David Barringer

Ellen Lupton, Design Observer: “This collection of new and revised essays presents the graphic-design world with a kick in the literary pants. Barringer’s writing is bluntly personal yet rarely narcissistic; his prose often bristles with the excitement of an angry porcupine, yet its always grounded in rigorous thinking. No one else in our field is producing writing quite like this. As a self-taught designer, freelance writer, and work-at-home dad, Barringer is both an insider and outsider to the design discourse. He makes sense of what designers do and then takes us apart with his needle-sharp verbal tools.”

Randy J. Hunt, Print, June 2009: “The first anthology of David Barringer’s writing on design covers everything from skulls and snakes to tongue-in-cheek business advice. Q: How did you uncover hidden truths about how design business works? A: I skid into things, break glass, bruise a shoulder. I like to make connections between seemingly unconnected things. I like to make familiar topics seem strange, so I use argument, dialogue, fiction, aphorism, even Q&A. If I dislodge any truths from stomping around like this, it’s only because truth fell off a shelf or darted out from under the floorboards.”

Alan Saunders, ABC Radio International: “David Barringer describes himself as an outsider/now insider: a man who knew nothing about design but has now found himself lecturing and writing about design. David’s book There’s Nothing Funny About Design has recently been published by Princeton Architectural Press, and he has found himself in a world a long way from the law, which was what he originally trained in. So what is design writing, and these days is it literature?”

Rich Fisher, Public Radio Tulsa, KWGS: “David Barringer is surely one of our best and funniest writers on design. He talks with Rich Fisher about his collection of essays, There’s Nothing Funny About Design, which critically examines everyday design from the ‘promiscuousness of the letter X in our culture,’ to how the cautionary colors of red and yellow have been adopted by the fast-food industry, to how evolution is portrayed with fish symbols and the ape-to-man chart.”

Steve Gordon, 36point.com: “We got word that David Barringer was coming through Omaha to judge the AIGA Nebraska Show, and jumped at the chance to talk with him. [T]he discussion ranges from Emigre, Chuck, the difference between stealing and homage, service vs. commodity, Shogun Warriors, and other random topics. Buried in the conversation is also great advice on freelance writing, design business models, [and] clients.”

Jason Tselentis, Charlotte AIGA: “Over the course of a four-day email interview, David shared his thoughts on design, writing, specialization, and romance.”

Bob Sassone, Professor Barnhardt’s Journal: “It’s David Barringer Week!” Online multi-part interview on the occasion of the release of American Home Life

Kim Kovelle, Metro Parent: “10 Questions with Writer and Stay-At-Home Dad David Barringer”

Debbie Millman, Design Matters, on the publication of American Mutt Barks in the Yard: “David Barringer, writer, designer, photographer, and lawyer, sent Rudy Vanderlans, editor of Emigre, a 35,000-word letter to the editor, which Rudy published in its entirety in Emigre #68. Titled American Mutt Barks in the Yard, David will join Debbie to talk about his views on the state of graphic design today.”

Sean Meriwether, Outsider Ink: Collected Interview Snippets

Laura J. Williams, Ann Arbor Paper: “A Hen and a Rooster,” interview on the occasion of the publication of Johnny Red (2005)

Nathan Leslie, Main Street Rag, Summer 2005: “Who Is David Barringer?”

Claire Zulkey, Zulkey.com: “Today, Zulkey.com interviews a bastion of the print and internet literary scene. Intimidating in his credentials and talent, yet genial and surprisingly tall in real life, David Barringer is now touring the e-world to promote his new book The Human Case. May we also mention that he’s from Michigan, proving yet again that you can’t underestimate the Midwest.”

Ryan Robert Mullen, Word Riot : “If you’re at all familiar with e-zines, you’ve probably seen David Barringer’s work—it’s everywhere. In the last two years, he’s released two short-story compilations—The Leap & Other Mistakes and The Human Case.”

Steven Heller, Becoming a Graphic Designer 4 (Wiley: coming soon)

• 2008 Winterhouse Award for Design Writing & Criticism.
• “The Names in the Case,” Notable Essay, Best American Essays 2007.
• “The Poll,” Notable Story, Best American Non-Required Reading 2005.
• The short stories “Bad Women,” “Cool,” “The Poll,” and “Fortune” nominated for Pushcart Prizes.
• “From Me Then to You Now,” Notable Story of the Year, 2004, Storysouth Awards.

There’s Nothing Funny About Design

Unbound

American Home Life
Steve Himmer, Tawny Grammar

American Mutt Barks in the Yard

Terminally Curious
Nathan Leslie, The Pedestal Magazine [http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/gallery.php?item=1829]

The Human Case
Ryan Robert Mullen, Word Riot [http://www.wordriot.org/template.php?ID=186]

The Leap & Other Mistakes
Jackie Corley, Word Riot [http://www.wordriot.org/template.php?ID=187]

“A writer with great range and skill. Barringer surpasses so many other writers in his ability to reach the reader on multiple levels. Fans of David Foster Wallace will rejoice.”—Wisconsin Review