Jennifer Rittner is a design educator and writer. We talk about design, education, ethics, social justice, system design, and design joy.
Listen to Learn About
- The current state of design education
- Human-centered design methodology
- Important designers working at design’s cutting edge
- Designing with and for marginalized populations
- Smaller scale design
- The empathy problem
- The power-design ecosystem
Our Guest
Jennifer is a writer, educator and communications strategist who has taught at Parsons School of Design, the School Visual Arts, and SUNY FIT. In Fall 2021, she was a visiting lecturer at the California College of Art. She has been published in The New York Times, Eye on Design, DMI: Journal, and Core77; and recently guest edited a special issue on Policing & Design for the Design Museum Everywhere. She frequently writes and lectures about design and social justice.
Show Highlights
[01:00] Jennifer talks about starting her career as a museum educator before finding her way into design.
[01:56] Jennifer’s career teaching design, and some of the courses she taught.
[03:26] How design shows up in the world and how it shapes our reality.
[04:22] An important a-ha moment some of Jennifer’s students had about design.
[08:52] Human- and community-centered design.
[09:29] Dawan and Jennifer talk about design education and learning design as a never-ending process.
[10:44] Technical skills versus soft skills in design.
[11:50] Jennifer’s thoughts about human-centered design as a methodology.
[13:15] The need for a more critical thinking approach to how we teach design.
[14:06] Designers who are doing the work of critiquing current methodologies and offering alternatives.
[16:08] Something Jennifer would like to see design schools teach about methodology.
[17:45] Jennifer talks about her background and some of her current struggles in the design space.
[21:43] The concept of “inappropriateness” and design.
[24:51] Design on a smaller scale and designers whose work Jennifer admires.
[25:03] Design and technology.
[25:33] How design often marginalizes disabled people.
[27:09] The importance of design in helping the people being served find their own voices to speak on their own behalf.
[28:37] Advice for designers who are looking to move into work that is more socially impactful.
[32:41] Jennifer talks about the problematic nature of workplace culture.
[35:18] Dawan and Jennifer talk about empathy and how it is often misunderstood and misused in design work.
[40:30] Empathy and how it relates to people and organizations that hold power.
[43:29] The importance of knowing the history of a problem if you intend to design in that space.
[44:15] Making the case for systems design.
[45:51] Design and the institutions of power.
[51:29] Jennifer’s hopes for design as it begins to grapple with system design challenges.
[55:53] Where to find out more about Jennifer and her work and writing.
Links
Jennifer on Twitter
Jennifer on LinkedIn
Jennifer on Instagram
Jennifer on Medium
Content Matters NY – Ideas
Design for Social Justice
Equity Representation Art
The Latinx Project interview with Jennifer
Jennifer at Montclair Art Museum
Core77’s interview with Jennifer
Sloan Leo
Liz Agbu
Annika Hansteen-Izora
Antoinette Carroll
Ari Melenciano
Liz Jackson
Alex Haagaard
The Disabled List
Marc Dones at King County Regional Homelessness Authority
George Aye
Sabiha Basrai
Book recommendation
The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection, by Anne Berry, Kareem Collie, Penina Acayo Laker, Lesly-Ann Noel, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Waters
Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like
How to Learn Design Thinking + Design Thinking Pedagogy with Julie Schell — DT101 E15
Critical and Emancipatory Design Thinking with Lesley-Ann Noel — DT101 E57
