A Co-Program for Graphic Design extends David Reinfurt's Princeton University teaching into a genuinely polyphonic project — three interlocking courses that collectively challenge whose stories graphic design history has told, and who gets to tell them.
About This Book
A follow-up to A New Program for Graphic Design, this volume documents three courses Reinfurt developed at Princeton in the context of remote teaching and a broader reckoning with representation in design history. The courses — Circulation, Multiplicity, and Research — approach graphic design history from distinct angles: distribution networks, mathematical topology, and the evolving meaning of design research itself. Taught with a multiplicity of voices, including mathematician Philip Ording, the book functions as both a historical survey and a practical pedagogical guide. Its case studies range from the Detroit Printing Co-op and Corita Kent to Virgil Abloh and Marshall McLuhan, building in complexity through assignments designed to expand students' design process.
Key Features
- 256 pages of course documentation, historical case studies, and progressive design assignments
- Author: David Reinfurt; course co-taught with mathematics professor Philip Ording
- Case studies covering the Detroit Printing Co-op, Corita Kent, Charles and Ray Eames, Giuseppe Peano, Marshall McLuhan, Sylvia Harris, and Virgil Abloh
- Published by Inventory Press, 2010
What You'll Discover
- How the Circulation course maps the distribution networks — electronic and conventional — through which graphic design has moved and gained meaning
- The unexpected intersection of mathematical topology and graphic design practice, explored through the Multiplicity course co-taught with Philip Ording
- How the Research course traces what "design research" has meant at different moments in design history, from the mid-twentieth century to the present
- A collaborative, cooperative model of teaching design history that consciously expands whose work and perspectives are centred in the curriculum
About the Author
David Reinfurt is an independent graphic designer and writer based in New York City. He founded the graphic design practice O-R-G inc. in 2000, followed by Dexter Sinister in 2006 and the Serving Library in 2012, and has taught at Princeton University since 2010. Earlier in his career he worked as an interaction designer at IDEO, where he was lead designer for the MTA Metrocard vending machine interface.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 256
- Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781941753729
- Publisher: Inventory Press
- Publication Date: 2010
Perfect For: Graphic designers, design educators, and students of design history seeking a pedagogically rigorous and critically expanded account of the discipline.