There's Nothing Funny About Design

By winning the 2008 Winterhouse Award for Design Writing, David Barringer firmly established himself as the freshest and most interesting writer on the subject. His articles, which have appeared in publications from Print to Emigre, are notable for his strong personal point of view, literary style, and even humor, not always attributes associated with writing about design. In this collection of essays, Barringer’s first, he wonders why drug names have so many X’s in them, ponders the rise of gory DVD covers, and ruminates on his father’s business card collection, pythons, and the human skull – proving again and again that design is everywhere you look for it, (but may not have seen) without the powerful magnifying lens of this talented and exciting observer and writer.

“. . . no one has ever written about graphic design in quite this way. . . .”

– From Rick Poynor’s I.D. Magazine review of  “American Mutt Barks in the Yard” (Emigre; 68)

"David Barringer's book, There's Nothing Funny About Design (Princeton Architectural Press, 2009) is actually very funny. 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 it's 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." --Ellen Lupton, Design Observer, May 2009

"Turns out there are plenty of funny things about design--and David Barringer expounds on many of them in this thought-provoking collection of essays that covers everything from the ubiquity of skulls to the multifunctional letter X." --ReadyMade Magazine, April/May, 2009

"Here's my latest read that had me miss subway stops: There's Nothing Funny About Design by David Barringer. David's articles, which have appeared in publications from Print to Emigre, are notable for his strong personal point of view, literary style, and even humor, not always attributes associated with writing about design. In this collection of essays, Barringer's first, he wonders why drug names have so many X's in them, ponders the rise of gory DVD covers, and ruminates on his father's business card collection, pythons, and the human skull--proving again and again that design is everywhere you look for it (but may not have seen), without the powerful magnifying lens of this talented and exciting observer and writer." --Roth Eisenberg

"...a collection of observations on the curious mind of the designer." --Riya Patel