Journal 11

Debbie Millman is a partner and president of the design division at Sterling Brands, one of the leading brand identity firms in the country. Millman is president of AIGA, and chair of the School of Visual Arts’ master’s program in Branding. She is a contributing editor to Print magazine and host of the podcast “Design Matters.” She is the author of How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer (Allworth Press, 2007),The Essential Principles of Graphic Design (Rotovision, 2008) and Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design (How Books, 2009).

Design Matters is a radio talk show, hosted by Debbie Millman, where she takes listeners inside the world of design and branding to talk to professionals about what they do, how they do it and why they do what they do.

I listened to the Kate Bingaman-Burt interview, who founded Obsessive Consumption in 2002. Her first book, Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?, was published this year by Princeton Architectural Press. She illustrated the book, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft and Design, as well as the promotional materials for the documentary of the same name. Bingaman-Burt lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Portland State University. Her Obsessive Consumptionwork is represented by Jen Bekman in NYC.

She is obsessive about doing a lot of work and sharing that work. Considers herself as a designer as a reporter. She noticed that 'everyone kind of buys the same things,' when she worked as a cashier in high school. Documents all of her consumption because she was in debt at one point. She fell for all of the people that tried to get everyone to sign for a credit card and they'll give her a free t-shirt. Kate stated that everyone wants to have sincere interactions with people and she was able to talk to someone based on what they buy.

I thought the interview was interesting because it wasn't totally about design, it was about how she got out of debt and how she interacts with other people. She used her design/art skills to get out of debt and document all of her savings. She also use to document everyday with a photo and that most people have one item that repeats itself when they shop. She now has her stuff that is being sold in Target. As well, she likes to feel useful and feels a little bit sick to her stomach if she doesn't do any work all day.