Gary Hustwit on Why Design Is for Everyone

Design and the City

Some of you may already know our next guest, New-York based, Indie filmmaker, Gary Hustwit, from his iconic trilogy of design-focused documentaries: First, Helvetica examines our visual culture and how a font impacts urban spaces, asking us to take another glance at the thousands of words we see every day. Objectified is a look into our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, “by extension, the people who design them.” And finally Urbanized — a window into how cities are designed, framing a discussion on their futures.

His work takes us on a journey into how design impacts our lives, from a micro level to a macro, and has helped many see the design through a more humanistic lens — challenging the idea of what design is — is it something to consume or an application to makes our lives better.

In recent years he has followed up with films like Rams, an intimate portrait of one of the most influential designers alive, Dieter Rams, Workplace which focuses on the future of our workspaces. As well as his latest release — a short film called The Map, which follows the redesign of New York City's iconic subway map — one that updates in real-time.

reSITE founder, Martin Barry, spoke with Gary about his creative process, motivation, and evolution, that led to making the kinds of films he, himself, wants to watch and ones that make design more accessible for all.

Watch Gary's films!
Follow along with this episode's transcript.

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This podcast was produced by Alexandra Siebenthal, with support from Martin Barry, Radka Ondrackova, Elizabeth Mills, and Elizabeth Novacek. It is recorded at WeWork Prague, with the support of the Prague Ministry of Culture as well as Nano Energies, and edited by LittleBig Studio.