaching (at Yale, mostly, but lots of other places less consistently) since 1966. I have always been interested in explaining things and I think that is part of my attraction to the role. But there is another