is a blog about design, technology and culture written by Khoi Vinh, and has been more or less continuously published since December 2000 in New York City. Khoi is currently Principal Designer at Adobe. Previously, Khoi was co-founder and CEO of Mixel (acquired in 2013), Design Director of The New York Times Online, and co-founder of the design studio Behavior, LLC. He is the author of “How They Got There: Interviews with Digital Designers About Their Careers”and “Ordering Disorder: Grid Principles for Web Design,” and was named one of Fast Company’s “fifty most influential designers in America.” Khoi lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn with his wife and three children.
Just a reminder for those in the Baltimore/D.C. area: I’ll be giving a talk on Thursday night at Villa Julie College for the Baltimore chapter of AIGA. I’m going to cover a wide gamut of stuff from what happens at NYTimes.com to my extracurricular projects to my philosophy on design management to a quick tour of my thinking on using typographic grids online. It’s going to be fun; so if you can make it, please come up to introduce yourself.
In other — much bigger — AIGA news, I’m very pleased — ecstatic, actually — to announce that the one and only Jeffrey Zeldman will have a night of his own in mid-October for the New York chapter of AIGA as a part of our Small Talks series. Small Talks is a long-running tradition of the New York chapter, in which we invite a series of highly esteemed design figures to talk about subjects near and dear to their hearts in intimate settings. We purposefully limit the number of seats available to these events in order to allow the speakers to do their magic in as casual and friendly an environment as possible, so book your ticket early before they’re sold out.
A Big Bang
Every Small Talk is an event not to be missed, but this one is extra special because it’s the first, tangible manifestation of the chapter’s newfound commitment to the interaction design community. Our board of directors is a diverse lot, but there are a few of us who are dyed in the wool Web people, and we’re putting in an extra effort to try and make the chapter’s work more relevant to those of us who work online. This is just the beginning, and it’s always nice to begin with a bang, in my opinion. I think it’s safe to say that Jeffrey, who needs no introduction as the spiritual father of the modern approach to Web design, is a heck of a bang.
Below: The posterization filter. Sneak peak at three Small Talks coming this fall from AIGA NY.
Jeffrey’s talk is also the first one in this season’s Small Talks series. The event will take place on Tue 17 Oct at the Bumble and Bumble building on West Thirteenth Street, in what’s known to New Yorkers as ‘The Meat-packing District.’ I’ll have more information soon on his talk as well as the others we have lined up, but in the meantime, here’s a sneak peak at the fantastic promotional poster designed by the great folks on the board’s branding committee.
1. Love the design of that poster.
2. Small Talks sound awesome. Wish I could be there.
3. Will you be putting any materials from your B-More talk online? I’d love to see them! 🙂
Kurt Trew
Two things:
1. Love the design.
2. The dates on the graphic don’t match the dates on the tex to the right (Graphic reads 10/06, text reads 01/16)…or am I missing something?
Kurt: wow, I think you’re right. I’ve pointed that out to the designer. Maybe I just got an early comp. But thanks for pointing that out.
Jeff: I’m not sure I will be putting those materials online. The presentation is kind of chock-full of stuff that makes sense for me to show in person but could be kind of problematic to put online. Anyway, I’ve been dribbling out bits and pieces of it here and there on the blog, so readers are getting a lot of substance here anyway.
Khoi a podcast would be great for those who can’t make it to Baltimore.
Michael
Who have designed the poster?
It┤s fantastic!
A podcast is a splendid idea, would love to go but the majestic sea of the Atlantic is stopping me.
Chris
If Zeldman was scheduled for a Friday evening, I would have come up from DC for that. Oh wellЁ I’m sure you won’t have difficulty filling seats without dorks from the nether regions.
Looking forward to seeing you in B-more!
Joe
Interesting/stimulating talk at Villa Julie tonight.
Your understanding of the design director’s position at the decision-making table (as well as participation), and the necessity of being ‘hands off’ with your staff are ‘on the mark.’ The description of your commitment to design (intellectually and in practice) as presented in the Night & Day talk format was remarkable in the balance between and understanding of design, business realities and personal fulfillment.
Lauren Herda
Your presentation at Villa Julie was a treat; much more interesting than that Vice President guy, who also made his appearance.
As a design student at the college, it was exciting enough to see in person some of the people I usually only read about in blogs; but learning about what you do at the NY Times each day was icing on the cake.
Khoi, as a big fan of your writing here, it was great to see you in person, and your presentation was a great thing to witness. Loved the “freetime as business” idea. Thanks again for presenting!
Emily N
Your presentation at Villa Julie was a much-needed reminder that being a successful and productive designer, doesn’t have to mean working around the clock. As a young designer myself, it’s encouraging to see someone who has been able to balance work and play in a way that makes both a rewarding part of every day life.
Joe, Lauren, Ben and Emily: Thanks so much for attending on Thursday. I really had a fun time there, and I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to present to everyone there!
Mitch Perkins
Khoi-
Attended your presentation at Villa Julie college last week. Great information, glad I attended. However, I did have a question I wasn’t able to get in. Do your coders use applications like Dreamweaver or GoLive in their process?
Just a reminder for those in the Baltimore/D.C. area: I’ll be giving a talk on Thursday night at 
Three things:
1. Love the design of that poster.
2. Small Talks sound awesome. Wish I could be there.
3. Will you be putting any materials from your B-More talk online? I’d love to see them! 🙂
Two things:
1. Love the design.
2. The dates on the graphic don’t match the dates on the tex to the right (Graphic reads 10/06, text reads 01/16)…or am I missing something?
Kurt: wow, I think you’re right. I’ve pointed that out to the designer. Maybe I just got an early comp. But thanks for pointing that out.
Jeff: I’m not sure I will be putting those materials online. The presentation is kind of chock-full of stuff that makes sense for me to show in person but could be kind of problematic to put online. Anyway, I’ve been dribbling out bits and pieces of it here and there on the blog, so readers are getting a lot of substance here anyway.
Khoi a podcast would be great for those who can’t make it to Baltimore.
Who have designed the poster?
It┤s fantastic!
A podcast is a splendid idea, would love to go but the majestic sea of the Atlantic is stopping me.
If Zeldman was scheduled for a Friday evening, I would have come up from DC for that. Oh wellЁ I’m sure you won’t have difficulty filling seats without dorks from the nether regions.
Looking forward to seeing you in B-more!
Interesting/stimulating talk at Villa Julie tonight.
Your understanding of the design director’s position at the decision-making table (as well as participation), and the necessity of being ‘hands off’ with your staff are ‘on the mark.’ The description of your commitment to design (intellectually and in practice) as presented in the Night & Day talk format was remarkable in the balance between and understanding of design, business realities and personal fulfillment.
Your presentation at Villa Julie was a treat; much more interesting than that Vice President guy, who also made his appearance.
As a design student at the college, it was exciting enough to see in person some of the people I usually only read about in blogs; but learning about what you do at the NY Times each day was icing on the cake.
Khoi, as a big fan of your writing here, it was great to see you in person, and your presentation was a great thing to witness. Loved the “freetime as business” idea. Thanks again for presenting!
Your presentation at Villa Julie was a much-needed reminder that being a successful and productive designer, doesn’t have to mean working around the clock. As a young designer myself, it’s encouraging to see someone who has been able to balance work and play in a way that makes both a rewarding part of every day life.
Thanks for sharing your world with us!
Joe, Lauren, Ben and Emily: Thanks so much for attending on Thursday. I really had a fun time there, and I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to present to everyone there!
Khoi-
Attended your presentation at Villa Julie college last week. Great information, glad I attended. However, I did have a question I wasn’t able to get in. Do your coders use applications like Dreamweaver or GoLive in their process?
Thanks,
MITCH