Tony Brook is an award-winning designer, creative director, and publisher. He is the co-founder of the London-based design studio Spin and in 2009, he co-founded with Adrian Shaughnessy the design-focused publishing venture Unit Editions. In this episode, Tony and I talk about his early interest in design and how he is continually reinventing Spin, the origins of Unit Editions and his work in publishing, as well as design's obsession with nostalgia and how that influences design criticism. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Mark Lamster is the architectural critic of the Dallas Morning News, a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a professor in the architecture school at the University of Texas at Arlington. He's the author of several books, and is currently finishing a biography of architect Philip Johnson. In this episode, Mark and I talk about how he started writing about architecture, how making books is like making architecture, what it's like writing about architecture for a daily newspaper, and how technology is changing the role of the critic. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm

Mr. Jeffery Keedy is a designer, writer, and educator. He studied at Cranbrook and since 1985, has been on faculty at CalArts. Originally trained as a designer, Mr. Keedy started writing early in his career and became a frequent contributor for Emigre and his writing has appeared in publications like Eye, I.D., and the AIGA Journal. When I discovered Emigre, Mr. Keedy's writings were always some of my favorite so this was a special conversation for me. In this episode, we talk about his early design education and how he started writing, how the design discourse has changed and fragmented, and why graphic design as we define it, might just be a 20th century invention that doesn't really exist anymore. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Ian Lynam is a designer, writer, teacher, and publisher currently based in Tokyo. He runs his own design studio, teaches at Temple University Japan and Meme Design school, is chair of VCFA's MFA graphic design program, writes for magazines like Idea and Slanted, and runs the boutique type foundry and online shop Wordshape. In this conversation, Ian and I talk about his early interest in writing and designing zines, the state of design discourse and the problems with the sort of design writing you find on sites like Medium today as well as the role of writing in his own practice and how he teaches design theory to his students. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Juliette Cezzar is a designer, writer, and educator. She's currently an Assistant Professor of Communication Design at the New School’s Parsons School of Design, where she was the Director of the BFA Communication Design and BFA Design & Technology programs from 2011–2014. She served as President of the board of directors of AIGA/NY from 2014–2016 and recently finished a sabbatical where she focused on the relationship between design and the transmission of cultural ideas. In this episode, Juliette and I talk about her first job working for Peter Eisenman, how writing and teaching influence her design practice, and how to write about design clearly and simply. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Jack Self is an architect and writer based in London. He recently founded The Real Foundation, an architecture practice and curatorial institute. The Foundation's flagship publication, The Real Review is a quarterly magazine about architecture, material culture, and what it means to live today. In our conversation, Jack and I talk about his career as both architect and writer, the goals and ideas behind The Real Review, and the types of discourses we'd like to see around architecture and design. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

John Caserta is a designer and educator based in Providence, Rhode Island. He is an Associate Professor and former Department Head of the Graphic Design Department at The Rhode Island School of Design and founder of The Design Office, a work and project space for independent designers in downtown Providence. In this episode, John and I talk about the changes RISD's made in their undergraduate graphic design program, critical making, and his background in journalism and design. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

Teal Triggs is an educator, historian, and designer. She is currently Associate Dean in the School of Communication at Royal College of Art in London and editor-in-chief of the design journal Communication Design. She's written extensively on the intersection of design and popular culture for publications like Eye, Visual Communication, and Design Issues. In this episode, Teal and I talk about her background in design and history, the role of research, and looking at design history beyond the canonical objects. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

In the final episode of my June series on my professors, I talk to the co-director of MICA's MFA graphic design program Ellen Lupton. In addition to her work at MICA, Ellen is the Senior Curator of Contemporary Design at Cooper Hewitt, and a prolific author of notable design books like Thinking with Type, Type on Screen, and Graphic Design: The New Basics. In our conversation, recorded a few days after graduation, I talk with Ellen about her own career as a designer, writer, curator, and educator, how she thinks about writing for emerging designers, and how the design discourse has changed over the course of her career. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.

To continue my series interviewing the professors from MICA who have helped shape this podcast, this week I talk to my critical theory professor Ian Bourland. In addition to teaching at MICA, Ian is an art historian and critic whose work focuses on the diaspora, photography, and the global contemporary. In this conversation, Ian and I talk about his background and interest in art, the role of the critic in the art world, what a new type of design criticism could look like, and how designers can think about their work critically within a larger cultural context. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm.