The Layman's Almanac

Tucker Viemeister

Having co-founded Smart Design, designed OXO Good Grips, created breakthrough products for Cuisinart as well as Timex, opened frogdesign NYC, helped make Razorfish what it is today, and founded the LAB at Rockwell Group, Tucker Viemeister was selected as a "Living Design Innovator" by New York Magazine in 2007

At the Rockwell Group offices in New York City.

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I have changed from doing more or less environment design… moving to interactive. Not just the field has changed. The clients and what the client's want has changed. We used to really be about manufacturing. Since there's a lot more collaboration now, people don't realize how their processes are different. That leads to discussions and missed opportunities. Industrial designers have more a hand in the process to be involved in what people think and what their perceptions are. It's part of collaborating with the user, collaborating with other designers.

There's a divergence between commercial designers – working with companies solving direct problems, then on the other end of the spectrum there are the more art influenced who are cooking up crazy things like this gigantic tape dispenser (a large 12"+ bent sheet metal tape dispenser on Tucker's desk).

Most of the manufacturing is done in China and I don't think that's going to last forever. It doesn't matter where you make a car anymore. I'm expanding on the manufacturing process from being able to bridge plain engineering, fashion; is what we do.

I think that there are lots of problems that need to be designed (for), and I don't really care who does it, why and where. There's a lot of good design that comes from inspiration that comes in the middle of the night, and good design that comes from sweating it out, attention to detail. Those are both equally creative.

(My process is) trying it out. As Bruce Hannah says "Mock it up before you Fock it up" really is the best thing. In that respect I think I have the same design process as everyone else. Concept, brainstorming, then refine, develop. But I think I'm not scared of trying stuff out too soon. Other people get upset with "you didn't figure that out first", but like I said, I think good design comes with a spark or inspiration and others come from working it out. It's not that I think one's bad and one's good, but I used to get into arguments with Dan Formosa at Smart Design. He would go "we haven't figured out what all the parameters are yet", and I was already done. Then he would add another one on there and modify the design.

A lot of people complain, "Oh, those students don't know anything" but I think you can't learn everything in school. There is a shift toward digital technology that more people are seduced into digital flattery and software instead of making stuff. I think one of the good things about Pratt is that their 3D program is great because they mix your hands and your brain.

Over my career, there has been a lot of discussion about the word industrial design. It sounds too industrial. I think it's cool. It doesn't describe what we do especially, but it explains (that) it's different than graphic design or architecture. You get the idea. People are always going to want stuff and need people to produce it.

My father and his partner had a design studio. So it was like they made cool stuff. I didn't see many people doing more interesting things, but everything they did was interesting. They designed anything: a watering can, museums, furniture, studios, (they) customized their cars.

I think the process more or less is the same, I think when he (Tucker's father) started out he was always trying to explain what industrial design was. In the 1990's people were still asking what industrial design was and now it's completely flipped. People know what it is, how they want to do it.

You make something, the client doesn't like it, you go back, rework it, you eventually get something the client likes. You have to have the perseverance to keep trying stuff and the opportunity.

I'm excited that learning, play, and design are the same thing. All are about learning by doing. I'm also excited about food. Food is a big problem in the world in general. Too much, not enough, etc. It's another learning by doing. Kids can learn a lot in school about cooking, what tastes good, what's healthy…

…that's the thing about industrial designers, the system and the object can't be divorced. When we're designing teapots or a school, you're designing a ritual, a system. When designing a library it makes sense to think about how the librarian (is) going to be a main part of the design. Know where you want to go. Don't ask everyone for the answer, but on the flip side, ASK everyone for the answer.