American Mutt_Barringer

From Emigre Magazine:

One of our goals in publishing a design magazine is to set Emigre apart from the herd. We want to stay off the beaten path, so to speak, and seek out what lies beyond the obvious. We want to push the limits of design publishing even as we work to survive. When we noticed that, in the last few years, design publications had suddenly become oversweetened by so-called "eye candy," we decided to challenge the imagination, not just tickle the optic nerve, and focus on design writing.

Today, when it comes to design writing, we are not alone. Blogs are the new order, and the order is growing. Design blogs have their virtues, of course, but blogging about design appears to be habit-forming and has become an end in itself, with the very rapid-fire, off-the-cuff nature of blogging favoring the short, the sweet, the quick, and the now. This phenomenon triggered in us a reflexive need to once again play the role of contrarian. We wanted to do something unique, something no other design magazine had ever done, something that, whatever it turned out to be, would speak to designers in a way that a blog could not.

The answer came to us in the form of American Mutt Barks in the Yard, by David Barringer. It is the longest "Dear Emigre" letter we have ever received. The author describes it as "ambitious and reckless and impassioned," but that’s putting it mildly. At 34,940 words, it fills the entire 128-page issue of Emigre #68. The essay started as a simple reply to issues #65 and #66, but exploded into an indepth, critical analysis of design and advertising that only traditional book publishing can accommodate properly.

While we're aware of the paradox (after all, there's nothing unique about publishing a traditional book), we have no doubt that David Barringer's essay dares to tread where few have tread before. "I offer it for publication in Emigre," wrote Barringer. "I can imagine it literally nowhere else."

Neither can we.

JAMES REEVES, of Red Antenna, affirmed American Mutt in his article, "Design Equals Writing," in the ezine SpeakUp.

"By page ten, I knew I was reading the sort of thing that would become a touchstone for me.... Barringer's book is exactly what I'd been looking for and I hope to see more of it....

"Unlike much of design writing, Barringer's investigation originates from a specifically defined and engaging personal relationship with graphic design, and it's rare to read something so intimate yet wide-swinging, so punchy and big. You can tell he's having fun with his opinions and, more importantly, asking questions to which he does not already know the answers-an avalanche of all kinds of questions concerning education, aesthetics, economics, and everything else. . . .

"American Mutt certainly sparked discussion among those I know who've read it, and these conversations also tended to emphasize its form and voice rather than specific arguments. Perhaps the book is too sprawling and all-inclusive for it to be effectively organized and summarized for a traditional review....

"I assigned the first thirty or so pages to my History of Design Literature in Education class at Pratt as an example of the sense of personality, passion, and play that writing about design can and should possess. The link between writing and design is inexplicably overlooked in design education. Given the amount of energy that is devoted to defining and defending graphic design, I wonder if the discipline would be better served if the term 'design' were used in the same way in which we use 'writing': as an individual skill determined largely by voice and context rather than a fixed term for a profession."

"A lawyer who would prefer to be a designer is an unusual figure, and a big part of the essay’s appeal is that no one has ever written about graphic design in quite this way. The title sounds more like a short story, and at times I found myself reading it as though it were a fictional exploration of a designer's consciousness. When I did, its energy, relentlessness, emotion, and abundance of detail made sense, as did its literary style. Barringer writes entertaininglyand has a gift for intricate metaphor.... Designers who enjoy ambitious writing will find plenty to admire in American Mutt."